Any point in taking dutasteride more than once a month?

[jambri]

The half life of dutasteride is known to be around 5 weeks, so I'm wondering if there is any good reason to take one pill per day? Shouldn't the drug theoretically be just as effective by taking one dose once per month?

It may be more convenient, and easier to remember, than taking a propecia pill every day.

Your thoughts appreciated, particularly the biochemistry boffins

 

[Bryan]

Dutasteride has a pretty remarkable half-life, but I think taking it only once a month would be really pushing it, and would result in blood serum swings of DHT that would be excessive. I personally consider once-weekly doses to be the bare minimum frequency that would be reasonably acceptable. But if you want to try it anyway, go ahead and take 30 capsules of Avodart once a month, and let us know how you make out!

 

[Nene]

Dutasteride has a pretty remarkable half-life, but I think taking it only once a month would be really pushing it, and would result in blood serum swings of DHT that would be excessive. I personally consider once-weekly doses to be the bare minimum frequency that would be reasonably acceptable. But if you want to try it anyway, go ahead and take 30 capsules of Avodart once a month, and let us know how you make out!

What if you take dutasteride once a month and the rest of the month take finasteride?

 

[Bryan]

What if you take dutasteride once a month and the rest of the month take finasteride?

I've never been a fan of taking both drugs at the same time, but it probably wouldn't hurt.

 

[jambri]

Bryan,

I wasn't thinking of taking 30 capsules once per month (were you joking?), but rather taking one capsule once per month. One capsule per week should really be fine doing this I'd imagine? Since the drug wouldn't really have degraded in the system significantly within only a week. It ought to still be at, say, 90% of its optimal efficiency.

 

[Bryan]

Bryan,

I wasn't thinking of taking 30 capsules once per month (were you joking?), but rather taking one capsule once per month.

I wasn't joking the least little bit! Taking only ONE Avodart capsule per month won't do you any good at all. The amount thoroughly tested to be required to have a good effect on medical problems like BPH and male pattern baldness is around 0.5 mg per day, which is 15 mg per month. Taking only 0.5 mg a month won't have any measurable effect.

What's probably confusing you is the fact that the half-life of dutasteride let's you be more flexible in the exact dosing schedule that you use to take the drug (like taking more of it on one day, followed by less of it on subsequent days); but you still have to take the same average amount of the drug, averaged over a week or two.

 

[jambri]

No... what's confusing me (or perhaps I am right?) is that the data for avodart/dutasteride shows that it blocks a very large amount of DHT from the very first day on the drug.

What is the half life of this first dose? My assumption is that the half life of the drug "is what it is", regardless of the amount taken. This half life is reported to be around 5 weeks.

That being the case, then I can't grasp why you'd need to take more than one pill per month. Some clarity on this would be interesting!

 

[nickypoos]

You seem to be confused.

I don't know where you got the facts of dutasteride working from the very first pill, that just isn't true. Bryan probably has the graph lying around of dutasterides effectiveness. Only after around 5months of 0.5mg a day does dutasteride peak in effectivness to around 92% DHT reduction. It takes 10 days at a dose of 2.5mg a day to reach optimum effectivness. Just becuase the half life of the drug is a very long time, does not mean you do not have to consisitantly take 0.5 mg. Your confusing half-life with effectivness.

 

[jambri]

Ok makes sense, I had the incorrect info

Thanks!

 

[Bryan]

I'll add a few more comments about this issue:

People always assume that the half-life of dutasteride in the blood is always the same impressive 4 to 5 weeks, regardless of how much you take. WRONG! The half-life is that long, only when you've reached "steady-state" levels of the drug by taking the full, recommended dose of the drug (0.5 mg/day) for a period time (about three months or so, if I remember correctly). The serum half-life drops off considerably at lower levels of the drug. The Gisleskog et al studies of dutasteride and finasteride state that at a certain lower blood level of the drug (I believe it's equivalent to taking about 0.1 mg/day), the half-life of dutasteride is only about 2 to 3 days! :shock:

As you can imagine, taking a SINGLE Avodart capsule in a month's time is going to suppress DHT a little for a day or two (probably to about Propecia levels), but then it's going to rapidly decline afterwards. The beauty and power of dutasteride is that it builds-up in the bloodstream when you take it every day, even at low individual doses like 0.5 mg. After three months of doing that every day, it has built-up to a large level which is capable of putting a really serious hurt on 5a-reductase!

 

[jambri]

Thanks Bryan.

My question was prompted by thinking about going on dutasteride instead of finasteride.

Do you see any "risk" of any kind with taking dutasteride right off the bat? (the alternative being going on finasteride first, then moving to dutasteride once finasteride becomes less noticeably effective).

 

[nickypoos]

I went straight onto dutasteride because I believe my hair loss is too aggressive to even bother with finasteride, of course I don't know for sure if finasteride wouldn't have stopped it but that was the risk i was willing to take in order to make sure I don't lose any more hair. Sure, everyone says go on finasteride and see what happens, but I for one didn't want to lose any more hair to find out.

Health wise, people will say avoid dutasteride because the half-life is so long, so if you get sides, they will probably be there for a long time unlike finasteride; however these sides aren’t permanent and will disappear eventually, so really it’s up to you which you take.

 

[but What about Today]

People say the half life after you finish taking dutasteride is long, so does that mean you get the benifits of dht blockage even after you stop taking it?

 

[Thinning Sucks]

I'm seeing a degradation of finasteride after 10 years and have now increased dosage to 2.5mg (this week). I wonder if adding .5mg-2.5mg of dutasteride a week would give me the "bump" I want without going through the dreaded massive shed faze I fear. I just can't have a massive shed now with the little hair remaining I have left....

 

[Bryan]

People say the half life after you finish taking dutasteride is long, so does that mean you get the benifits of dht blockage even after you stop taking it?

Sure. For a while.

 

[KP211]

I was taking dutasteride twice a week for a month, at first my libido was high witch I thought was weird, after a month my libido declined quit a bit and It was difficult to get an erection, so I recently quit taking internally and started opening up the pills and putting it in my minoxidil. I was putting eight pills in a full bottle of minoxidil spectral dnc. I think using dutasteride makes more sense but I can be wrong thats were we want it to end up anyway via the bloodstream.Just think you will have a lesser chance of getting sides. Just wondering if the half life of dutasteride is the same as a topical within the follicle.

 

[Bryan]

Over the years, there have been a few attempts to use finasteride topically that have been reported in the medical journals. The results of those attempts have varied widely and unpredictably. On the other hand, even though dutasteride has been available for a few years now, I've never heard of even ONE SINGLE ATTEMPT to use it topically in any study. Whether or not it works topically at all is anybody's guess.

 

[Hiker]

I'm switching from finasteride to dutasteride because finasteride is not working for me. Bryan, do you think 3x a week will work?

 

[Bryan]

I'm switching from finasteride to dutasteride because finasteride is not working for me. Bryan, do you think 3x a week will work?

On average, it should work a bit better than taking finasteride at the typical doses.

 

[Mens Rea]

Over the years, there have been a few attempts to use finasteride topically that have been reported in the medical journals. The results of those attempts have varied widely and unpredictably. On the other hand, even though dutasteride has been available for a few years now, I've never heard of even ONE SINGLE ATTEMPT to use it topically in any study. Whether or not it works topically at all is anybody's guess.

Id have to imagine it would be more effective than finasteride (however the question begs - how effective is topical finasteride, anyway?) ....but noone really has wanted to go that step yet for obvious reasons.

The bigger concern for me would be systemic absorption? what do you think personally about that?