Dosage/lessening potential side effects?

[87david]

I think I’m going to go ahead and try Proscar, but I have a few questions that I hope can be answered by the more experienced users. I know the proper dosage of finasteride is 1mg; however, I have seen several times on this board that many people only take .5mg daily (although sometimes I see this is done to try and alleviate existing side effects). I've also seen a few people take 1.25mg every other day. Is there any advantage to deviate from the recommended dosage? Is .5mg sufficient for the reduction of DHT?

My other question relates to mitigating potential finasteride side effects. I have seen three products, although I know there are many more, which people suggest to counter the increased levels of estrogen while on Proscar/Propecia:

DIM
Calcium D-Glucarate
Beta-Sitosterol.

Are these natural products helpful in reducing the possibility of side effects? I am already taking Beta-Sitosterol approx 350mg daily. Can I take this concurrently with Proscar? I ask this because I’ve seen on the web and on some boards that Beta-Sitosterol is a treatment for the reduction of DHT in of itself, and not merely as an anti-estrogen.

Thanks for helping, any is much appreciated.

 

[hulltras]

well i started cutting my proscar into 1/5th early August. Had acne outbreak, pily forehead, watery jizz (still have it) and my head seems to be itching far more!!

so as of last week i 1/4 the proscar and take one every other day; equivalent of 0.625 per day.

i did this as i want to hopefully get my jizz back to normall levels and reduce the potential for any other side-effects. however, note that everyone is different. i personally do not hold much hope in finasteride and am starting to think that perhaps there is nothing i can do but i will carry on and see what happens.

just monitor body but do not over-monitor, allowing yourself to be scared.

i must admitt though everytime i take the 1/4 i feel guilty and worried as to what i am doing to myself but i suppose i am willing to take the risk.

in regards to the suppliments you listed to counter finasteride i dont have a clue, but personally think too many drugs in your system is not healthy.

i stick with 0.625 finasteride daily, nizoral and aloe vera shampoo, and 750mg MSM daily.

its a bastard but it will take time, but at least you i can lay in bed now knowing i am giving myself a good chance.

good luck

 

[87david]

Hulltras, thanks for your input. I don't see too many people take the supplements I listed. But I think I'll go ahead and supplement Proscar with Beta-Sitosterol. I'll keep my dosage of Beta-Sitosterol the same, but try Proscar with only .5mg daily and see what happens.

I see that you're taking 750mg of MSM daily. I usually see most people take 2000mg or greater daily. I personally take 3000mg. But sorry to hear about your bumpy start with Proscar. I personally take confidence in the fact that many people in the "success stories" of this site use finasteride. Keep the faith.

 

[follijinxed]

I noticed my chest getting a little bigger and my entire upper body felt like it had a thin layer of blubber around it. Nobody noticed but me, though I did get some comments on how my chest looked larger. I have a naturally muscular chest as it is.

This was from taking propecia 1mg EOD for 3 months. I just bought some proscar but have decided to go back to propecia at a lowered dosage. I have tried cutting proscar into 1/8 but its not working out very well. I'll try to sell the proscar or wait until I'm daring enough to go 1mg eod again.

For the last week or so I've gone back to 0.5mg eod and my body seems to have returned back to normal. I lift weights and run but my body looks more trim and lean again instead of kinda big and buff. Once my shipment of propecia comes in I am going to try 0.33mg every day.

I think my hair is definitely starting to look thicker. I'll see if 0.33mg will do the trick too and keep the process going. Supposedly, as little as 0.2mg of finasteride is supposed to grow 81% as much hair as 1mg.

I haven't tried those supplements but I hear DIM is supposed to work well. Let me know how those beta-sitosterol pills work.