I have been on Proscar 1/4 tablet (1.25 mg) for about 4-5 months and it is working great for me as it has completely stopped my hairs from falling out. However, I am experiencing some side effects, such as reduced sex drive, reduced amount of semen, and some other side effects. I am thinking of switching to every other day regime.

I know that finastride half life is 48+ (about 72 hours) and even if you take it every other day, it should work just fine. However, here is my question:

Has anyone here tried swtiching to ever other day regime after taking proscar or propecia evey day for a few months? Did it really work just fine or did you experience some hair loss once you switched to EOD regime? How did your body reacted to lowering the fin dosage?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am seriously thinking of lowering my dosage.

Thanks.
KamCal

I want to hear the answer to this one as well. I dont not want to risk my results of switching to every other day as well.

I understand JOBI. I know Hairbank is taking it EOD but he started it that way. I am not sure if any one took the risk and lowered the dosage after being on it everyday for a while. I think I am going to be the first one.

Maybe a doctor's input on this could benefit many of us who are hesitating to lower the dosage.


Thanks.
KamCal

Dr. Beehner has recommended on this site taking 1 or 1.25 finasteride Monday- Wednesday & Friday since it has a long enough half life and has proven to be almost as effective as daily dosing.
I am 10 weeks post hair transplant and doing great with my post op regimen which ncludes 1.25 finasteride every day plus Rogaine foam twice a day.
I am having some side effects and plan to switch to the Beehner recommendation in at 6 months post op. I also plan to cut dowm on the Rogaine foam to once a day.
I am waiting to decrease both to give the post op growth a good chance to benefit from these treatments.

I take it MON WED FRI also after taking it everyday and feel its eliminated all side effects with no lose of any additional hair.
After hours and hours of research on this topic Ive believe everyday is overkill but thats just my opinion

Thanks KulMD and PGP for your input. PGP it is very encouraging to hear that you have had personal experience with decreasing the dosage of fin and still get the same benefit with no more side effect.

I think I will do the same as KulMD. I am 4.5 months post op and I beleive the med is working. But the side is just driving me crazy as I am scared to do some damage to those organs.

I think I will wait a few more months to get the max benefit from it after my HT and then cut back to EOD regime to hopefully maintain what I have gained from HT and the ED regime.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks.
KamCal

PLEASE GROW PLEASE, What have you come up with researching Finesteride/Proscar that you've concluded every other day is a sufficient amount to use?

The halflife of propecia, the time it takes for the regeneration 5 Alpha reductase enzyme,lots of testimonials ,doctors imput ,but most importantly how I feel now and how the effectiveness has not faded. I started using 1.25 everyday destroyed the dht and just figured I could keep it down with less doses It was confirmed through bloodwork that it was a good choice . The dht levels were the same after the mon wed fri doses. .Was that a placebo effect since the dht levels were still the same ,well that I dont know but the side effects are gone completley

PGP, I didn't know blood work was analyzed for DHT and do you request that specfically when you go for the blood work?

I would like to add my two cents to this issue.

I,too,have been taking Propecia for about three years. I have been taking it everyday. It has worked great as far as my hair. It stopped my hair loss and it regrew considerable hair in the crown. Unfortunately, I have recently been experiencing some minor sexual side effects that I am worried may increase in severity. I have been thinking of modifying my Propecia usage to taking 1 mg. every other day or taking a half of tablet (i.e. .5 mg) every day to try to eliminate these sides. However, I am concerned that if I switch to 1 mg. every other day or a half a tablet each day, I will start losing hair. I am between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to risk losing any hair but I would like to eliminate these sides.

Can someone explain in more detail why taking Propecia every other day is just as beneficial to the hair as taking it every day? I am trying to think through this logically. In that regard, Propecia lowers the DHT levels in the blood and in the skin. Are there studies that show that taking Propecia every other day lowers DHT levels in both the blood and skin by the same percentage as every day usage of Propecia? Here is the other thing about Propecia and sexual sides that I do not understand. Lets's start with the premise that sexual side effects from Propecia such as loss of libido, erection problems, etc. occur because Propecia lowers DHT in the body. It has to be the reduction in DHT that causes sexual side effects. If the sexual side effects from Propecia occur because daily use of Propecia lowers blood levels of DHT by let's say 65% and if every other day usage of Propecia results in the same reduction in DHT levels, i.e. 65%, how can every other day usage of Propecia eliminate the sides? It would seem only logical to me that if every other day usage of Propecia eliminated the side effects that is because every other day usage does not suppress as much DHT, and, as such, the greater levels of DHT in the blood are what make the erection stronger, etc. In other words, if every day usage of Propecia and if every day usage lowers DHT levels by the same amount, what is it about the every other day usage that eliminates the sexual sides? Please Grow Please, Falc, Anyone. What am I missing here?