Advice for tapering?

General Discussion
#1

So from what i understand about this drug so far, it increases androgen receptors in a specific muscle group involved in regulating a lot of important functions in the body.

The increase is the natural bodily reaction to being deprived of DHT - the body makes more receptors.

But when the drug is stopped, the extra receptors make the muscles vulnerable to deterioration.

Currently I’m on 1.25mg every other day (my doc prescribed me 5mg for insurance reasons, which i split into fourths). What is your advice on the next dosage? I’m thinking 0.75. But should I go to every day so as to make it as regular as possible? I will schedule with my doc asap. Hopefully he can prescribe me 1mg tablets, at the very least. I do have a compounding pharmacy relatively close to me, though I’ll have to wait to get my car fixed. So normal doses are all I have atm.

How long should I stay on 0.75? A month? Two months? Every day or every other day? I just wanna get as many opinions as possible.

#2

Based on the half life of the drug, I’m under the impression that it’s all out of your system within a day anyway. I think you might already be stopping and starting, rather than maintaining a dose anyway.

#3

Tapering won’t gaurantee that you don’t get PFS but I still wish I did it instead of cold turkey.

Tapering generally should happen over the course of several weeks. I’ve heard people say they lower their dose by 0.25 mg every week and then once they get small enough they then reduced how often they take it (from every day you every other day, etc.)

#4

It’s not all out of your system in a day let alone its effects on DHT and other metabolites, that’s not how half-life works especially when you have been on the drug for a long time and secondly finasteride is a pseudo irreversible inhibitor meaning that its effects (and therefore reinstatement of DHT and other metabolites inhibited by finasteride) more closely mirror the half-life or turn over of the 5 alpha-reductase enzyme itself rather than finasteride (allot longer than the half life of finasteride). This question is best to be asked to a Dr preferably someone who prescribes finasteride regularly. Let your doctor know that finasteride has similar pharmacodynamics (i.e. drug turn over/metabolism etc) as an irreversible enzyme inhibitor (mechanism inhibitor) if he is not aware.

Just keep with your normal dosing schedule for the time being until you speak to a dr and work out a clear plan. It sounds like you’ve just quit other meds cold turkey you don’t want to quit other things all at once to save shocking your system too much. Just try to relax in the meantime. There is a helpful pack resource pack to give to your doctor when you see him PFS resource pack: letter and study abstracts for your doctor. Let him know in clear terms that PFS may have a withdrawal component (somewhat similar to SRRI withdrawal) and that you would like to come off the drug slowly.

@KJPA honestly bud if you can get an appointment with one of the docs who recognises PFS this may be a bit easier seeing as you’re in the US (doctors are listed on the foundation’s website). The good news is there is a decent chance you do not even have PFS seeing as you’re still on the drug, just try and make the most sensible choices. You have been on the drug a long time a few more weeks won’t make a difference.

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