I Take a Cut Proscar Tablet 6 Times a Week
Hi i’ve currently been taking Proscar 5mg tablets cut into quarters I take it 6 times a week and have a 1 day break (so im intaking 7.5mg per week) I’ve been on the drug for close to 4 months. firstly is this acceptable or should I be looking to take it every single day?
Also my main question, I have alot of vellus like hairs some grow to a centimetre or so some are eternally lingering around 1mm, small and blonde my plan with finasteride is to revert these hairs back to the terminal stage, I’ve noticed my remaining terminal hairs look stronger right now but im wondering the rough timescale of when I should see my vellus hairs growing in stronger, I know everybody responds differently but if you could ball park the average for me and maybe explain what I should see process wise (does anything change to let me know etc) if the medication is working for me. Many thanks!
This should be discussed with the doctor that prescribed you the medication. In general, the recommended treatment for male pattern baldness is 1mg finasteride per day. Many patients break up the 5mg finasteride pill into four pieces and take 1.25 mg per day with no issues. The half life of finasteride (Propecia) is about 4 hours, so after 24 hours almost all of the medication is out of your blood stream (even if you took a 5mg dose or 1mg dose or 1.25mg dose). Thus, the medication is meant to be taken daily (without skipping) so that you maintain a consistent level in your blood stream. It is not a cumulative dose over a week. You cannot take a 7mg pill once every seven days and expect it to work the same as taking 1mg daily for 7 days.
Finally, without an examination I really do not have any way to know if the medication is working for you. Ideally, one would have a measurement done before you started the medication (such as a photograph, miniaturization study, or bulk measurements) and compare this with a follow-up measurement. Otherwise it is just a subjective guess.
The Propecia timeline for results can be found here.
Regarding the half life of 4 hours, I think finasteride’s effect on DHT lasts much longer than 4 hours. Because its not like after 4 hours or 4 days for that matter you lose all your hair that you have gained on the medicine. I dont think taking days off during the week will have any negative impact. Doctors have to tell you to take 1mg every day because they are salesmen for Merck and that is what they are told to say.
Yeah let’s ignore the proven half life of a medication because “dom” thinks it’s a lie. Sad. Dr Rassman has routinely said to take the split generic finasteride tablets to save costs, which is not sold or made by Merck. He doesn’t sound like much of a Merck salesman to me.
Geez Dom, the official instructions are to take 1mg every day and that’s what a doctor will advise – they’re not going to make something up different just for the sake of it…I don’t know why so many Propecia users think they are chemists who try all sorts of dosing combinations to try to “beat’ the prescribing info…Take one pill every morning and get on with your life – it’s a lot easier…
Dom
Advice from a clinical pharmacologist: the biological “half-life” of a drug (amount of time it takes for a substance to lose half of its pharmacological activity) is different from its duration of action. Best example; Cialis half-life (in normal volunteers) is around 17.5 hrs, duration of action: up to 36 hrs. Half-life does not equal duration of action.
can you give us the duration of action for 1mg Fin?
thanks