Applied to much minoxidil over a long period - now freaked out!

[lynx86]

Dear Community,

It's lovely to see so many of you having good results with minoxidil and other methods. I however have been worried sick about the Sideeffects of 2 year Rogaine 5% Foam particularly because I realized that I've been probably using too much
I am a 27 yr old male

I've been putting about 3 medium-thick stripes worth of Minx foam on my head for about 2 years. Sometimes I skipped a few days (which I am happy about now) and most of the time i've been using it only once a day in the morning. It would probably equal a Rogaine cup full each day, sometimes even more.

The reason why I am writing and why I am worried so much is that I've been having pretty intense heart problems (palpitations, heart racing etc.) and an overall increased anxiety level for a couple of month now and I suspect it is because of the use of minoxidil.
Shortly after I fall asleep or in the phase where I am drifting off to sleep it's like a switch has been triggered and I wake up with extreme heart pounding and strange vibrations all over my body. I've been also experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath throughout the day.

To judge how much I was using I will tell you that I've been buying a 3 can supply which would last me about 3 months. So it's a can a month of inconsistent but in my opinion overuse in a single setting.

On the net I've read about a few people that claim that minoxidil has caused them permanent heart problems and I worry that I've damaged my heart from overusing minoxidil for this time period of 2 years.

It would be great to hear your opinion on this and also on the association of heart problems with minoxidil. Is it likely that I've caused myself irreversible heart damage from the use of minoxidil?

Thank you very much

Thomas from Belgium

 

[TravisB]

Why won't you just come off minoxidil and see if these effects go away?

 

[zen68]

Hey lynx86,

I wouldn't get freaked out over this at all.

Keep in mind that your scalp can only absorb so much of the actual Minoxidil (based on the % formulation) during a single application. Just like a sponge can only hold so much water, once it is full, the excess water will flow out of the sponge. In the case of the foam, it probably winds up in your hair only to dry and evaporate.

If you are concerned about your heart health, I would definitely see your physician to verify that your heart is in good shape, but under no circumstances should you jump to conclusions about the over-application of the foam unless you were applying it in this manner more than 2 times per day.

I am not a doctor, but I am somewhat of a scientist, so I base my response on general knowledge of how the delivery vehicle (glycerine) in the minoxidil foam formulation works.

 

[lynx86]

Hey lynx86,

I wouldn't get freaked out over this at all.

Keep in mind that your scalp can only absorb so much of the actual Minoxidil (based on the % formulation) during a single application. Just like a sponge can only hold so much water, once it is full, the excess water will flow out of the sponge. In the case of the foam, it probably winds up in your hair only to dry and evaporate.

If you are concerned about your heart health, I would definitely see your physician to verify that your heart is in good shape, but under no circumstances should you jump to conclusions about the over-application of the foam unless you were applying it in this manner more than 2 times per day.

I am not a doctor, but I am somewhat of a scientist, so I base my response on general knowledge of how the delivery vehicle (glycerine) in the minoxidil foam formulation works.

Thank you dearly for your swift reply! You cannot imagine how upset I am about these problems I am having with my health, specifically with my heart those days. There is plenty of horror stories about minoxidil in the web and my heart certainly feels like it's not functioning properly those days. I have a scheduled visit to the cardiologist next week to get my heart checked out. Certainly I will ask for a long-term ECG to see if we can catch the problems when they happen.

With all the research I have done on minoxidil I am left to assume that it DOES have certain effects on the heart and that long-term effects are not well documented. I firmly believe that this is partly due to the pharma lobby that is defending its products; naturally so because it is a big business and there are billions to be made each year. I am not trying to read into timis posts because I believe that he has some other issues that are causing his agony but it's quite unsettling to read about all the other people that have been having heart palpitations and anxiety attacks because of minoxidil. I've always had a clean bill of health and I don't feel like changing that because of a little bit of extra hair. I would really be interested to know if the topical application and eventual overuse of minoxidil in this concentration can cause permanent heart disease in any form. Anyone who has more information on this topic is welcome to speak up! Please excuse my deficient English.

 

[lynx86]

This is worrying to say the least:


Despite low levels of systemic absorption, in one study of 35 men using either topical minoxidil 2% twice a day or placebo for 6 months, minoxidil was associated with cardiac changes, such as significant increases in left ventricular end-diastolic volume, cardiac output, and left ventricular mass.

These are some serious proven Side-effects of minoxidil.
I will ditch this stuff forever after reading this.

 

[Bryan]

This is worrying to say the least:

Despite low levels of systemic absorption, in one study of 35 men using either topical minoxidil 2% twice a day or placebo for 6 months, minoxidil was associated with cardiac changes, such as significant increases in left ventricular end-diastolic volume, cardiac output, and left ventricular mass.

These are some serious proven Side-effects of minoxidil.
I will ditch this stuff forever after reading this.

I think I know the study to which you refer! However, I think you're exaggerating a bit what happened in that study; the point of it was simply that the measured cardiac parameters were statistically significant, and not just the random result of some experiment. A bigger and more important question (one which hasn't yet been fully answered, to the best of my knowledge) is whether or not those cardiac effects continue to increase over time, as topical minoxidil is used. Since Rogaine has been in use for many years with no qualms from the FDA, my guess is that they probably don't continue to do that.

 

[lynx86]

thanks for your post!

Indeed it would be great to see such a study done, expeciall because so many people of so many different ages are using minoxidil and that it evidently has an effect on the heart. I do know that the studies done so far are not longitudinal studies that monitor the effect of topical minoxidil but nevertheless, the findings that topical minoxidil increases LVM and hence increases the chances of LVH in such a short period of time are unsettling to say the least..

The reason why I am worried in my case is that I had such extreme reactions on it (when falling asleep my heart would go crazy) and that I continued using it nevertheless because I did not attribute those effects to minoxidil. The continuing of the usage is what worries me. The thought that it might already have causes heart damage is scary. Especially because I read a few stories of people who used it and attribute their subsequent diagnoses with heart disease directly to the use. They all state that before minoxidil use and the symtomes, they had a healthy heart and that there is no family history of heart disease. Right Branch Block abnormalities don't just pop up in 20yr olds if you know what I mean..

If you are interested I will post the results of my cardiac tests on Monday.

 

[LookingGood!]

Why don't you if you have not already, get a full cardiac work-up from a cardiologist. It will give you piece of mind. Also, there is a syndrome call hyper-vigilism.(sp) Basically, it is common among medical students. You learn about a disease and begin to experience the "symptoms" which is purely psychological in nature and brought on by the body's sympathetic system ( fight or flight responses). ie: pain down the left arm.. heart attack, heart palpitations..A fib. etc.

 

[LookingGood!]

Bryan,

If minoxidil (Loniten) was used to lower BP in full doses then how could minimal amounts that are absorbed via topically have an adverse effect? I would think it would lower BP minimally if anything. Heart palpitations is usually associated with higher BP and cardiac events as well as anxiety attacks and fight or flight responses.

 

[Bryan]

Bryan,

If minoxidil (Loniten) was used to lower BP in full doses then how could minimal amounts that are absorbed via topically have an adverse effect? I would think it would lower BP minimally if anything. Heart palpitations is usually associated with higher BP and cardiac events as well as anxiety attacks and fight or flight responses.

I certainly hope you're right that cardiac effects continue to stay at a low level for as long as you use topical minoxidil; however, since the study above found a small but statistically significant increase in LV mass (not by any stretch of the imagination something you'd want to happen, if it happened continuously) after only six months, the obvious thing people should worry about is whether or not it continues to go up and up and up continuously, like even after several years have gone by. That needs to be tested!

 

[lynx86]

Exactly right, did anyone find any additional material on the LV mass increase of topical minoxidil?