Dutasteride and length of side effects

I recently discovered that Dutasteride has a half life of 4-5 weeks. I am considering getting off of Dutasteride (daily usage for about 3 years) completely because I feel like it is heavily contributing to my anxiety (timing is very similar). I am on no other hair loss remedies currently but have had one temporal area hair transplant. If I discontinue Dutasteride or take it less frequently, what therapies seem to be working for people nowadays? With such a long half-life, couldn’t Dutasteride hypothetically be taken once a week or potentially less and maybe still have similar results?

In theory, you are correct; with a long half-life, one would expect that a once-a-week dosing might be enough, but for reasons I personally don’t understand, dosage recommendations have been more frequent.  As the FDA has not cleared dutasteride for hair loss use, this is a real problem for doctors, i.e. to find the correct approved dose.  The blood levels may have a half-life of 4-5 weeks, but the tissues in which the dutasteride is embedded have a much longer presence in your body that could go up to a 1/2 year or more. That means if you get side effects, it may be a long time to get rid of them because dutasteride is in your tissues 6 or more months.