How safe is low dose Dutasteride?

[Flipperdipper]

Hello

I'm 19 years old and I am slowly noticing a receding hairline. Everyone on my dads side is bald, but everyone on my moms side has a full set of hair. They say I look like I'm from my mothers side, but I'm hairy as my fathers side. Fathers side has a history of high DHT levels (backed with blood work). I wouldn't be surprised if I had male pattern baldness. I'm at Norwood Scale - 1 right now.
I have extremely thick, coarse, dark body hair. I don't know if that's important.

I wasn't interested in treating my hair, because I never noticed until I started to pay attention. I planned to run arimidex, an aromatase inhibitor for other reasons. I have above normal levels of estrogen and low testosterone levels. I'm over weight, so I know this will help. Arimidex will lower estrogen by up to 60%, and increase testosterone by 50%. We can expect more DHT, which is something I'm not really interested in.

I plan to take low levels of Arimidex. Around .25 mg EOD. This isn't much. I should be fine. The problem is dutasteride. The side effects I've read are really scary. Not just dutasteride, but finasteride as well. I've noticed that a lot of people tend to take massive doses though? I was planning on using .5 mg of dutasteride twice a week. No more.

I know there is corruption in the medical industrial complex, but it would be foolish to assume that a company would get away in this situation. I'm sure finasteride/dutasteride has side effects, but how common is it?

Thanks

 

[kthxbi]

brother, if youre scared of finasteride then you should run for the hills at the first sign of dutasteride. it might not even be male pattern baldness but to be honest i'd say get on a very small dose of finasteride and stick with it no matter how boring it is or if it seems like a waste of money. get a generic so that you're not paying a bomb for it and then you can forget about it really - if you're not bald in 5 years, don't come off it, just assume that it stopped your progress.
you could be a lucky one but sh*t i wish i'd got on finasteride 1 year ago instead of now. that short of a time can make the difference between ''slightly receding maybe'' and having to style your hair in a way to cover up the recession.

i really think get on generic finasteride and forget it. wouldn't touch dutasteride this early on.

 

[Bryan]

I plan to take low levels of Arimidex. Around .25 mg EOD. This isn't much. I should be fine.

I agree that that isn't much, but you should still do that only under medical supervision!

The problem is dutasteride. The side effects I've read are really scary. Not just dutasteride, but finasteride as well. I've noticed that a lot of people tend to take massive doses though? I was planning on using .5 mg of dutasteride twice a week. No more.

When you take dutasteride doses that low, the results are fairly similar to what you get with typical doses of finasteride (unless, of course, you're genetically very sensitive to dutasteride, or INsensitive to it, for that matter). You may simply want to get finasteride, and use low-to-moderate doses of it.

 

[Rutt]

How bad are the sides on dutasteride? I haven't seen any posts on the forums about it

according to the wiki article it's mostly impotence (~4.7% for month 0-6 falling to about 1% thereafter) and decreased libido/ejaculation disorder..

but also 0.5 -1.1% experience "breast disorders"

what is that?

Frankly those dont seem to be that bad if it works better then finasteride, but if that sideffect is gyno [something permanant unlike the others] then its a big downside.

i suppose such a long half life means that while the effects aren't temporary, their transient time is gonna be as long as a month or more .. that sucks

 

[Bryan]

i suppose such a long half life means that while the effects aren't temporary, their transient time is gonna be as long as a month or more .. that sucks

The half-life of dutasteride depends on how much you take. At the low dose the original poster is talking about (a couple capsules per week), it'll probably be only on the order of maybe three or four days or so, or maybe slightly longer.

 

[Rutt]

How bad are the sides on dutasteride? I haven't seen any posts on the forums about it

according to the wiki article it's mostly impotence (~4.7% for month 0-6 falling to about 1% thereafter) and decreased libido/ejaculation disorder..

but also 0.5 -1.1% experience "breast disorders"

what is that?

Frankly those dont seem to be that bad if it works better then finasteride, but if that sideffect is gyno [something permanant unlike the others] then its a big downside.

i suppose such a long half life means that while the effects aren't temporary, their transient time is gonna be as long as a month or more .. that sucks

Look! Finasteride and Dutasteride do the same exact thing to your body, only Dutasteride does it to the extreme. So any side effects from Finasteride would be much less than Dutasteride. Finasteride works by inhibiting the enzyme 5 Alpha Reductase type 2, in contrast Dutasteride inhibits both Alpha Reductase type 2, and 1. Type one is found in the human brain and it's exact function has yet to be determined......


So how do you think that Dutasteride is safer?

Less people use Dutasteride for hair loss, that is why you do not see as many horror stories about it here...

whoa man, calm down I dont think it's safer, at all. I'm not the OP (not that he think it is either)

I want to switch to it and i want to know what the sides are like but like you said, i can't find much on the forum about it.

 

[Flipperdipper]

I would do finasteride, but I don't know the dosage scheme. As well as don't know where to get it online.

 

[isildurrr]

sorry im new but what is GENERIC finasteride?

 

[Todd]

In the clinical trials, 0.5mg of dutasteride DAILY was considered well tolerated (whatever that means), with similar side effects like finasteride.

However: even though dutasteride is being used off- label by many doctors to treat aggressive male pattern baldness, and current data shows it to be relatively safe, I still wouldn't recommend it.
Finasteride has been on the market since 1998, and have a huge clinical database proving it safe, even for long term use (5-10 years).
Stick to finasteride, is my advice, and give it 12 months.
Add minoxidil and nizoral and you will be amazed at the results.

 

[Todd]

sorry im new but what is GENERIC finasteride?

Generic finasteride is finasteride that isn't propecia.
Propecia is a trademark drug produced and synthesized by Merck, but the only active ingredient is finasteride.

Other companies can produce the same substance, but they can't call it propecia since that is a trademark name.
Therefore the "generic" finasteride.

 

[casken]

When you take dutasteride doses that low, the results are fairly similar to what you get with typical doses of finasteride (unless, of course, you're genetically very sensitive to dutasteride, or INsensitive to it, for that matter).

Can you explain this genetic sensitivity or insensitivity a bit more please?

 

[Bryan]

When you take dutasteride doses that low, the results are fairly similar to what you get with typical doses of finasteride (unless, of course, you're genetically very sensitive to dutasteride, or INsensitive to it, for that matter).

Can you explain this genetic sensitivity or insensitivity a bit more please?

A study came out a while back that found that the DHT-lowering effects of those two drugs (finasteride and dutasteride) can vary some in a given person, depending (apparently) on his genetic make-up. Some people react better to finasteride, some react better to dutasteride.

 

[Todd]

A study came out a while back that found that the DHT-lowering effects of those two drugs (finasteride and dutasteride) can vary some in a given person, depending (apparently) on his genetic make-up. Some people react better to finasteride, some react better to dutasteride.

Bryan: I seem to recall reading about this somewhere (had something to do with the number of AGC- units on the end of the AR- receptor gene or something), but I can't seem to find it anywhere!

Do you know who conducted this study, or do you maybe have a link?

 

[Bryan]

Bryan: I seem to recall reading about this somewhere (had something to do with the number of AGC- units on the end of the AR- receptor gene or something), but I can't seem to find it anywhere!

It wouldn't have anything to do with the androgen receptor gene! You must be confusing it with the androgen receptor polymorphism that's strongly associated with balding.

The thing I'm talking about would have to do with the 5a-reductase enzyme itself, not the androgen receptor.

Do you know who conducted this study, or do you maybe have a link?

All I know about the study is from the link somebody posted about it, and I don't have it anymore. Sorry.

 

[Todd]

It wouldn't have anything to do with the androgen receptor gene! You must be confusing it with the androgen receptor polymorphism that's strongly associated with balding.

I am!

Leave it to Bryan to sort out my faulty associations

Thanks