0.25 Mg finasteride Every Other Day, Thoughts?

[Bigbone]

I've been using 0.25mg of finasteride for more than 6 months and the regrowth has been very good. However, I'm not pleased with the effects of the raised estrogen. I believe I had high DHT before treatment and I've had this theory that high DHT+finasteride= high estrogen, which seems to the case for me. I've lost some body hair and facial hair, it grows way slower and is super soft. I'm also storing more fat in the chest and waist area, while the face is a bit bloated (water retention I guess).

Since I've had such great results with only 0.25mg, will lowering the dose to 0.25mg EOD still be somewhat effective? Has anyone tried this?

 

[Cowboys fan]

Same problems.as u and same dosage I'm also waiting to see if anyone has any answers

 

[Bigbone]

Same problems.as u and same dosage I'm also waiting to see if anyone has any answers

The exact same symptoms and no sexual issues? Have you tried DIM? I'm thinking it might be worth a try and if it doesn't work I'll take it EOD and hope for the best.

 

[stachu]

i've been for every other day 0.5mg. And diffused as f***.
im on 1.25mg every day since 3 months and have superb results

 

[recedingornot87]

Im doing 0.5mg EOD and seem to be maintaining. Still losing around 35 hairs per shower though which is more than when I was doing 0.5mg ED but cosmetically looks the same.

 

[ihatebackstabbers]

The issue with changing doses is that it can take time to see what effect it can have (if any). It took me roughly 10 months to notice my hair thinning after changing from 1 mg Propecia to 0.25 mg - 0.5 mg every day. You are getting growth at 0.25 mg which is really good. @recedingornot87 dosage seems to be working for him also. I am one of those people who has to take a higher dosage.

Did you test for your estrogen, T, and DHT before starting finasteride?

Here are 2 of the the studies regarding the dosages and scalp/serum DHT:

Clinical dose ranging studies
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10495375

Scalp skin and serum androgen levels
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10495374

 

[Bigbone]

Im doing 0.5mg EOD and seem to be maintaining. Still losing around 35 hairs per shower though which is more than when I was doing 0.5mg ED but cosmetically looks the same.

The loss might be temporary only, from my understanding it comes and goes. But 0.5mg EOD is basically 0.25 ED, so 0.25mg EOD would make it about 0.17mg ED. The graphs I've seen shows that it's about a 20% difference between 1mg and 0.2mg in efficiency, after that it seems to go downhill fast. On the other hand, I've had great results with 0.25mg so maybe it'll be enough..

I'm starting to think that when the DHT is inhibited it's the Estrogen that determines regrowth.

 

[Bigbone]

The issue with changing doses is that it can take time to see what effect it can have (if any). It took me roughly 10 months to notice my hair thinning after changing from 1 mg Propecia to 0.25 mg - 0.5 mg every other day. You are getting growth at 0.25 mg which is really good. @recedingornot87 dosage seems to be working for him also. I am one of those people who has to take a higher dosage.

Did you test for your estrogen, T, and DHT before starting finasteride?

Here are 2 of the the studies regarding the dosages and scalp/serum DHT:

Clinical dose ranging studies
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10495375

View attachment 106729



Scalp skin and serum androgen levels
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10495374
View attachment 106730

Going off the last graph even 0.05 is supposed to be pretty effective. I might try DIM for a couple of weeks first and then go lower with the dose.

No I didn't have a test before starting finasteride. Only T a couple of years back and the most recent test shows that I have lower T-levels now than previously. But I did the test mid-day and I know that results aren't accurate unless it's done in the morning.
My estradiol was high though: S--estradiol 137 pmol/L 41,4-159

Btw, do you know if estrogen goes up, down or is stable during the day?

 

[Northface32]

Good info thanks

 

[ihatebackstabbers]

Going off the last graph even 0.05 is supposed to be pretty effective. I might try DIM for a couple of weeks first and then go lower with the dose.

No I didn't have a test before starting finasteride. Only T a couple of years back and the most recent test shows that I have lower T-levels now than previously. But I did the test mid-day and I know that results aren't accurate unless it's done in the morning.
My estradiol was high though: S--estradiol 137 pmol/L 41,4-159

Btw, do you know if estrogen goes up, down or is stable during the day?

I know that certain foods can increase estrogen but I am not sure by how much or how immediate the increase takes place. If it can be raised so easily then it makes me believe that it can also be decrease which would cause fluctuations throughout the day. This is raising a lot of questions in my head and is something that I will have to read up on one day.

 

[Cowboys fan]

The exact same symptoms and no sexual issues? Have you tried DIM? I'm thinking it might be worth a try and if it doesn't work I'll take it EOD and hope for the best.

What is dim

 

[infamousrodi]

Going off the last graph even 0.05 is supposed to be pretty effective. I might try DIM for a couple of weeks first and then go lower with the dose.

No I didn't have a test before starting finasteride. Only T a couple of years back and the most recent test shows that I have lower T-levels now than previously. But I did the test mid-day and I know that results aren't accurate unless it's done in the morning.
My estradiol was high though: S--estradiol 137 pmol/L 41,4-159

Btw, do you know if estrogen goes up, down or is stable during the day?

Did you ever get good results from DIM or reducing to .25 eod? Thinking of getting back on finasteride on this dosage along with 100mg dim ED. I had same estrogen sides of fat accumulation on hips/waist and water retention, chest fat.

 

[pberm]

Did you ever get good results from DIM or reducing to .25 eod? Thinking of getting back on finasteride on this dosage along with 100mg dim ED. I had same estrogen sides of fat accumulation on hips/waist and water retention, chest fat.

Did it worked?

 

[Bigbone]

Did you ever get good results from DIM or reducing to .25 eod? Thinking of getting back on finasteride on this dosage along with 100mg dim ED. I had same estrogen sides of fat accumulation on hips/waist and water retention, chest fat.

I haven't been on here for a while and honestly, I didn't even remember this being an issue until I read my post again. Today I'm on 1mg ED and I never used DIM. I think the increased fat around my chest and waist was in my head as I'm still maintaining a low BF% years later with ease (fingers crossed). However, the facial bloating was definitely due to Min and reducing it to once a day helps.

 

[pberm]

I haven't been on here for a while and honestly, I didn't even remember this being an issue until I read my post again. Today I'm on 1mg ED and I never used DIM. I think the increased fat around my chest and waist was in my head as I'm still maintaining a low BF% years later with ease (fingers crossed). However, the facial bloating was definitely due to Min and reducing it to once a day helps.

thank you for your reply.

are you sure finasteride didn't cause this water/fat accumulation or maybe did your body adjust over time? I have a low fat percentage, but finasteride definitely affected that, which was confirmed by the tests.

furthermore, by minoxidil, do you mean once a week of topical or oral use?

can you tell if you felt a big difference in effectiveness between doses of 0.25, 0.5 and 1mg of finasteride? from the thread you seem to have started with 0.25.

thanks in advance.

 

[Bigbone]

thank you for your reply.

are you sure finasteride didn't cause this water/fat accumulation or maybe did your body adjust over time? I have a low fat percentage, but finasteride definitely affected that, which was confirmed by the tests.

furthermore, by minoxidil, do you mean once a week of topical or oral use?

can you tell if you felt a big difference in effectiveness between doses of 0.25, 0.5 and 1mg of finasteride? from the thread you seem to have started with 0.25.

thanks in advance.

Of course!

It could be that finasteride does affect my water and fat accumulation, but not to a degree where it's an issue. I've always been kind of strict with diet, drinking a lot of water and making sure I'm low bf, so that does help. Perhaps it's a trade-off we have to make and work around it. How's your diet and workout?

I am using topical min once a day. I considered oral min, but if it's more effective I assume that means more water retention as well so I've avoided it so far.

Honestly no I haven't noticed a difference. For the first three years I was on 0.25mg, which is also the period where my hair was at its peak. Then I felt it was getting slightly worse so I upped it to 0.5mg for two years and now I've been on 1mg for almost a year. All I can say in terms of efficiency is that I haven't noticed any differences between the doses.

I see you're on dutasteride, I am trying to make the switch as soon as I can get a hold of it. How's your experience, did you try finasteride before dutasteride? If so, for how long? I think my hair is slowly getting worse on finasteride so I feel like I don't have a choice.

 

[Chaul Jhin Kim]

I'm considering a very similar protocol (0.2 mg M/W/F). In my case it's not about sides but the availability of the medication. I would like to be able to stretch out a pack of pills as long as possible until I find a more reliable source so that I don't end up without finasteride for an extended period and thus lose all my gains.

In theory, the DHT suppression at 0.2 mg every day should be only 10-20% worse than the 1mg dose. Others in this thread have posted charts supporting this. And given that DHT levels remain mostly suppressed for 3-4 days after just a single dose and take over a week to return to baseline levels, ED or EOD shouldn't in theory make much of a difference either:

My biggest concern however is the result of the Japanese study (Kawashima, M., Hayashi, N., Igarashi, A., et al. (2004)) which found that even 0.2 mg every day had a noticeably worse outcome especially for hairlines (50%) compared with 1 mg every day so I'd imagine 0.2/0.25mg EOD would be even worse:

 

[Homie]

Safe to say that .25mg EOD will be less effective than .25mg ED, which would be less effective than .5mg ED, which would be less effective than 1mg ED.

But more effective than .125mg EOD or .25mg every three days.

 

[losingbattle88]

Did you ever get good results from DIM or reducing to .25 eod? Thinking of getting back on finasteride on this dosage along with 100mg dim ED. I had same estrogen sides of fat accumulation on hips/waist and water retention, chest fat.

U back on finasteride?

 

[infamousrodi]

U back on finasteride?

nah just min and ru im stable, f*** fina lol