I'M QUITTING FINASTERIDE | Here's Why

Key wellness / self-care / productivity strategies mentioned

• Health-focused “lock-in” routine to support overall outcomes

  • Prioritizing good sleep and diet
  • Saunaing daily
  • Becoming more regimented with training/health behaviors (implying this can improve baseline hormones and reduce side-effect concerns)

• Mindset management to counter fear-driven side effects

  • Acknowledging nocebo effects: expectation of side effects can create or trigger symptoms
  • Comparing his early finasteride experience (tweaking/anxiety in week 1) with later normalization after he “stopped giving a [expletive]”
  • Positioning mental state as a factor in whether symptoms occur

• “Smart” medication stepping strategy (self-monitoring + incremental dosing)

  • Switching from finasteride to dutasteride using a gradual schedule rather than jumping to full dutasteride immediately
  • Proposed monitoring plan:
    • Dutasteride once per week (Monday)
    • Finasteride Tuesday–Sunday
    • Reassess for side effects over 5–6 weeks
    • If no side effects: move to two times/week
    • Continue increasing gradually toward daily dutasteride if tolerated
  • Rationale:
    • Dutasteride has a much longer half-life (he describes it as lingering ~weeks), so he wants a cautious ramp-up while watching for adverse effects

• Data-driven hormone awareness (labs + interpretation caveats)

  • Checking blood work (testosterone/estradiol) to evaluate risk/likelihood of side effects

  • Noting biotin can falsify estradiol test results (so the estradiol number might be inaccurate)

  • Intending to re-test later (around June) to confirm estradiol status

• Realistic expectations about hair loss interventions

  • Emphasizing that transplants mask the problem, not solve it:
    • Native hair can still be affected by ongoing DHT
    • Therefore, continued DHT-suppression meds may still be needed after a transplant
  • Mentioning waiting until about the 18-month mark of finasteride for maximal results and assessing whether progress has plateaued

Key wellness/productivity takeaways (in brief)

• Regiment + recovery: sleep, diet, sauna, and consistent routines.
• Reduce fear via mindset: address nocebo-driven symptom anticipation.
• Incremental change + monitoring: step up dosing cautiously while tracking side effects.
• Verify with labs: use bloodwork, account for test-interference (biotin), and retest.

Presenters / sources

• Chris Aesthetics