Question about Propecia/Proscan dosage

[Guest]

Hi guys I am a college student so I don't have much money so I think im going to buy Proscar instead of propecia and just cut the tablets into quarters. What do you think? Will this work as well as Propecia?

Also I have heard that propecia blocks 70% of DHT. What does this mean practically? That I will only keep 70% of my hair if it works? I'm confused. And they say that it blocks 70% of DHT at 5 MG per day, but they sell it in 1 MG tablets. Taking 5 MG of day of Propecia would be really expensive. Does 1 mg of it only block 14% of DHT or something?

Also just a question about propecia in general. I have heard from some that it only delays hair loss for 30 years or so. But others have said that if it works for you, it will at least help you maintain your current hair level if not regrow it. What does effective propecia mean?

Thanks guys,

JayMan

 

[Guest]

Hey Andrew I saw this reply in another thread:

Dr Lee , don't know who that is, sent this reply to someone via email:

"As you already know, Proscar and Propecia are the same medication, i.e.
finasteride. The only difference is that Proscar is a 5 mg tablet of finasteride
and Propecia is a 1 mg tablet of finasteride.

If you take quartered tablets of Proscar instead of Propecia, you will have the
same beneficial results for treating male pattern baldness at less than 1/3 the price.

The finasteride is homogeneously distributed throughout the tablet of Proscar.
Use a pill cutter or any sharp blade and cut the hard, brittle, blue covered
Proscar tablet into four pieces. You will undoubtedly also create some powder
and many smaller fragments. It really makes no difference if the pieces are of
unequal size. The range of effectiveness is very wide and has been shown to vary
as much as from 0.2 mg to 5 mg of finasteride. Furthermore, there is such a
tight bond created between the finasteride and the Type 2 5AR, that even if you
discontinue taking finasteride altogether, it will require two weeks for your
DHT level to return to your baseline levels. So, a variation in the daily dosage
is really inconsequential. There is probably no increase in the likelihood of
having side effects by taking 1.25mg of finasteride as opposed to taking 1.0mg
of finasteride.

So, take just one quarter of a tablet once / day. The time of day doesn't really
matter. Nor does it matter if you take it with or without food."


I just ordered my first set of Proscar off the website. Thanks for the advice though I appreciate it.

 

[bubka]

Hi guys I am a college student so I don't have much money so I think im going to buy Proscar instead of propecia and just cut the tablets into quarters. What do you think? Will this work as well as Propecia?

Also I have heard that propecia blocks 70% of DHT. What does this mean practically? That I will only keep 70% of my hair if it works? I'm confused. And they say that it blocks 70% of DHT at 5 MG per day, but they sell it in 1 MG tablets. Taking 5 MG of day of Propecia would be really expensive. Does 1 mg of it only block 14% of DHT or something?

Also just a question about propecia in general. I have heard from some that it only delays hair loss for 30 years or so. But others have said that if it works for you, it will at least help you maintain your current hair level if not regrow it. What does effective propecia mean?

Thanks guys,

JayMan

Grad school here: I cut Proscar into 4ths, just do one pill at a time and keep in a dry place both the cut and uncut pills. Will work exactly the same as Propecia.

DHT levels and hairloss are different for everyone. I personally had below normal testostrone and free testosterone (don't know DHT) but increase DHT levels in ones body reguardless of levels cause hair loss. So reducing it 70% works. As for dosage, one study showed that .2 mg was about as effective as 5mg of finasteride in scalp DHT, so 1mg is used because reduce risk of sides.

Propecia will at least slow down hairloss for 9/10 men, a little over 50% will see regrowth

 

[Bryan]

Hi guys I am a college student so I don't have much money so I think im going to buy Proscar instead of propecia and just cut the tablets into quarters. What do you think? Will this work as well as Propecia?

Of course. And it's much cheaper, too.

Also I have heard that propecia blocks 70% of DHT. What does this mean practically? That I will only keep 70% of my hair if it works? I'm confused. And they say that it blocks 70% of DHT at 5 MG per day, but they sell it in 1 MG tablets. Taking 5 MG of day of Propecia would be really expensive. Does 1 mg of it only block 14% of DHT or something?

Propecia blocks only around 70% or so of the total amount of DHT in the body, but that's not really particularly relevent, because DHT generated by the type 2 form of 5a-reductase is more closely associated with hairloss than DHT generated by the type 1 form. Propecia probably blocks about 85% to 90% of that more important one. And because of finasteride's relatively flat dose-response curve, 1 mg/day blocks only slightly less DHT than 5 mg/day.

Bryan

 

[bubka]

where is that finasteride dosage graph when you need it?

 

[Bryan]

(Quoting Dr. Lee): "Furthermore, there is such a tight bond created between the finasteride and the Type 2 5AR, that even if you discontinue taking finasteride altogether, it will require two weeks for your DHT level to return to your baseline levels."

Dr. Lee is "dumbing-it-down" considerably here. Finasteride does bind irreversibly with the type 2 enzyme, but that's not the MAIN reason that it takes up to a couple of weeks for DHT levels to get back to normal. The main reason is that the production of that type 2 enzyme itself is quite slow. So once you destroy it by binding it with finasteride, it takes several days for new, "fresh" DHT-producing enzyme to be synthesized.

Bryan

 

[bubka]

here it is:

http://www.geocities.com/bryan50001/GRAPH8.GIF

http://www.geocities.com/bryan50001/graph8.htm