"Alternative" Finasteride Dosing Frequency

[TheSkunk]

Hi,

Has anyone tried any alternative dosing schedules for finasteride (ie 1 day on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 4 days off?), or can refer me to any good posts on the topic? I can't seem to find anything relevant in the search engines.

I have found people using much lower daily doses than the 1mg, but numerous studies show far, far lower doses to have the same effects on serum DHT as 1mg, so I am of the mindset that simply reducing the daily dose will not alleviate the side effects and impact on HPTA.

I am really interested how Alternative DOSING FREQUENCIES could help alleviate side effects. Considering male pattern baldness is related to long term destructive effects of DHT in the scalp, perhaps simply "clearing scalp DHT " occasionally could be beneficial, without causing full systemic effects?

I am thinking since the half life is approximately 6 hours, and some reports have shown as little as .05mg to have strong systemic effects, it would theoretically take up to 36 hours for your body to metabolize the finasteride below the potential effective dose. Therefore, maybe dosing every 48 or 72 hours may be sufficient to "clear" the DHT from the scalp, without allowing your body's hormonal checks-and-balances to shut down your HPTA which seems to lead to the reported side effects.

Does anyone have any references, or comments? If anyone is having success with this currently, PLEASE TELL ME. Alternatively for those scientists out there, maybe a 2 day on 3 day off or 3 day on 4 day of cycle might work?

THANKS

 

[Mopless]

I take 1mg finasteride every other day to save money. finasteride has a nearly flat dose, NEARLY flat dose. 1mg finasteride still works better than say 0.25mg finasteride, but only by very little. The antiandrogen affects of finasteride last for around three days. Actually, let me be a little more clear on that, it takes 3 days after taking finasteride for your body to begin raising its DHT levels up. So yes, you can take it every other day and it will be nearly as effective as a daily dose.

There are more than a few people taking alternative doses, so I'm sure more will pip in.

 

[Todd]

0.5 every other day.

 

[litcII]

Hey Todd, how is the 0.5mg every other day working out for you? Is it maintaining your hair? Any sides? Any sheds? How long have you been doing this for?

 

[Todd]

Hey Todd, how is the 0.5mg every other day working out for you? Is it maintaining your hair? Any sides? Any sheds? How long have you been doing this for?

Working great! Use it with nizoral 2% also every other day.

I started out with 1mg four or five years ago (don´t remember really), and then reduced both dose and frequency because of side effects. Halved frequency a little over one and a half year ago, then halved the dose about 6-7 months ago.
No change in shedding or hair quality, a complete absence of side effects.

I should point out, that I started early. My goal was to mantain, and that is what finasteride does for me. I added nizoral as a sort of "back- up". Effect or no effects, at least it makes my scalp nice and clean.