There are a lot of different views and thoughts on these two products in the forums. It's got my head spinning like a top!! I apologize if this question is a no-brainer, but can anyone tell me what the difference is between these two drugs?? Any successes or failures with the products or side effects??
Proscar vs. Propecia
- Thread starter phil123
- Start date
phil123 said:
Proscar and Propecia contain the same chemical, finasteride, but Proscar contains 5-times as much as Propecia (5 vs. 1 mg). Proscar is meant for BPH whereas Propecia is meant for hairloss. Since both drugs cost the same per pill, it is cheap and effective to just buy Proscar and chop it up with a pill cutter or knife into 4ths or 5ths.
D.
... well ...
I was prescribed Proscar 1/4 tablet three times a week, even though the actual prescription said to take 1/4 tablet every second day. I currently take it Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. This was prescribed by an hair transplant surgeon.
I just had an appointment with a leading dermatologist/hair loss expert who has suspicions about dividing up Proscar. First of all, he said that since much of the 5mg Proscar is just filler, each 1/4 of the tablet may not have an equal amount of Finesteride; therefore, each dosage may be different each time you take it. Secondly, he said that Finesteride only stays in your system up to 8 hours after you take it, so if you don't take it every day, you are depriving your body of a steady dosage. Thirdly, he says that exposing the cut Proscar pill to the air may - and he stressed the word "may" - have a detrimental affect on the medication.
This is why he prefers prescribing Propecia 1mg/day instead of 1/4 Proscar every day.
Now regardless of what he said, after two and half months on my regimen of 1/4 Proscar three times a week along with 5% Minoxidil twice a day, Tricomin once a day, and Nizoral once a day, I can honestly say that my hair has thickened and there are new hairs on my receding temples.
So, I will continue my Proscar regimen (maybe bump it up to every second day). And by the way, absolutely no sides whatsoever.
I was prescribed Proscar 1/4 tablet three times a week, even though the actual prescription said to take 1/4 tablet every second day. I currently take it Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. This was prescribed by an hair transplant surgeon.
I just had an appointment with a leading dermatologist/hair loss expert who has suspicions about dividing up Proscar. First of all, he said that since much of the 5mg Proscar is just filler, each 1/4 of the tablet may not have an equal amount of Finesteride; therefore, each dosage may be different each time you take it. Secondly, he said that Finesteride only stays in your system up to 8 hours after you take it, so if you don't take it every day, you are depriving your body of a steady dosage. Thirdly, he says that exposing the cut Proscar pill to the air may - and he stressed the word "may" - have a detrimental affect on the medication.
This is why he prefers prescribing Propecia 1mg/day instead of 1/4 Proscar every day.
Now regardless of what he said, after two and half months on my regimen of 1/4 Proscar three times a week along with 5% Minoxidil twice a day, Tricomin once a day, and Nizoral once a day, I can honestly say that my hair has thickened and there are new hairs on my receding temples.
So, I will continue my Proscar regimen (maybe bump it up to every second day). And by the way, absolutely no sides whatsoever.
nooc said:
This is wrong.
Pharmaceuticals are made in batches not as individual pills as this would be prohibitively expensive.
When a batch is mixed up the active ingredient must be consitently spread throughout, if this were not so there is a theoretical possibility that whole pills or even whole runs of pills could have no active ingredient.
Each part of a Proscar pill will have (within reason) equal amounts of finasteride.
Merck warn extensively against women handling 'broken or crushed' Propecia/Proscar pills and yet make no mention of any threat 'broken or crushed' pills may be under from contact with air.
There is no warning on the packet, blister or information sheet about air exposure.
http://img204.echo.cx/img204/4097/graph84xa.gif
this may be so, but dihydrotestosterone levels recover much slower and it these we need to focus on and not how much finasteride is in your blood.
TynanW said:
I think he meant that within each tablet, the finasteride is distributed randomly. Each tablet will have the 5mg of finasteride, but each tablet is different, therefore, when you cut it up in quarters, one quarter may have more finasteride in it than the next quarter. That's how I understood what he told me.
I dunno man. I'm not even sure how they produce tablets.
Here's my analogy - and forgive me, but it's the best I can come up with since I just woke up.
Let's say you're making chocolate chip cookies (wow, this is going to sound stupid) and each has ten chips in it and the rest is cookie dough (I really ought to shut up now). Let's say they are produced on a conveyor belt. Well, each cookie will have the ten chips, but they are at random spots in the cookie. If you divide it up into fourths, each section will have a different amount of chips.
I assume that's similar to the 5mg Proscar production. Each tablet has 5mg of finasteride but because the rest of the tablet is filler, the finasteride is distributed differently in each one. I mean, they made the pill so you could consume it whole - I don't think they were anticipating people splitting it up into fourths, so distributing the finasteride evenly in each one wasn't a concern of theirs.
And might I add, that analogy is probably the dumbest thing I've ever written. Maybe it's not my hair I'm losing but my mind instead. Apologies if I am waaaaaayyyyy off the mark.
Does anyone know have a good link to find out how tablets are produced?
Here's my analogy - and forgive me, but it's the best I can come up with since I just woke up.
Let's say you're making chocolate chip cookies (wow, this is going to sound stupid) and each has ten chips in it and the rest is cookie dough (I really ought to shut up now). Let's say they are produced on a conveyor belt. Well, each cookie will have the ten chips, but they are at random spots in the cookie. If you divide it up into fourths, each section will have a different amount of chips.
I assume that's similar to the 5mg Proscar production. Each tablet has 5mg of finasteride but because the rest of the tablet is filler, the finasteride is distributed differently in each one. I mean, they made the pill so you could consume it whole - I don't think they were anticipating people splitting it up into fourths, so distributing the finasteride evenly in each one wasn't a concern of theirs.
And might I add, that analogy is probably the dumbest thing I've ever written. Maybe it's not my hair I'm losing but my mind instead. Apologies if I am waaaaaayyyyy off the mark.
Does anyone know have a good link to find out how tablets are produced?
Cassin
Senior Member
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TynanW said:
Exactly
It's not like the pills are on an asemble line and little pill chefs are scooping little spoons full of finasteride into a little pill cups.
I am aproaching 2 years on Proscar after 6 months of Propecia, I would a Norwood 7 if it didn't work.
Set your worries about this aside, focus on mind reading alien devices. Or a*** probes. :shock:
Solo
Experienced Member
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I don´t have precise knowledge about this fact, but I´ve read somewhere when I was in university, that in pill production there is a step in the fabrication process where active ingredients and excipients got mixed by whatever process (solution and dry evaporation, centrifugation, mass gravimetry...) until homogeneum mixture produces, then they proceed to compactation and coating, but I´m not sure.
But I know for sure that it is much more difficult to locate the active ingredient assimetrically or sparsely than uniformly in the pill, and it is, also, quite a meaningless action.
But I know for sure that it is much more difficult to locate the active ingredient assimetrically or sparsely than uniformly in the pill, and it is, also, quite a meaningless action.
So, in simple terms, you are saying that cutting Proscar into fourths doesn't yield the same amount of Finesteride in each portion?
BTW, I'm not trying to promote Proscar or Propecia. I'm quite happy with my results and lack of side effects as a result of my 1/4 Proscar three times a week.
BTW, I'm not trying to promote Proscar or Propecia. I'm quite happy with my results and lack of side effects as a result of my 1/4 Proscar three times a week.
nooc
Your analogy is not applicable to the chocolate chip but it is applicable to the dough.
In batch production the only way Merck can guarantee that each pill contains 5mg of active ingredient is to have this active ingredient consistently mixed into the whole batch.
When they produce each pill they don't just hope that they catch enough finasteride to meet their legal obligations, they must guarantee this.
Your analogy is not applicable to the chocolate chip but it is applicable to the dough.
In batch production the only way Merck can guarantee that each pill contains 5mg of active ingredient is to have this active ingredient consistently mixed into the whole batch.
When they produce each pill they don't just hope that they catch enough finasteride to meet their legal obligations, they must guarantee this.
juststarting
Established Member
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I love this one. Making pills is now analagous to baking chocolate chip cookies. Small wonder I don't come to this forum much anymore...
nooc said:
Sorry, I didn't mean to try to express an idea with a simple analogy that hopefully the average person might be able to understand. I guess your superior intellect must have been offended.
I'm not a scientist or a pharmacist, but now that I think about it, I have an uncle who is one. Let me ask him and I'll post his reply.
I'm not a baker either.
I'm not a scientist or a pharmacist, but now that I think about it, I have an uncle who is one. Let me ask him and I'll post his reply.
I'm not a baker either.