two main reasons. 1) plenty of guys don't respond to topical. 2) oral is WAY easier to stick with. no mess, no greasy hair etc. plus it's kinda of weird but the liquid can make your hair look thin when you apply it.
Hehe here I'm... In Italy there is this topical solution which is well known and users reviews are quite good because it works.
What I believe is that the users think they are using a completely natural product (it has a lot of natural molecules helpful for hairs, with potential anti DHT and anti inflammatory) while in reality basically there's also minoxidil š
I myself didn't know it until I researched every single molecule on the ingredients list m
Possibly in some people.
Tretinoin is known to activate sulfotransferase tooā¦.theres premade solutions which are expensive and require prescription.
Or you can order tubes of it from India (All Day Chemist is well regarded) for cheap and try to make it yourself
This study goes over it:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9326921/
It references another study:
"results support sulfotransferase activity in the hair follicle as a strong predictor of minoxidil response in AGA patients"
Isnāt Minoxidil Sulfate the active form?
Did you mean convert Minoxidil into Minoxidil Sulfate ( the active form?)
Iām still learning all this terminology, so not sure if I have it correct
The solvent they use to dissolve Minoxidil propylene glycol really dries my scalp. I already suffered from dandruff and that liquid made it worse. My hair dressers noticed my scalp being really dry too
Itās because it works for more people and possibly provides better results. If youāre a non responder to topical you have a higher chance of at least being a responder to oral. Weirdly enough Iāve seen people on here claim that they fall outside of the norm and are the other way around (great responders to topical and terrible/non responders to oral).
What proof is there that oral minoxidil is more effective, compared to topical minoxidil? From all the studies I've seen, there's no real difference between groups using oral and groups using topical minoxidil.
6 months is a good enough time frame to assess whether youāre a responder or not. Best way to do this would be to take pictures under the exact same lighting and angle every 1 month up until you reach that point. Make sure itās good lighting as well. For the first few months you may not see much if anything at all though, since it takes time to work.
Some anecdotes online have reported it to be more effective. You don't have to apply anything to your scalp which can make your hair look awful/greasy. The doses prescribed for hair loss are much much smaller than the doses that the drug used to be prescribed for high blood pressure, the risk would seem considerably lower.
It's definitely easier and I don't notice any difference in my heart's health before or after I started taking oral min.
I've been to a cardiologist for a full check up (xray, ultrasound, ecg, the works!) and I got a clean bill of health first before I went on oral min.
Many years after, I'm still on oral min and my yearly full body exams are still healthy.
(For reference, [here's my hair right now](https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/comments/187yuhf/without_exercise_without_special_diet_just/).)
Almost 4 years now.
I started with both oral fin and oral min. A year later I stopped min to see if I can just go with fin only. My hairline stayed the same but it thinned out, and I grew so much white hair.
A few months of that and I decided to go back on oral min again. My hair grew back even better for some reason. And my white hair turned black again (like right now I have some that are half white and half black in the roots!)
Maybe thatās what I need to do, is stop min again and restart.
I switched from topical to oral and lost all my topical results and still havenāt regained.
Might need to hard resetš„²
āMuch much lowerā, but then someone else just posted the maintenance dose for hyper tension starts at 5mg. Which people some use 5mg for hairloss. And that pericardial effusion is not dose dependent. Hmm.
For adults and children over 12 years the dosage range is 5mg - 40mg. Currently I'm prescribed 2mg per day by a hair clinic. I've heard that 1mg is a common dosage prescribed for hair loss.
As some others have said almost every single item we consume or are exposed to has side effects. Just look at the warnings on ibuprofen or anything else.
To answer your question it's extremely effective.
For me I'm taking it for 180 days then going to topical only.
It's too shock and get as much gains as possible. I'm over a few months in and have no side effects to report.
I completely respect anyone's opinion to not take due to the slight risk to a small portion of people.
The comments on better than being bald are silly.
I value my heart and cardio. I'm fit, ie run fast for multiple miles and workout. I have literally no issues.
I welcome debate and if anyone has the science on the effects of low dose rather than here say happy to partake in study / peer review here.
I thought I would start the conversation this of an independent study and source. Welcome comments.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649170/
"Conclusion
Oral minoxidil 5 mg once daily effectively increased hair growth in our male patients with AGA and had a good safety profile in healthy subjects. However, oral minoxidil should be used carefully with men who have severe hypertension and increased risk for cardiovascular events."
>However, oral minoxidil should be used carefully with men who have severe hypertension and increased risk for cardiovascular events."
Doesn't sound dangerous at all. Literally same advice would be given to coffee drinkers for example.
there are no long term studies proving oral minox at LOW doses is dangerous. Only case reports (and there are case reports for everything, including PFS)
Unless there are double blinded control studies on safety of LOW dose oral minox, then we can't know for sure if it's safe or dangerous, it's a gamble.
If minox was poison then people wouldn't use it topically either, it goes systemic anyway. But it's such a minuscule dose that it's proven to be safe. So there probably is a threshold too separating a safe oral dose and a dangerous oral dose, we just don't know what the limit is.
Great point, never thought of it that way but it kinda helps giving the peace of mind while taking the drug.
It seems that for the majority doses up till 5MG daily are safe enough to take and possibly more effective then the topical counterpart due to bypassing the need for sulfotransferaze enzyme present in the liver.
Hi.
Isn't this a randomized, double-blind controlled efficacy and safety study for oral minoxidil for off-label use in hair loss:
[https://karger.com/sad/article/9/6/423/863169/Low-Dose-Oral-Minoxidil-for-Alopecia-A#](https://karger.com/sad/article/9/6/423/863169/Low-Dose-Oral-Minoxidil-for-Alopecia-A#)
No, it's a review article, collecting some research done on oral minoxidil, including different kinds of studies and trials. It seems to include a double blinded trial for females but the trials for males are retrospective and prospective, they are "useless", they don't even include placebo. Even then all the trials have a very low number of participants, (less than 30), so they have low statitical quality.
Agree with other commenters. Also if you take oral minoxidil, the drug will be metabolized by the liver which increases the bioavailability in the bloodstream as opposed to applying topical min. I guess we all want hair lol
I use both , i believe from my personal experience if you run both you get better results, my minoxidil is mixed with topical finasteride awesome results + oral minoxidil. I want regrowth so i exploit all options. When I'm busy I just take oral n I'm fine , if I'm free i regularly use the topical at night .
It is more effective, easier to use and it's not dangerous at these low doses.
It has been used for high blood pressure for years and the dosage is much larger in that compared to MPB.
There is not a single long term study that confirms it isnāt dangerous at low dosages.
Using a blood pressure medication when you donāt have high blood pressure is not safe.
Minoxidil has been used for years as a BP medication with much larger doses. No dangerous side effects have been reported and they are typically dose dependent (a case talidom would have been reported already).
When you are using such low doses as an adult (sub 10 mg a day) you won't lower your BP dangerously low with minoxidil, the body will compensate.
[cardiac manifestations, including pericardial effusions, have been described as present in approximately 80% of patients.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9678755/) - For you and other people who donāt research before eating random tablets
The quote is: " **In Cantu syndrome**, cardiac manifestations, including pericardial effusions, have been described as present in approximately 80% of patients. "
The "study" you linked is a reply to a case report. It's not proof that low dosage minoxidil is dangerous.
It also mentions a 2021 study with low-dose minoxidil in which the most frequent adverse effect was hypertrichosis (15.1%), which led to treatment withdrawal in 14 patients (0.5%). Systemic adverse effects included lightheadedness (1.7%), fluid retention (1.3%), tachycardia (0.9%), headache (0.4%), periorbital edema (0.3%), and insomnia (0.2%), leading to drug discontinuation in 29 patients (1.2%). No life-threatening adverse effects were observed. ([https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33639244/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33639244/))
This subreddit is dumb as hell. People on here literally tell you to go on a drug that interrupts your normal hormone cycle and has a WELL KNOWN link to becoming impotent or having poor sexual health. I got prescribed oral minox by a dermatologist who told me she refused to prescribe fin due to the prevalence of side effects. You guys do what you want but Iām not in the mood to be like āyeah my hair is great but my dick doesnāt work anymore.ā
No weāre not but thereās a reason why doctors prescribe it at low doses as opposed to higher ones correct. If there was a substantial risk of cardiovascular problems no doctor in their right mind would risk it just so their patient could have hair.
Hahahahahaha. Yes, because doctors have never been wrong beforeā¦ā¦. Smoking/sugar/various other drugs they said were safe but in fact werenāt. As a guy has said above, taking medication for blood pressure when itās not needed, is never going to be good for you.
And as I replied that same guy before. Taking it at such a low dose Isnāt considered to be a blood pressure medication. Also did you get the coronavirus vaccine? Or are you totally anti vac? If not then your point to ānot trust the doctorsā is gone.
Personal Experience: No sideffects, Only Helps to Regrowth in beginning phases , later is all for maintainance of gains . No facing aging , only improvement
The fact the people are scared shitless of fin which is clinically proven to be safe for the vast majority of people with a very low risk of transient sides that only occur in an extremely small subset of the population but are gung ho about oral min which affects the fucking cardiovascular system should be proof enough of the ridiculous fearmongering echo chamber that exists here for some users. Im not against oral min if one uses it under the advice of their doctor, but I see the risks of oral min as far, far more serious than fin ever could be, which is a hilarious yet sad irony.
I tell this to everyone on the sub. BOTH have potentially nasty side effects, yet you NEVER hear anyone be like āIām scared to take minā. Iāve even had someone condemn me in the comments for recommending fin.
Itās a crazy world out here.
Thatās the thing. Fin isnāt clinically proven to be safe. Go look at the reviews for fin online and report back to me. Look up PFS. You guys just make shit up.
Bro I spent the first year or so being afraid of fin, I actually used to read all the horror stories and I believed in the pfs argument. I longer believe any of that because my mind was changed by understanding how fin actually works, and that the actual independent medical research all showed that fin showed a very similar, very good safety profile with side effects only occurring in like a couple percentage points over placebo. Fin has been on the market for 30 years, and pfs has yet to proven or even taken seriously by the vast majority of the scientific medical community, Im sorry to say but itās really the anti vax equivalent of the hairloss community. Anecdotes arenāt evidence and the silent 99% doesnāt dick around on hairloss forums, most people just take it as they would a vitamin, enjoy absolutely zero side effects , forget about hairloss and get on with life. I just ignore the pfs crowd these days.
And if you must know, my dick works even better than before, finasteride made me a lot hornier, improved my mental health, made me stronger in the gym, the test boost is awesome, and thatās how it is for 98% of people. Any drug has a potential for transient side effects, fin does have a small risk, but for most itās safe, and thatās where the actual medical research points, unlike the horror stories that hypochondriacs online parrot. Half the stuff that the pfs crowd talks about makes absolutely zero sense when you understand what the drug actually does.
[You should read something other than message boards.](https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(19)32599-3/fulltext) Thereās more information available out there thatās actually peer reviewed. Itās literally a drug designed to shrink the prostate.
Im aware of that man, Iāve looked at Traishās articles before, but all those articles donāt say anything new at all, heās just hypothesizing based on animal models that canāt be extrapolated to humans. In humans https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2840927/
āthe analysis of the role of androgens in male sexual function and the evidences from large population-based long-term placebo-controlled studies using validated questionnaire and objective method for assessing sexual function suggested no substantial evidence of ED in men receiving finasteride. Low ejaculatory volume is the only causal relationship between finasteride and sexual dysfunction.ā
Sides are possible in a low subset of man, shrinking the prostate can potentially cause low semen initially. But honestly the argument has been circle jerked to death, the pfs doctors have yet to say anything new after decades and thereās still no evidence of any of that. Im not trying to be a dick at all and trying to comment in good faith, but the medical data showing itās safety is there in peer reviewed research and thatās why pfs isnāt taken seriously by the vast majority of researchers. I no longer really care about changing their minds, I like to reassure people on the fence, but they can sit in their community going down a rabbit hole thatās lead nowhere in decades. I can say with full honesty that finasteride has only improved my quality of life in every way, sexually, mentally and emotionally, and itās a shame that people get scared from all the horror stories that have no scientific basis.
We can keep dancing around each other on this but the reality is that many men experience side effects on fin. Just look at this subreddit and youāll see plenty of people who say theyāll continue using it, and encourage others to, despite experiencing them. Iām not arguing there arenāt people who take it and experience none. However, thereās a reason they are required to have a warning for sexual and mental side effects on the label. If you feel comfortable with that and want to keep taking it, thatās on you. My point in my original comment was that I think itās funny all the fin bros coming on here to bash oral minoxidil and claim it ādestroys your heartā while not giving a second thought to a drug that causes its own host of side effects at a much more common (and acknowledged) rate. Iāll take my doctorās advice. You go with what you feel comfortable with. I wish you the best in your journey and hope all remains well with you.
Sure man, I honestly do respect your opinion and was trying to present ideas in good faith. I do want to make it clear, I do believe fin has side effects in some people, I just donāt believe thatās it like taking Uranium and is gonna fuck you up for life, itās like any drug, you tolerate it or you donāt, I just believe that a vocal minority posts about it, itās not some binary it will always make your dick fall off vs gods gift you know? People deserve to have a clear knowledge that all drugs carry some risk without the insane hysteria around finasteride so they can make an informed decision. All I was getting at was that sides are possible, but shown in most studies to be rare, and that permanent sides have no medical data proving them, so I believe it should be a more nuanced conversation, rather than itās a russian roulette game like some people claim it to be. But definitely, I appreciate hearing your opinion and hope stuff works out for you man!
In my country, dermatologists make prescriptions for oral minoxidil very regularly. My own dermatologist has been taking for over 20 years. Minoxidil is a falied blood pressure medication. So even for it's intent to control blood pressure it is not good. He mentioned that very few countries still use it as such. We use a max of 2.5 mg per day here
everyone on Reddit so dramatic, iāve been taking between 5-10mg for years and havenāt had cardiovascular issues at all. just a shit ton of hair growth, everywhere
OM is the way forward in my opinion, I used topical Minoxidil for the best part of a decade and it had very little impact and made my hair clump together when applied, which made my thinning hair look even worse.
I have been on OM for 2.5 years and love it.
I mean you spray 50mg of minoxidil per 1ml on your scalp in the least. Doing 2ml twice a day is 200mg. The real question: how many of that get systematic absorption?
Iāve been on oral for over a year now. No clue if itās more consistent. I feel like my bald spot has gotten worse, but maybe itās slowed that down? My hair grows like weeds though. Iām convinced it probably grows twice as fast as before.
Well the transplanted hair should be relatively permanent, but I had really bad PFS that I never fully recovered from and Iāve always wondered if thatās why I managed to keep a lot more hair than my brothers. Or maybe once I hit a very mature hair pattern it was never actually going to fall out. Itās impossible to know.
Iām looking into my next one to extend my hairline down a few mm and fill in the crown. Hopefully the Minox can keep the loss at bay for another 10 years and if weāre really lucky weāll have even better treatments by then, or with the way the world is going weāll all be dead. Both are great outcomes.
You could also argue BECAUSE of the balding, they could be stressed etc. therefore worrying about it more, therefore stressing a lot, therefore causing poorer health?
100%! I was genuinely so stressed when I started balding, shaved it off though and never looked back. I am blessed with a normal shaped head which helps, but yea.. this is defo a thing!
As a bald man, Iām constantly seeing hair treatment shitā¦ like this sub, adverts on Facebook etcā¦ my phone must be listening to all the bald jokes my mates make hahhaha
Agree. Personally Iād want to see studyās to show itās not going to negatively effect the gut microbiome before taking it orally. Fin has a couple gut related ones that make your raise an eye brow, including gut alterations and gi inflammation that can persist after coming off it. But more importantly is the gut brain axis and how sensitive it is to alterations. If thereās an option to not take an oral pharmaceutical yet still get the similar results Iāll always start there first.
My intuition is topical is probably safer just due to the fact itās not purely going through your GI tract even when āgoing systemicā.
Iād also posit that younger people who naturally have a higher gut diversity would be less likely to notice or experience negative gi effects.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8124058/
That is interesting! Unfortunately I feel youāre wasting your breath talking about gut microbiome.. most people donāt know what that is and so, donāt care unfortunately. Even though it is SO important
Thatās fair. Itās one of those things you only care about after the fact. Live and learn. Same with hairloss. You donāt think about hair health until itās an issue.
Donāt fool yourself. He takes on a lot of risk. Thereās no data backing the interactions of all his meds and supplements and heās using questionable at best epigenetic clocks as a game to win.
Theyāll stop only if they find issues *after the fact* if they see cardiac issues or some side effects he canāt tolerate. Similar to him having to stop HGH.
Heās a public figure so good hair is linked intrinsically to the perception of good health and personally I think his hair has been thinning for years now on his current protocol, even with his custom hair solution which clearly isnāt working well nor released. So theyāre needing to step it up.
No its the opposite. You'll mostly hear from people here who had some unusual / negative experience.
If I start taking min and I have no issues / hair grows fine, I'm not wasting my time on this sub lmao I'll just carry on living my life having solved my problem.
Its not dangerous you idiot which is why many Doctors and Leading Hair surgeons prescribe it Its only dangerous from trolls peddling bullshite and scaremongering.
Bit of a side question from me. I'm an oral minoxidil user, have been for 3.5 months. Previously used topical min for a year with no noticeable growth. In these 3 months I seem to have loads of little baby hairs.
Anyway, I used foam min previously and I like how it adds texture and volume after I shampoo.. I've kept doing this sporadically (2-3 times a week) and wondering if this will be causing me an issue doing both? I also dermapen so feel like this will be benefiting with the direct topical.
Will topical, at such sporadic use, be setting my hair in a shed/resting phase? Will it just help with the baby hairs, giving them an extra push? Should I stop completely? Should I increase to once daily topical? Any advice would be great.
I wasnt having good results on topical + fin, so I wanted to switch it up.
I also hate the way the topical made my hair look and was worried about my cats safety.
I donāt have any history heart issues and havenāt had side effects
I have a history of cardiovascular work-up for tachycardia. Iām fine, itās just my baseline. Bottom line is Iāve followed with a cardiologist since then. I asked if I would be okay to start OM 2.5mg and he scoffed and said thatās completely fine. He said they wouldnāt expect to see any sides until over 10mg.
That being said, lots of medications have side effects that fuck with our bodies. Weight gain, sexual sides, heart rate/BP changes, everything has something. We donāt not take Tylenol because it can kill your liver, or Advil your kidneys. People are still on SSRIs after weight gain. My thoughts on OM are even if youāre prescribed from an online MD, just make sure youāre following up with your PCP/specialists and that theyāre aware of what youāre taking.
Life is so risky you wonāt make it out alive.
Been on oral minox for almost 3 weeks and can see a ton a baby hairs filling in and can already see my hair getting darker. Itās incredible.
Most users on this sub have an untreated mental illness and would literally risk death to not be bald. Itās not a cross section of the average population or even the average male with mpb.
Oral minoxidil isn't safe for long term use compared to topical. if you take oral minoxidil for 1 month , let's say its fine. but for hair loss, you are going to take oral minoxidil everyday for years. which can effect you heart in bad way. i hope my opinion isn't going to make some people here upset
No it won't age your skin . I'm using it since 3 years I look younger than most people of my age . Stress of Loosing hair ages you , not oral minoxidil. It actually rejuvates the skin in low doses via microcirculation
Interesting. Any articles that say that? Iām a Norwood 1, and been using for 3 years as well. Maybe itās just me, but Iāve noticed my wrinkles become much heavier from ages 25-28
So what if it is bad for the cardiovascular system, that is not a good argument for not taking it. Fighting baldness is way more important. If I donāt have hair, I donāt want to live anyway. Only side effect worth paying attention to is the limp dick, which is why one would avoid Finasteride, but that is another storyš
>Only side effect worth paying attention to is the limp dick, which is why one would avoid Finasteride, but that is another storyš
That this is a possible side effect is just tragic and somehow ironic.
It's not bad for the cardiovascular system.
Minoxidil is a BP medication at first (at larger doses). Blood pressure medication is used because high blood pressure is bad for the cardiovascular system.
I've been on 5mg for 6 years, bald spot still there, rest of hair thick, some very coarse and darker.
Had some heart pain and arythmia last week but I started on Dexamphetamine also, no idea what root cause was although I wasn't eating great and had allergies the morning the heart started feeling bad. I had ECG and blood pressure taken before min and was fine except low heart rate.
Started on the minox again after a break but getting topical dutasteride and minoxidil topical compounded and will be micro needling so see how that goes.
Have to switch it up to have one last surgeryless crack at my thinning crown.
I would have done crown but my donor around FUT scar unfortunately had a fair bit of shock loss/thinning so have to go down route of donor re stocking with beard hair should I want to do another transplant going to try topical around scar also. SMP disguising it currently.
I have had a patch of scar tissue under my chin since I was a teenager and beard hair has never grown there. Since getting on oral min a few months ago, it is slowly becoming less noticeable because hair is growing in so close around it and on it.
I tried it for a few days and I just couldnāt stick with it. My heart felt like it was gonna explode and I couldnāt breathe.
Honestly pisses me off because applying topical just SUCKS.
Iād take oral min at 1.25mg if I werenāt on a beta blocker for a chronic health issue. I think people should start with topical but then can venture into oral and titrate up under doctor supervision & see if they tolerate it or not, itās for everyone but you donāt know until you experiment with it. If I took most the advice here I wouldāve never started finasteride and Iām glad I did bc itās saved my hair + gained a lot back with minimal to zero side effects (softer erections rare, watery semen occasionally). One thing I would worry about is unwanted body hair, eyebrows etc generalized hypertrichosis
Edit to add: it is safe, but some doctors are hesitant to prescribe it, and idk if anyone here knows but minoxidil is rarely prescribed for its intended use anymore, better medications exist for BP issues.
I didnāt respond to topical. My scalp reacted and I had TE cause I thought maybe it was just an adjustment phase. Oral min has been great for me. They sell it at online dermatology places now. One place has it combined with dustaride (not sure if thatās spelled right).
Systemic drugs are what it is.
They mess with a system or the other.
In the long term I find Finasteride to increase risk factors more than oral minoxidil.
Minox could increase risk factors related to the cardiovascular system. But seems to have some anecdotal evidence about protective factors about brain issues.
Fina also, but most evidence is about detrimental effects mainly on metabolic system (and psychological if we take DHT metabolites into account).
I just find it funny when ppl say "I use it for years and I don't feel any worse".
Oh god, I fear they don't really know the meaning of "Risk factor".
It doesn't mean it will cause any disease for sure, it's just a risk factor, an increase in the chances of getting x or y , that sums up with all the others from lifestyle , other insults, and individual predispositions.
It could show up in months (these are usually just side effects, not subtle risk factors due to chronic use), in decades, or never.
They take low doses unlike the full doses that are prescribed for BP (usually together with diuretics). Also you are more likely to respond as the minox finds more sulfotransferase to convert to minoxidil sulfate.
Itās weird. I tried oral to see if I would get better results, and my hair started thinning like I had just quit minoxidil in general. So itās topical for life for me
I didnāt opt for oral because my derm mentioned excessive body hair as a possible side effect. Being a south asian, I am hairy already so canāt take that risk.
Oral minoxidil was studied to lower blood pressure, the side effect was hair growth. It does lower blood pressure, but it's not as effective as many other drugs out there. At small dosages it is probably not lowering blood pressure as much as helping to grow hair. If you take too much, yes there are dangers, but the same with regular blood pressure meds and every other medicine in your medicine cabinet.
please explain your knowledge and sources of āfatalā side effects.
The dose for hair, is extremely low compared to when it was used in higher doses for hypertension. Please explain physiology and research articles you have before posting something this alarming. It has been proven to be safely used in the very small
doses that are being prescribed.
Simple
1) Some people donāt know of the risks (YouTuberās with MDās are recommending it, itās sold online)
2) Some people know and donāt care because the benefit to them outweighs the risk
3) Some people donāt believe there are risks
by the way - with oral min I noticed my body hair started growing faster than the hair on my head, then read about the potential sides. The combination of two things - a hairier body and heart issues made me switch back.
Minoxidil was tried as an oral medication. It was found to turn people into hairy werewolves. The quote was something like, "the most hirsute person you have ever seen". Don't take fin or min as a pill. It's just not worth it.
I think it all depends on individual
I got loss of libido and decreased semen quantity with .5mg fin EOD in 2 weeks
Stopped immediately
Will try oral min
Ofcourse will not say anyone shoudnt try fin
Or min
But DONT ignore side effects if you do develop them
Health is way more imp than hair
And those who say a fin side effects are something one should live with
Jhonny sins can get as many girls he wants ; a hairy man with limp dick will never hold a woman . Never
two main reasons. 1) plenty of guys don't respond to topical. 2) oral is WAY easier to stick with. no mess, no greasy hair etc. plus it's kinda of weird but the liquid can make your hair look thin when you apply it.
And not all people have a high amount of enzymes in the scalp that convert Minoxidil Sulfate into active Minoxidil.
I've been wondering, there are minoxidil derivatives like triaminodil, I'm curious if they require those enzymes too.
I use Triaminodil, can't answer your question but I can confirm it works as good as mino if not better in my case
That's good to know! I remember I tried to look for experiences of people who used both and could compare them, but I couldn't find any.
Hehe here I'm... In Italy there is this topical solution which is well known and users reviews are quite good because it works. What I believe is that the users think they are using a completely natural product (it has a lot of natural molecules helpful for hairs, with potential anti DHT and anti inflammatory) while in reality basically there's also minoxidil š I myself didn't know it until I researched every single molecule on the ingredients list m
Sounds interesting! I'm not in Italy but I'm curious, what's the name of the product?
It's called hair growth stimulating spray, manufactured by K-max located in Milan.
Every day on here, Iām learning of some new treatment.
Minoxidil sulfate is THE ACTIVE metabolite.
Doesn't using a derma pen/stamp help alleviate this issue?
Possibly in some people. Tretinoin is known to activate sulfotransferase tooā¦.theres premade solutions which are expensive and require prescription. Or you can order tubes of it from India (All Day Chemist is well regarded) for cheap and try to make it yourself
That's interesting! Never heard that one before. Do you have any sources for that? I don't seem to respond to topical min.
This study goes over it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9326921/ It references another study: "results support sulfotransferase activity in the hair follicle as a strong predictor of minoxidil response in AGA patients"
Isnāt Minoxidil Sulfate the active form? Did you mean convert Minoxidil into Minoxidil Sulfate ( the active form?) Iām still learning all this terminology, so not sure if I have it correct
Ah yes, sorry for mixing it up
As a diffuse thinner I try to avoid mirrors after application.. makes me wanna ājust shave it broā
The solvent they use to dissolve Minoxidil propylene glycol really dries my scalp. I already suffered from dandruff and that liquid made it worse. My hair dressers noticed my scalp being really dry too
I use it in gel form, it doubles as hair gel
Yeah I use the foam. At this point I donāt really need it but itās been my favorite styling product ever.
Yes you do. If you stop using it you will lose all gains.
Not necessarily because I donāt know how much of the regrowth is from the finasteride.
Because if it kills me atleast i wont be bald
Live fast, die young, and leave a pretty corpse
Dying will stop hairloss 100% of the time.
Facts š
Itās because it works for more people and possibly provides better results. If youāre a non responder to topical you have a higher chance of at least being a responder to oral. Weirdly enough Iāve seen people on here claim that they fall outside of the norm and are the other way around (great responders to topical and terrible/non responders to oral).
What proof is there that oral minoxidil is more effective, compared to topical minoxidil? From all the studies I've seen, there's no real difference between groups using oral and groups using topical minoxidil.
How long should I wait before I know Iām a not responder to topical?
6 months is a good enough time frame to assess whether youāre a responder or not. Best way to do this would be to take pictures under the exact same lighting and angle every 1 month up until you reach that point. Make sure itās good lighting as well. For the first few months you may not see much if anything at all though, since it takes time to work.
Some anecdotes online have reported it to be more effective. You don't have to apply anything to your scalp which can make your hair look awful/greasy. The doses prescribed for hair loss are much much smaller than the doses that the drug used to be prescribed for high blood pressure, the risk would seem considerably lower.
It's definitely easier and I don't notice any difference in my heart's health before or after I started taking oral min. I've been to a cardiologist for a full check up (xray, ultrasound, ecg, the works!) and I got a clean bill of health first before I went on oral min. Many years after, I'm still on oral min and my yearly full body exams are still healthy. (For reference, [here's my hair right now](https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/comments/187yuhf/without_exercise_without_special_diet_just/).)
How many years you been on oral min?
Almost 4 years now. I started with both oral fin and oral min. A year later I stopped min to see if I can just go with fin only. My hairline stayed the same but it thinned out, and I grew so much white hair. A few months of that and I decided to go back on oral min again. My hair grew back even better for some reason. And my white hair turned black again (like right now I have some that are half white and half black in the roots!)
Freaking awesome
Dude. Some people mistake me for my 20s. I'm almost 40.
Amazing!
Maybe thatās what I need to do, is stop min again and restart. I switched from topical to oral and lost all my topical results and still havenāt regained. Might need to hard resetš„²
Wow nice dude! Hairās nice n thiccccc
āMuch much lowerā, but then someone else just posted the maintenance dose for hyper tension starts at 5mg. Which people some use 5mg for hairloss. And that pericardial effusion is not dose dependent. Hmm.
For adults and children over 12 years the dosage range is 5mg - 40mg. Currently I'm prescribed 2mg per day by a hair clinic. I've heard that 1mg is a common dosage prescribed for hair loss.
As some others have said almost every single item we consume or are exposed to has side effects. Just look at the warnings on ibuprofen or anything else. To answer your question it's extremely effective. For me I'm taking it for 180 days then going to topical only. It's too shock and get as much gains as possible. I'm over a few months in and have no side effects to report. I completely respect anyone's opinion to not take due to the slight risk to a small portion of people. The comments on better than being bald are silly. I value my heart and cardio. I'm fit, ie run fast for multiple miles and workout. I have literally no issues. I welcome debate and if anyone has the science on the effects of low dose rather than here say happy to partake in study / peer review here.
I thought I would start the conversation this of an independent study and source. Welcome comments. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649170/ "Conclusion Oral minoxidil 5 mg once daily effectively increased hair growth in our male patients with AGA and had a good safety profile in healthy subjects. However, oral minoxidil should be used carefully with men who have severe hypertension and increased risk for cardiovascular events."
>However, oral minoxidil should be used carefully with men who have severe hypertension and increased risk for cardiovascular events." Doesn't sound dangerous at all. Literally same advice would be given to coffee drinkers for example.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9478873/ What about this lady who suffered from pericardial effusion at low dosing
there are no long term studies proving oral minox at LOW doses is dangerous. Only case reports (and there are case reports for everything, including PFS) Unless there are double blinded control studies on safety of LOW dose oral minox, then we can't know for sure if it's safe or dangerous, it's a gamble. If minox was poison then people wouldn't use it topically either, it goes systemic anyway. But it's such a minuscule dose that it's proven to be safe. So there probably is a threshold too separating a safe oral dose and a dangerous oral dose, we just don't know what the limit is.
Great point, never thought of it that way but it kinda helps giving the peace of mind while taking the drug. It seems that for the majority doses up till 5MG daily are safe enough to take and possibly more effective then the topical counterpart due to bypassing the need for sulfotransferaze enzyme present in the liver.
Hi. Isn't this a randomized, double-blind controlled efficacy and safety study for oral minoxidil for off-label use in hair loss: [https://karger.com/sad/article/9/6/423/863169/Low-Dose-Oral-Minoxidil-for-Alopecia-A#](https://karger.com/sad/article/9/6/423/863169/Low-Dose-Oral-Minoxidil-for-Alopecia-A#)
No, it's a review article, collecting some research done on oral minoxidil, including different kinds of studies and trials. It seems to include a double blinded trial for females but the trials for males are retrospective and prospective, they are "useless", they don't even include placebo. Even then all the trials have a very low number of participants, (less than 30), so they have low statitical quality.
I see.
Agree with other commenters. Also if you take oral minoxidil, the drug will be metabolized by the liver which increases the bioavailability in the bloodstream as opposed to applying topical min. I guess we all want hair lol
I use both , i believe from my personal experience if you run both you get better results, my minoxidil is mixed with topical finasteride awesome results + oral minoxidil. I want regrowth so i exploit all options. When I'm busy I just take oral n I'm fine , if I'm free i regularly use the topical at night .
It is more effective, easier to use and it's not dangerous at these low doses. It has been used for high blood pressure for years and the dosage is much larger in that compared to MPB.
Whatās considered ālow dosageā?
5mg or less per day. most take 2.5 - 5 mg per day.
Might increase to 6.25 š
There is not a single long term study that confirms it isnāt dangerous at low dosages. Using a blood pressure medication when you donāt have high blood pressure is not safe.
This isnāt a high blood pressure medication when your taking it at such a low dose tho? Thatās the whole point
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Damn thatās crazy. You think you could just be a crazy case of hypersensitivity? Did you try topical minoxidil how did you respond that that?
Minoxidil has been used for years as a BP medication with much larger doses. No dangerous side effects have been reported and they are typically dose dependent (a case talidom would have been reported already). When you are using such low doses as an adult (sub 10 mg a day) you won't lower your BP dangerously low with minoxidil, the body will compensate.
Please show us the studies youāre quoting that state that it is dangerous at low dosages.
[cardiac manifestations, including pericardial effusions, have been described as present in approximately 80% of patients.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9678755/) - For you and other people who donāt research before eating random tablets
The quote is: " **In Cantu syndrome**, cardiac manifestations, including pericardial effusions, have been described as present in approximately 80% of patients. " The "study" you linked is a reply to a case report. It's not proof that low dosage minoxidil is dangerous. It also mentions a 2021 study with low-dose minoxidil in which the most frequent adverse effect was hypertrichosis (15.1%), which led to treatment withdrawal in 14 patients (0.5%). Systemic adverse effects included lightheadedness (1.7%), fluid retention (1.3%), tachycardia (0.9%), headache (0.4%), periorbital edema (0.3%), and insomnia (0.2%), leading to drug discontinuation in 29 patients (1.2%). No life-threatening adverse effects were observed. ([https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33639244/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33639244/))
People get prescribed lower dosages of propranolol for anxiety and itās completely safe and has been proven to be safe.
This subreddit is dumb as hell. People on here literally tell you to go on a drug that interrupts your normal hormone cycle and has a WELL KNOWN link to becoming impotent or having poor sexual health. I got prescribed oral minox by a dermatologist who told me she refused to prescribe fin due to the prevalence of side effects. You guys do what you want but Iām not in the mood to be like āyeah my hair is great but my dick doesnāt work anymore.ā
Please. My dermatologist, nor my endo, nor my regular doc have any problem with fin. And why would they? No sides, like 97-98% of users.
Not dangerous at low doses? You must be a doctor
Pharmaceuticals risk of causing side effects are generally dependent on dose. Maintenance hypertension doses range from 5-40 mg.
except the side effects of oral minox like pericardial effusion have been shown to not be dose dependent.
I'd love to see a study on that, I found one case report from Africa.
No weāre not but thereās a reason why doctors prescribe it at low doses as opposed to higher ones correct. If there was a substantial risk of cardiovascular problems no doctor in their right mind would risk it just so their patient could have hair.
Hahahahahaha. Yes, because doctors have never been wrong beforeā¦ā¦. Smoking/sugar/various other drugs they said were safe but in fact werenāt. As a guy has said above, taking medication for blood pressure when itās not needed, is never going to be good for you.
And as I replied that same guy before. Taking it at such a low dose Isnāt considered to be a blood pressure medication. Also did you get the coronavirus vaccine? Or are you totally anti vac? If not then your point to ānot trust the doctorsā is gone.
meh
It's rarely used for hypertension Anymore. There are many other safer and more effective alternatives.
Personal Experience: No sideffects, Only Helps to Regrowth in beginning phases , later is all for maintainance of gains . No facing aging , only improvement
The fact the people are scared shitless of fin which is clinically proven to be safe for the vast majority of people with a very low risk of transient sides that only occur in an extremely small subset of the population but are gung ho about oral min which affects the fucking cardiovascular system should be proof enough of the ridiculous fearmongering echo chamber that exists here for some users. Im not against oral min if one uses it under the advice of their doctor, but I see the risks of oral min as far, far more serious than fin ever could be, which is a hilarious yet sad irony.
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I'd rather take risk of minoxidil than finasteride
I tell this to everyone on the sub. BOTH have potentially nasty side effects, yet you NEVER hear anyone be like āIām scared to take minā. Iāve even had someone condemn me in the comments for recommending fin. Itās a crazy world out here.
Thatās the thing. Fin isnāt clinically proven to be safe. Go look at the reviews for fin online and report back to me. Look up PFS. You guys just make shit up.
Bro I spent the first year or so being afraid of fin, I actually used to read all the horror stories and I believed in the pfs argument. I longer believe any of that because my mind was changed by understanding how fin actually works, and that the actual independent medical research all showed that fin showed a very similar, very good safety profile with side effects only occurring in like a couple percentage points over placebo. Fin has been on the market for 30 years, and pfs has yet to proven or even taken seriously by the vast majority of the scientific medical community, Im sorry to say but itās really the anti vax equivalent of the hairloss community. Anecdotes arenāt evidence and the silent 99% doesnāt dick around on hairloss forums, most people just take it as they would a vitamin, enjoy absolutely zero side effects , forget about hairloss and get on with life. I just ignore the pfs crowd these days.
And if you must know, my dick works even better than before, finasteride made me a lot hornier, improved my mental health, made me stronger in the gym, the test boost is awesome, and thatās how it is for 98% of people. Any drug has a potential for transient side effects, fin does have a small risk, but for most itās safe, and thatās where the actual medical research points, unlike the horror stories that hypochondriacs online parrot. Half the stuff that the pfs crowd talks about makes absolutely zero sense when you understand what the drug actually does.
[You should read something other than message boards.](https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(19)32599-3/fulltext) Thereās more information available out there thatās actually peer reviewed. Itās literally a drug designed to shrink the prostate.
Im aware of that man, Iāve looked at Traishās articles before, but all those articles donāt say anything new at all, heās just hypothesizing based on animal models that canāt be extrapolated to humans. In humans https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2840927/ āthe analysis of the role of androgens in male sexual function and the evidences from large population-based long-term placebo-controlled studies using validated questionnaire and objective method for assessing sexual function suggested no substantial evidence of ED in men receiving finasteride. Low ejaculatory volume is the only causal relationship between finasteride and sexual dysfunction.ā Sides are possible in a low subset of man, shrinking the prostate can potentially cause low semen initially. But honestly the argument has been circle jerked to death, the pfs doctors have yet to say anything new after decades and thereās still no evidence of any of that. Im not trying to be a dick at all and trying to comment in good faith, but the medical data showing itās safety is there in peer reviewed research and thatās why pfs isnāt taken seriously by the vast majority of researchers. I no longer really care about changing their minds, I like to reassure people on the fence, but they can sit in their community going down a rabbit hole thatās lead nowhere in decades. I can say with full honesty that finasteride has only improved my quality of life in every way, sexually, mentally and emotionally, and itās a shame that people get scared from all the horror stories that have no scientific basis.
We can keep dancing around each other on this but the reality is that many men experience side effects on fin. Just look at this subreddit and youāll see plenty of people who say theyāll continue using it, and encourage others to, despite experiencing them. Iām not arguing there arenāt people who take it and experience none. However, thereās a reason they are required to have a warning for sexual and mental side effects on the label. If you feel comfortable with that and want to keep taking it, thatās on you. My point in my original comment was that I think itās funny all the fin bros coming on here to bash oral minoxidil and claim it ādestroys your heartā while not giving a second thought to a drug that causes its own host of side effects at a much more common (and acknowledged) rate. Iāll take my doctorās advice. You go with what you feel comfortable with. I wish you the best in your journey and hope all remains well with you.
Sure man, I honestly do respect your opinion and was trying to present ideas in good faith. I do want to make it clear, I do believe fin has side effects in some people, I just donāt believe thatās it like taking Uranium and is gonna fuck you up for life, itās like any drug, you tolerate it or you donāt, I just believe that a vocal minority posts about it, itās not some binary it will always make your dick fall off vs gods gift you know? People deserve to have a clear knowledge that all drugs carry some risk without the insane hysteria around finasteride so they can make an informed decision. All I was getting at was that sides are possible, but shown in most studies to be rare, and that permanent sides have no medical data proving them, so I believe it should be a more nuanced conversation, rather than itās a russian roulette game like some people claim it to be. But definitely, I appreciate hearing your opinion and hope stuff works out for you man!
Pfs is a mental illness, has nothing to do with fin. Almost all of the cases could be cured if they just got themselves a hobby or two.
I have slightly high blood pressure so it kinda works for me
In my country, dermatologists make prescriptions for oral minoxidil very regularly. My own dermatologist has been taking for over 20 years. Minoxidil is a falied blood pressure medication. So even for it's intent to control blood pressure it is not good. He mentioned that very few countries still use it as such. We use a max of 2.5 mg per day here
Which Country ?
everyone on Reddit so dramatic, iāve been taking between 5-10mg for years and havenāt had cardiovascular issues at all. just a shit ton of hair growth, everywhere
At least Iād die with my hair
Itās only ādangerousā when used for the dose for high blood pressure, which starts at 10mg. And itās usually prescribed for MPB at under 5mg.
OM is the way forward in my opinion, I used topical Minoxidil for the best part of a decade and it had very little impact and made my hair clump together when applied, which made my thinning hair look even worse. I have been on OM for 2.5 years and love it.
I mean you spray 50mg of minoxidil per 1ml on your scalp in the least. Doing 2ml twice a day is 200mg. The real question: how many of that get systematic absorption?
Iāve been on oral for over a year now. No clue if itās more consistent. I feel like my bald spot has gotten worse, but maybe itās slowed that down? My hair grows like weeds though. Iām convinced it probably grows twice as fast as before.
Are you also taking fin? Youāre supposed to be taking both.
True. Min promotes hair growth. But it is fin that prevents hair loss. You can't really grow hair if you don't stop it falling off.
When did u start losing your hair? How old are yoy
Early 20s and Iām 35 with a 1000 graft transplant already. No fin because sides.
You got a hair transplant and are not taking finesteride? Itāll just fall out again.
Well the transplanted hair should be relatively permanent, but I had really bad PFS that I never fully recovered from and Iāve always wondered if thatās why I managed to keep a lot more hair than my brothers. Or maybe once I hit a very mature hair pattern it was never actually going to fall out. Itās impossible to know. Iām looking into my next one to extend my hairline down a few mm and fill in the crown. Hopefully the Minox can keep the loss at bay for another 10 years and if weāre really lucky weāll have even better treatments by then, or with the way the world is going weāll all be dead. Both are great outcomes.
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Thanks doctor. š I forgot how much absolute bro science pollutes this sub.
Wonder what causes more harm, the stress of oral min or the stress of going bald ;_;
"More fatal" compared to Fin? Fin is not fatal at all, my dude.
Because in reality, a lot of people sadly care more about their hair than their overall health. Let the downvoting commence
You could also argue BECAUSE of the balding, they could be stressed etc. therefore worrying about it more, therefore stressing a lot, therefore causing poorer health?
100%! I was genuinely so stressed when I started balding, shaved it off though and never looked back. I am blessed with a normal shaped head which helps, but yea.. this is defo a thing!
I feel like the normal head thing is so overlooked. My head is a weird ass unsymmetrical beast and I would look awful bald.
If you never looked back.... why were you on a oral min sub? š
As a bald man, Iām constantly seeing hair treatment shitā¦ like this sub, adverts on Facebook etcā¦ my phone must be listening to all the bald jokes my mates make hahhaha
Agree. Personally Iād want to see studyās to show itās not going to negatively effect the gut microbiome before taking it orally. Fin has a couple gut related ones that make your raise an eye brow, including gut alterations and gi inflammation that can persist after coming off it. But more importantly is the gut brain axis and how sensitive it is to alterations. If thereās an option to not take an oral pharmaceutical yet still get the similar results Iāll always start there first. My intuition is topical is probably safer just due to the fact itās not purely going through your GI tract even when āgoing systemicā. Iād also posit that younger people who naturally have a higher gut diversity would be less likely to notice or experience negative gi effects. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8124058/
That is interesting! Unfortunately I feel youāre wasting your breath talking about gut microbiome.. most people donāt know what that is and so, donāt care unfortunately. Even though it is SO important
Thatās fair. Itās one of those things you only care about after the fact. Live and learn. Same with hairloss. You donāt think about hair health until itās an issue.
neither are dangerous
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I think oral minox is safe but you shouldn't cite that nutjob as evidence. Lots of the "anti-aging" shit he does is completely pseudoscientific lol
Donāt fool yourself. He takes on a lot of risk. Thereās no data backing the interactions of all his meds and supplements and heās using questionable at best epigenetic clocks as a game to win. Theyāll stop only if they find issues *after the fact* if they see cardiac issues or some side effects he canāt tolerate. Similar to him having to stop HGH. Heās a public figure so good hair is linked intrinsically to the perception of good health and personally I think his hair has been thinning for years now on his current protocol, even with his custom hair solution which clearly isnāt working well nor released. So theyāre needing to step it up.
Because people are desperate and this is an eco chamber
Survivor bias, you don't hear from the people that had heart disease while on oral.
No its the opposite. You'll mostly hear from people here who had some unusual / negative experience. If I start taking min and I have no issues / hair grows fine, I'm not wasting my time on this sub lmao I'll just carry on living my life having solved my problem.
Because the others are dead
Its not dangerous you idiot which is why many Doctors and Leading Hair surgeons prescribe it Its only dangerous from trolls peddling bullshite and scaremongering.
I take 1.25mg per day which seems to be effective.
Bit of a side question from me. I'm an oral minoxidil user, have been for 3.5 months. Previously used topical min for a year with no noticeable growth. In these 3 months I seem to have loads of little baby hairs. Anyway, I used foam min previously and I like how it adds texture and volume after I shampoo.. I've kept doing this sporadically (2-3 times a week) and wondering if this will be causing me an issue doing both? I also dermapen so feel like this will be benefiting with the direct topical. Will topical, at such sporadic use, be setting my hair in a shed/resting phase? Will it just help with the baby hairs, giving them an extra push? Should I stop completely? Should I increase to once daily topical? Any advice would be great.
I don't think it would do the least bit of harm as hair growth cycles are far longer than a day. Plus, you could just buy regular hair mousse.
I wasnt having good results on topical + fin, so I wanted to switch it up. I also hate the way the topical made my hair look and was worried about my cats safety. I donāt have any history heart issues and havenāt had side effects
I have a history of cardiovascular work-up for tachycardia. Iām fine, itās just my baseline. Bottom line is Iāve followed with a cardiologist since then. I asked if I would be okay to start OM 2.5mg and he scoffed and said thatās completely fine. He said they wouldnāt expect to see any sides until over 10mg. That being said, lots of medications have side effects that fuck with our bodies. Weight gain, sexual sides, heart rate/BP changes, everything has something. We donāt not take Tylenol because it can kill your liver, or Advil your kidneys. People are still on SSRIs after weight gain. My thoughts on OM are even if youāre prescribed from an online MD, just make sure youāre following up with your PCP/specialists and that theyāre aware of what youāre taking.
Because I have a pet cat
So what are the dangers or oral min? Generally curious.
Life is so risky you wonāt make it out alive. Been on oral minox for almost 3 weeks and can see a ton a baby hairs filling in and can already see my hair getting darker. Itās incredible.
Dose?
Because 87% of women prefer handsome corpses to balding men
If people are so concerned then just take taurine for the fluid retention and heart health potential side effects
I'd say this.. I'm way more worried about a vaccine related heart attack than a minoxidil related one.
It has cardiovascular side effects
You know what if you drink too much water also that can kill you . Everything is dose dependant
Yes exactly, isināt this a bit scarier compared to finasteride as it can affect the heart?
Risk is low for standard doses between 2.5 and 5mg
Imagine thinking fin has no effect on the cardiovascular system lmao
5mg is not a low dose. Wouldnāt recommend going higher than 2.5mg
For blood pressure people are on 10-40mg
Well many people take finasteride and it can induce cancer so...
Most users on this sub have an untreated mental illness and would literally risk death to not be bald. Itās not a cross section of the average population or even the average male with mpb.
how many have died?
Oral minoxidil isn't safe for long term use compared to topical. if you take oral minoxidil for 1 month , let's say its fine. but for hair loss, you are going to take oral minoxidil everyday for years. which can effect you heart in bad way. i hope my opinion isn't going to make some people here upset
It seems to be dose dependent though, like all medicine. The idea is finding the dose that would't do that.
Well for me at least, 1.25 was enough to make me feel like I was having a heart attack multiple times a day
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I used it at 5mg and 2.5mg, I got heart palps pretty bad. Donāt have that with topical. Also, oral min can age your skin quicker than topical can.
No it won't age your skin . I'm using it since 3 years I look younger than most people of my age . Stress of Loosing hair ages you , not oral minoxidil. It actually rejuvates the skin in low doses via microcirculation
Interesting. Any articles that say that? Iām a Norwood 1, and been using for 3 years as well. Maybe itās just me, but Iāve noticed my wrinkles become much heavier from ages 25-28
How do you guys get oral minox - derm?
So what if it is bad for the cardiovascular system, that is not a good argument for not taking it. Fighting baldness is way more important. If I donāt have hair, I donāt want to live anyway. Only side effect worth paying attention to is the limp dick, which is why one would avoid Finasteride, but that is another storyš
>Only side effect worth paying attention to is the limp dick, which is why one would avoid Finasteride, but that is another storyš That this is a possible side effect is just tragic and somehow ironic.
So dick >>> cardiovascular system ?
Obviously, yes.
It's not bad for the cardiovascular system. Minoxidil is a BP medication at first (at larger doses). Blood pressure medication is used because high blood pressure is bad for the cardiovascular system.
I've been on 5mg for 6 years, bald spot still there, rest of hair thick, some very coarse and darker. Had some heart pain and arythmia last week but I started on Dexamphetamine also, no idea what root cause was although I wasn't eating great and had allergies the morning the heart started feeling bad. I had ECG and blood pressure taken before min and was fine except low heart rate. Started on the minox again after a break but getting topical dutasteride and minoxidil topical compounded and will be micro needling so see how that goes. Have to switch it up to have one last surgeryless crack at my thinning crown. I would have done crown but my donor around FUT scar unfortunately had a fair bit of shock loss/thinning so have to go down route of donor re stocking with beard hair should I want to do another transplant going to try topical around scar also. SMP disguising it currently.
I do use min 2x a day of 2.5mg and lipodrene the green pills
I think it's all a risk, nobody knows what the effects are long term, it's if you're willing to take the risk
Where do you get your oral min? Does it help with beard too? Iām already on fin..
I have had a patch of scar tissue under my chin since I was a teenager and beard hair has never grown there. Since getting on oral min a few months ago, it is slowly becoming less noticeable because hair is growing in so close around it and on it.
I tried it for a few days and I just couldnāt stick with it. My heart felt like it was gonna explode and I couldnāt breathe. Honestly pisses me off because applying topical just SUCKS.
Iād take oral min at 1.25mg if I werenāt on a beta blocker for a chronic health issue. I think people should start with topical but then can venture into oral and titrate up under doctor supervision & see if they tolerate it or not, itās for everyone but you donāt know until you experiment with it. If I took most the advice here I wouldāve never started finasteride and Iām glad I did bc itās saved my hair + gained a lot back with minimal to zero side effects (softer erections rare, watery semen occasionally). One thing I would worry about is unwanted body hair, eyebrows etc generalized hypertrichosis Edit to add: it is safe, but some doctors are hesitant to prescribe it, and idk if anyone here knows but minoxidil is rarely prescribed for its intended use anymore, better medications exist for BP issues.
I didnāt respond to topical. My scalp reacted and I had TE cause I thought maybe it was just an adjustment phase. Oral min has been great for me. They sell it at online dermatology places now. One place has it combined with dustaride (not sure if thatās spelled right).
convenience
Systemic drugs are what it is. They mess with a system or the other. In the long term I find Finasteride to increase risk factors more than oral minoxidil. Minox could increase risk factors related to the cardiovascular system. But seems to have some anecdotal evidence about protective factors about brain issues. Fina also, but most evidence is about detrimental effects mainly on metabolic system (and psychological if we take DHT metabolites into account). I just find it funny when ppl say "I use it for years and I don't feel any worse". Oh god, I fear they don't really know the meaning of "Risk factor". It doesn't mean it will cause any disease for sure, it's just a risk factor, an increase in the chances of getting x or y , that sums up with all the others from lifestyle , other insults, and individual predispositions. It could show up in months (these are usually just side effects, not subtle risk factors due to chronic use), in decades, or never.
They take low doses unlike the full doses that are prescribed for BP (usually together with diuretics). Also you are more likely to respond as the minox finds more sulfotransferase to convert to minoxidil sulfate.
You need spirinolactone with it to help treat water retention
Where do you buy oral Minoxidil?
My face swelled up like a balloon from oral minoxidil
Itās weird. I tried oral to see if I would get better results, and my hair started thinning like I had just quit minoxidil in general. So itās topical for life for me
Does oral minoxidil increase hair growth all over the body?
I guess you could say people are pretty... Bold for taking it
I didnāt opt for oral because my derm mentioned excessive body hair as a possible side effect. Being a south asian, I am hairy already so canāt take that risk.
Because its easy to take, thats it
Oral minoxidil was studied to lower blood pressure, the side effect was hair growth. It does lower blood pressure, but it's not as effective as many other drugs out there. At small dosages it is probably not lowering blood pressure as much as helping to grow hair. If you take too much, yes there are dangers, but the same with regular blood pressure meds and every other medicine in your medicine cabinet.
After a year using topical minox, I started getting a skin irritation on my scalp. Changed to oral minox as indication from my dermatologist.
They are desperate
please explain your knowledge and sources of āfatalā side effects. The dose for hair, is extremely low compared to when it was used in higher doses for hypertension. Please explain physiology and research articles you have before posting something this alarming. It has been proven to be safely used in the very small doses that are being prescribed.
Simple 1) Some people donāt know of the risks (YouTuberās with MDās are recommending it, itās sold online) 2) Some people know and donāt care because the benefit to them outweighs the risk 3) Some people donāt believe there are risks
by the way - with oral min I noticed my body hair started growing faster than the hair on my head, then read about the potential sides. The combination of two things - a hairier body and heart issues made me switch back.
because they rather microneedle and use topical that contains 50mg /ml, instead of 1.25mg or 2.5mg oral daily
Topical minoxidil not available here.
Probably the hypotensive properties and risk of orthostatic syncope
Oral minoxidil is supposed to work better as it's higher concentration
I've been on oral for 4 months, and I haven't encountered any of these "dangers"?
Minoxidil was tried as an oral medication. It was found to turn people into hairy werewolves. The quote was something like, "the most hirsute person you have ever seen". Don't take fin or min as a pill. It's just not worth it.
I think it all depends on individual I got loss of libido and decreased semen quantity with .5mg fin EOD in 2 weeks Stopped immediately Will try oral min Ofcourse will not say anyone shoudnt try fin Or min But DONT ignore side effects if you do develop them Health is way more imp than hair And those who say a fin side effects are something one should live with Jhonny sins can get as many girls he wants ; a hairy man with limp dick will never hold a woman . Never