Cutting 1 mg pills....no problems

[californiaoceans911]

I bought a pill cutter from my local pharmacy. I haven't taken any of my finasteride yet, but wanted to see if it was possible to cut to really small doses. I was easily able to get to 1/16 of a 1 mg pill (Actavis). The actavis pills have a nice strong outer coating (probably all of them do because of the female pregnancy warning?)

Here's a picture, I didn't get great cuts every time but I also was not trying too hard. I just heard about people having tons of issues with crumbling....and not I think other's were right for saying they might be buying bunk crap from online stores.



Since we know that the suppression lasts at least 48 hours, it won't particularly matter if one of the 1/16 pieces is slightly larger if you take it every day.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

My generic finasteride looks pretty much the same, although it has a blue coating. I bought a pill cutter on amazon and it does the trick. It's almost impossible to cut up the pills perfectly even, especially when the pieces get smaller and smaller. I cut mine in to eighths for .625mg dose because the whole pill itself is 5mg.

 

[drgs]

You can crush them into powder and dose by weight

You need to know total amount of finasteride/number of tablets before crushing

 

[xRedStaRx]

Why would you cut it into 0.0625 mg though?

It's easier if you take a bigger dose but spread them farther apart.

 

[californiaoceans911]

Why would you cut it into 0.0625 mg though?

It's easier if you take a bigger dose but spread them farther apart.

Did you mean 0.625 mg? Because that is what he said. I am cutting to 1/16 because...well I have no idea I'm lost lol. I had a talk with my brother again last night and he told me that he literally has had ZERO side effects....not testicle pain at all, no loss of libido, no erection problems, no ejaculatory dysfunction, and no brain fog. My brother is also the type of guy that doesn't go on forums.

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of men have been just like my brother. This forum has made me thing that I'll get AT THE VERY LEAST testicle pain. I think, also, that my brother probably got very little side effects because, like me, he probably was on the lower end of the spectrum for baseline DHT. We both have very little body hair and have had trouble growing beards. I'm a 30 year old middle eastern guy and I can't grow a beard if my life depended on it. It has just barely been starting to fill, just barely. And actually, to think about it, it has been coinciding well with my hair loss.

For guys like us, I hear that finasteride doesn't grow substantial amounts of hair back, but really just stops further hair loss.

 

[xRedStaRx]

Did you mean 0.625 mg? Because that is what he said. I am cutting to 1/16 because...well I have no idea I'm lost lol. I had a talk with my brother again last night and he told me that he literally has had ZERO side effects....not testicle pain at all, no loss of libido, no erection problems, no ejaculatory dysfunction, and no brain fog. My brother is also the type of guy that doesn't go on forums.

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of men have been just like my brother. This forum has made me thing that I'll get AT THE VERY LEAST testicle pain. I think, also, that my brother probably got very little side effects because, like me, he probably was on the lower end of the spectrum for baseline DHT. We both have very little body hair and have had trouble growing beards. I'm a 30 year old middle eastern guy and I can't grow a beard if my life depended on it. It has just barely been starting to fill, just barely. And actually, to think about it, it has been coinciding well with my hair loss.

For guys like us, I hear that finasteride doesn't grow substantial amounts of hair back, but really just stops further hair loss.

1/16th of a 1 mg pill is 0.0625? I was referring to you lol. Seems like you took micro-dosing a little too far.

I got testicle pain in the first month or so tbh, I know that wasn't in my head because sometimes I'd flinch in pain, but it only lasted a couple of seconds when it did, then there was a dull ache for the two following months, now nothing.

Body hair is generally not really DHT related. Well it does need DHT to grow, but different phenotypes have different sensitivities and affinity towards body hair growth. Caucasians have the most body hair and densest beards for example, especially Balkans.

Yes finasteride in general does not regrow anything. It just allows existing hair to grow better than it used to with lower androgen exposure. It should reverse around a year or so of loss, and maintain that for five to ten years before potentially breaking baseline again. But that greatly depends on the person and dose schedule in my view. Either way, you can't go wrong.

 

[californiaoceans911]

1/16th of a 1 mg pill is 0.0625? I was referring to you lol. Seems like you took micro-dosing a little too far.

I got testicle pain in the first month or so tbh, I know that wasn't in my head because sometimes I'd flinch in pain, but it only lasted a couple of seconds when it did, then there was a dull ache for the two following months, now nothing.

Body hair is generally not really DHT related. Well it does need DHT to grow, but different phenotypes have different sensitivities and affinity towards body hair growth. Caucasians have the most body hair and densest beards for example, especially Balkans.

Yes finasteride in general does not regrow anything. It just allows existing hair to grow better than it used to with lower androgen exposure. It should reverse around a year or so of loss, and maintain that for five to ten years before potentially breaking baseline again. But that greatly depends on the person and dose schedule in my view. Either way, you can't go wrong.

I was probably going to do 1/8...I just wanted to see how far I can cut it. 1/8th is the same as 1 mg in DHT suppression after a couple of weeks (although this may not translate to regrowth as we have see in other studies).

DHT is related to beard growth I thought, maybe not body hair but beard growth I thought it was. I am caucasian, and when I grow my beard out it looks like im a 13 year old kid trying to grow a beard, its sad. THe hairs are thick, but there aren't many of them, they are just spread out. Definitely patchy as hell.


EDIT: Also with the 1 year comment, that's why I'm afraid of waiting. I have noticed (maybe in my head though) a lot more hair loss in the last year. I'm afraid if I keep "waiting it out" to see how much it progresses, I'll be losing ground.

 

[xRedStaRx]

I was probably going to do 1/8...I just wanted to see how far I can cut it. 1/8th is the same as 1 mg in DHT suppression after a couple of weeks (although this may not translate to regrowth as we have see in other studies).

DHT is related to beard growth I thought, maybe not body hair but beard growth I thought it was. I am caucasian, and when I grow my beard out it looks like im a 13 year old kid trying to grow a beard, its sad. THe hairs are thick, but there aren't many of them, they are just spread out. Definitely patchy as hell.



EDIT: Also with the 1 year comment, that's why I'm afraid of waiting. I have noticed (maybe in my head though) a lot more hair loss in the last year. I'm afraid if I keep "waiting it out" to see how much it progresses, I'll be losing ground.

I'd just go with 0.2 mg ED or 0.5-0.625 mg EOD. Since that's the best payoff in terms of amount of dose, and effectiveness that I was able to assert.

Middle Eastern is not necessarily Caucasian. Since there are a lot of sub-phenotypes under the Caucasian race as well. Arab's don't have much body hair, while North Africans are more Euro-mixed with higher propensity for body hair.

All hair follicles are androgen sensitive. Beard and body hair are triggered by DHT to grow. Their growth rate is mostly regulated by testosterone though.

 

[aero1976]

If you are not going to do as the study says, why bother? My doctor (hair transplant doctor) said take 2.5 mg every two days, or 1.25 a day, minimum amount.

Testicle pain? Might have to look into that because I have unexplained at least since i started finasteride.

 

[xRedStaRx]

If you are not going to do as the study says, why bother? My doctor (hair transplant doctor) said take 2.5 mg every two days, or 1.25 a day, minimum amount.

Testicle pain? Might have to look into that because I have unexplained at least since i started finasteride.

Your doctor is an idiot.

 

[aero1976]

Sure, cause internet trolls know so much more.

There is nothing to show you all trying to save 25 cents a day works.

 

[californiaoceans911]

If you are not going to do as the study says, why bother? My doctor (hair transplant doctor) said take 2.5 mg every two days, or 1.25 a day, minimum amount.

Testicle pain? Might have to look into that because I have unexplained at least since i started finasteride.

FYI, Merck did a study after the clinical trials in which they admit, and I quote: "Part 1 of this study [doses = 25, 50, 100 mg] demonstrated that finasteride was more potent in man than expected...after 8 days of treatment, all doses [0.04,0.12,0.2, and 1.0 mg] of finasteride resulted in similar suppression of DHT"

The problem here, and this is rampant among Americans, is that you think your doctor is automatically a genius because he/she made it through med school.

Fact: Not all physicians are created equally.
Fact: Not all physicians care about you.
Fact: Not all physicians have your best interest in mind.

Not saying physicians are evil, just saying that you should take what everyone says with a grain of salt unless you are fully aware of their capabilities. When I walk into a doctor's office I am fully aware of how competent of a physician they are, because every time I am at the very minimum their equal in intelligence.

 

[aero1976]

If you only knew my history with Doctors you would laugh making that comment. But they probably do know more than we do on the subject. I saw the study. It is not full effect when you take less and if you are going to go to the trouble to take the pill everyday then why not take the amount they say to? Why be so obsessed as to come to this forum then do one of the only few things you can to help yourself and do it half assed.

 

[xRedStaRx]

Sure, cause internet trolls know so much more.

There is nothing to show you all trying to save 25 cents a day works.

A hair transplant doctor would have not gone through countless papers like some of us have, nor understand the pharmacodynamics of a medicine. Don't be an idiot as well.

 

[aero1976]

Mine wrote a text book with one other. Doesn't mean he is perfect, but most likely means he spent time on finding out about 1 of two drugs you can take. Your being ignorant. Take .16 mg. No skin off my back. But why act like it works when some will come here and believe what you say just because you said it?

 

[xRedStaRx]

Mine wrote a text book with one other. Doesn't mean he is perfect, but most likely means he spent time on finding out about 1 of two drugs you can take. Your being ignorant. Take .16 mg. No skin off my back. But why act like it works when some will come here and believe what you say just because you said it?

He wrote a textbook on hair transplants? So what? He is still a cosmetic surgeon, and neither a biochemist nor a pharmacist.

The fact that he said you should take 1.25 mg a day minimum tells a lot about his knowledge on the subject of medicine.

 

[aero1976]

He is aware I might be cutting my 5mg pills. Also aware a urologist put me on 5mg pills as a possible ward off of prostate cancer which is why the drug even exist, and enlargement of the prostate. I will remember to have my attorney go over my post to appease you next time. Yes just a cosmetic surgeon. Still more knowledgable then you as a fry cook at McDonalds.

 

[xRedStaRx]

He is aware I might be cutting my 5mg pills. Also aware a urologist put me on 5mg pills as a possible ward off of prostate cancer which is why the drug even exist, and enlargement of the prostate. I will remember to have my attorney go over my post to appease you next time. Yes just a cosmetic surgeon. Still more knowledgable then you as a fry cook at McDonalds.

Yet even more incompetence of your so called physicians, it would be wise if you stop posting.

Finasteride does not ward off prostate cancer, it increases your risk for high-grade prostate cancer due to more estrogen exposure at the tissue level. Good luck with that.

The drug originally existed to relive the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and potentially avoid surgery.

 

[californiaoceans911]

Sure, cause internet trolls know so much more.

There is nothing to show you all trying to save 25 cents a day works.

Let me address this jerk:

1. I'm not cutting pills to save money, I have plenty of money...I'm not even trying to minimize sexual side effects. What I AM trying to do is take the minimum dose I have to in order to keep my hair. Finasteride not only blocks DHT but other chemicals as well. In an ideal world, I want to only block the amount of DHT I need to in order to halt hair loss. Thus I would be minimizing the amount of other, surely important, hormones that are inhibited by finasteride intake. Also, the effects of finasteride on a person's liver are not yet understood. So why the hell would I force more strain on my liver by taking 10 times the amount of something that I need to keep my hair?

[h=3]"The cause of liver injury associated with finasteride is not known. Finasteride is an azosteroid and is extensively metabolized in the liver via the cytochrome P450 system (CYP 3A4) and a relatively toxic intermediate might cause the mild serum enzyme elevations that can occur with therapy." - National Institute of Health[/h]
2. Don't compare me to your hair transplant surgeon, because it just makes me laugh. I am a well published author in materials engineering with a PhD from one of the top universities in the world. Your hair transplant surgeon publishing once or twice doesn't impress me. Poor papers get published all the time in sub-par journals.

If you're not going to contribute in a positive way to the thread than please take your insulting comments elsewhere.

 

[aero1976]

Let me address this jerk:

1. I'm not cutting pills to save money, I have plenty of money...I'm not even trying to minimize sexual side effects. What I AM trying to do is take the minimum dose I have to in order to keep my hair. Finasteride not only blocks DHT but other chemicals as well. In an ideal world, I want to only block the amount of DHT I need to in order to halt hair loss. Thus I would be minimizing the amount of other, surely important, hormones that are inhibited by finasteride intake. Also, the effects of finasteride on a person's liver are not yet understood. So why the hell would I force more strain on my liver by taking 10 times the amount of something that I need to keep my hair?

"The cause of liver injury associated with finasteride is not known. Finasteride is an azosteroid and is extensively metabolized in the liver via the cytochrome P450 system (CYP 3A4) and a relatively toxic intermediate might cause the mild serum enzyme elevations that can occur with therapy." - National Institute of Health


2. Don't compare me to your hair transplant surgeon, because it just makes me laugh. I am a well published author in materials engineering with a PhD from one of the top universities in the world. Your hair transplant surgeon publishing once or twice doesn't impress me. Poor papers get published all the time in sub-par journals.

If you're not going to contribute in a positive way to the thread than please take your insulting comments elsewhere.

My first post was incredibly positive. To post that it is proper to take less than you should is irresponsible and maybe you should think twice about posting here. People attack posters like locust here, so if I was negative I would fit right in. Worried about liver function? Then don't take finasteride.