Cutting Proscar into 1/8ths

[PCM]

Hi all,

i don't think is a side effects post, rather a dosage question, but if it is I apologize and you can move it, mods.

If you want to check my previous side effects post- you can find it here:

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=33474


Proscar 1.25mg has done amazing things for my hair - been on it 3 months now and it's coming back nice and thick and the diffuse thinning was really coming fast before i jumped on meds.

However, I'm having libido problems. i also had back acne for a few weeks but it's since subsided. I'd like to try cutting my dose in half to .625 to see if the sexual sides reduce. I was able to get the pill cutter to cut approximate 1/8ths but obviously they aren't perfect and there's a bit of variation from piece to piece. Will this be ok? Will the pills remain effective if there's say .1mg variation?

I can't afford propecia and these proscars are tough to cut. I've pretty much decided to quit proscar if the sexual side effects don't subside and try some topical solutions. I don't want to be eating horny goat weed for the rest of my life.

So to recap:

1) Are those 1/8 proscar pills with slight variation ok?

2) How long should i give my body to adjust before i accept low libido as a side effect that won't go away?

3) If I quit proscar and try something else and it doesn't work, will i be able to return to the state I'm at right now with some thickening, or will the loss I would sustain while off proscar be irreversable?


THANKS!

 

[Guest]

Yes, the variation will be fine. It takes a number of days for the 5AR enzyme to start producing again and a variation that small will likely have no effect at all. In fact some people use an every other day (EOD) finasteride regimen and has been recommended by some doctors. I just recently started a 0.25mg EOD Finax regimen.

That's pretty good to be able to get that pill into 1/8ths. Any chance you can post pics of it?

I wonder if an exacto could get those 1/8ths down into half. That would just about get my my 0.25mg but would save even MORE money!

 

[PCM]

I use this exact pill cutter and make sure it's new and sharp---

The key is to make sure the pill is wedged perfectly into the "V" of the device for the first cuts . Then I take the halfs and put the rounded curve of the half moon directly into the cutting "V" for the second cut (to cut into 1/4's). Take the 1/4's and reverse the process - put the wedge (cut edges) into the "V" so that it's lodged tightly. If your fingers are unsteady use a paperclip (straightened) to push it in tight. Slowly close the lid while peeking in from the end until the blade makes contact. Make sure the cut is smooth and quickly clamp shut ensuring a tight cut. too fast and you'll crush it, too slow and you'll crush it. i got it right after about 3 pills and then flew through a bunch.

No pics right now, but maybe I'll take some next time around - I've got a few weeks now out of just a few pills!!


good luck!

 

[Guest]

PCM, you're able to cut proscar pills into 1/8ths with this pill cutter?!

 

[PCM]

yessir... It takes a few tries to get it right but proscar's so cheap give it a go. here are some pics from my cameraphone:

 

[Guest]

holy schnap! Are those precut pieces in the bottom half of the 2nd picture?

Do you think there's ANY chance you would be able to cut this into 1/16th?! If you would be willing to give it a try I'd sure appreciate that.

I'm currently using 0.25mg finasteride and if it's possible to cut that 1/8th down in half once again I could save a lot more money by simply using 0.3125mg of finasteride (1/16th of a proscar/fincar/finast).

Where did you get that pill splitter from again?

 

[Cassin]

I got one just like it from walgreens.

 

[PCM]

holy schnap! Are those precut pieces in the bottom half of the 2nd picture?

They're not all cut yet- there's a couple larger pieces in there too

Do you think there's ANY chance you would be able to cut this into 1/16th?! If you would be willing to give it a try I'd sure appreciate that.

i think you could do it, but you'd have a pretty high failure rate. the blue coating would be pretty minimal on a 1/16 pill and it would have trouble holding together. Thing is, it's so damn cheap that even with a 50% failure rate which would be very high - it'd probably still be worth it. Propecia is extremely expensive and insurance won't touch it. My proscar co-pay was like 8 bucks and that gave me almost 6 months supply.

Where did you get that pill splitter from again?

Can't remember... CVS or Walgreens??

 

[Guest]

Oh so you're using the Merck proscar than? I'd be using generic if I could get it into 1/16th's. Fincar or Finast. I don't think those have a coating around it. At least my Finax doesn't which is the Dr. Reddy's generic propecia.

http://www.hairpharmacy.com/product_finast.html

For $40 (including shipping) I'd end up with 480 individual doses.

 

[DonaldAnderson]

my proscar doesnt look like that.

 

[Nathaniel]

my proscar doesnt look like that.

I was thinking exactly this. Where you get yours PCM?

 

[bubka]

it looks like cipla generic

 

[Guest]

PCM, I picked me up one of those same pill splitters at the grocery store the other day for a couple of bucks. I'll just be using it to cut my Finax into fourths (0.25mg doses). It seems like it would take a little bit of skill to get the pill into 8ths (albeit not too difficult) but I don't think I could see splitting that one more time into 1/16ths. Maybe if the pill was laid sideways at that point but I'd probably be considered that the finasteride istelf wasn't spread uniformly throughout the pill to GET exactly 1/16ths of finasteride, and I might end up getting 0g of finasteride in one 1/16th chunk (rather than 0.31mg) and something like 1mg in another 1/16th chunk.

Does anyone know IF in fact the active ingredients is typically spread uniform throughout the whole pill or if what I mentioned above could in fact happen?

 

[bubka]

how in the hell could they manufacture a pill to be regulated to be 1 / 5 mg each and it not be uniform throughout?

 

[beaner]

how in the hell could they manufacture a pill to be regulated to be 1 / 5 mg each and it not be uniform throughout?

They can't. This is a very common misbelief that I've read a million times on this forum...or perhaps myth created by pharm companies to prevent pill splitting. Just based on the compression process by which pills are made the drug would have to be evenly distributed or there would be no way to regulate the amount of drug in each pill.

 

[Guest]

how in the hell could they manufacture a pill to be regulated to be 1 / 5 mg each and it not be uniform throughout?

Not sure, I'm not a chemical engineer, hence why I asked.

 

[bubka]

exactly, you cannot, thats why it is equally throughout, thus the rhetorical question