I have been using Rogaine since March 2013. I got incredible results. However, since May I got moderate to severe regurgitation (GERD). As I am a physician myself, I started a formal PPI treatment for 1 month. My symptoms got better but I was always curious why I got GERD suddenly. I am 39, a healthy non smoker with no family history of GERD. I had a barium swallow which confirmed my reflux. Out of a sudden I got suspicious whether my symptoms are due to Rogaine as Rogaine is a vasodilator with NItric Oxide effect which is the mechanism for LES relaxation. So, I quit Rogaine now for 5 days and unbelievably all my GERD symptoms are gone! I checked the side effects everywhere and could not find GERD anywhere. I wonder anyone has noticed acid reflux after starting 5% Rogaine foam? Also, any suggestions on how to modify my regime not to get GERD. I use the topical foam twice a day at night and in the morning after taking shower. I got great results from Rogaine and do not want to loose my hair by stopping administration. Our advice and opinions are highly appreciated.
GERD because of Rogaine
- Thread starter Allen
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DoctorHouse
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Since you are a physician, lets approach your problem from a medical standpoint. How much minoxidil do you think is being absorbed into you SYSTEMICALLY? Do you feel that percent is enough to cause GERD? I feel GERD can be stress/anxiety related. Are you under any stress/anxiety? I know in my case, I am super sensitive to minoxidil so I do get sides from it. I think at 2 percent I am fine. You could go to once a day foam and see how you do. Its like using 2.5 percent minoxidil twice daily. I would conduct your experiment again but this time eat exactly the same exact foods and the same exact portions for one week while using minoxidil twice daily. Do not take any PPI. Monitor you stress/anxiety levels too. Then stop minoxidil once you know you have full blown GERD again. Then eat the same exact foods and the same exact portions and monitor your stress and anxiety levels. If the GERD disappears you can be sure, its the minoxidil. I had to go on and off minoxidil at least 4 times to see if it was giving me sides. I found out it was giving me sides every time I went back on it. But like I said I was able to tolerate 2 percent once a day.
Thanks a lot but I was under absolutely no stress. I am now sure that it was Rogaine as during this 5 days that I quit I can drink alcohol and coffee and eat chocolate and acidic food without a bit of problem while for the past three months I could not any of those. I will try smaller dosage and will report when my symptoms will be back. I am curious whether anyone else has such a side effect as it seems it is a rare but important one.
I might be able to give some hints here, as I tried adenosine as an alternative to minoxidil, and the exact same thing happened on adenosine.
As suggested by one paper [1], minoxidil's effects are actually mediated by adenosine (that's the diction of the paper; I myself am not sure of the wording really applies - either way, minoxidil DOES the same as adenosine). The theories are that either minoxidil is metabolised into adenosine, or is an agonist of adenosine. Adenosine blocks Dopamine, Acetylcholine and Noradrenaline, and furthermore puts many organism processes - when applied locally - to a halt. Also, it has an effect on heart frequency. Additionally, it blocks the GABA neurotransmitter.
As I am no MD, I have no idea if these could be related to GERD.
Wikipedia states:
You definitely got too much minoxidil into your blood stream, as I also had to overdose on adenosine to induce GERD and nausea (was trying to find the correct dose).
[1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11886528
As suggested by one paper [1], minoxidil's effects are actually mediated by adenosine (that's the diction of the paper; I myself am not sure of the wording really applies - either way, minoxidil DOES the same as adenosine). The theories are that either minoxidil is metabolised into adenosine, or is an agonist of adenosine. Adenosine blocks Dopamine, Acetylcholine and Noradrenaline, and furthermore puts many organism processes - when applied locally - to a halt. Also, it has an effect on heart frequency. Additionally, it blocks the GABA neurotransmitter.
As I am no MD, I have no idea if these could be related to GERD.
Wikipedia states:
Wikipedia said:
You definitely got too much minoxidil into your blood stream, as I also had to overdose on adenosine to induce GERD and nausea (was trying to find the correct dose).
[1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11886528
If it blocks Ach it results in adverse relaxation of Lower esophageal sphincter. Last night I tried half cap of Rogaine and I got mild reflux in the morning which went away by noon. I believe I am missing an enzyme somewhere in the cycles. Any suggestion whether the drop woul have any other effect or even other brand other than Rogaine ? I wish someone from the drug company could have comments as well. I may publish my case as a case report in a GI journal.
I get mind refulx from time to time, more often recently and I thought it was just me haiving an upset stomach and dismissed it. Never thought of it as sides from Rogaine. I guess if I try, I could make a big deal out of all the symptoms I am having now and blame on Propecia and Rogaine and I would love to. I don't know any more.
hi
I suffer from Gerd and I started using Rogaine about 4 months ago and my GERD got worse, so worse that i started using ppi twice daily plus and H2 blocker twice daily, I was wondering if rogaine had somthing to do with it, I will stop using rogaine and see if my gerd gets better. please let me know if you had found anything else. this is the only post i found where I saw rogaine effects on GERD.
I suffer from Gerd and I started using Rogaine about 4 months ago and my GERD got worse, so worse that i started using ppi twice daily plus and H2 blocker twice daily, I was wondering if rogaine had somthing to do with it, I will stop using rogaine and see if my gerd gets better. please let me know if you had found anything else. this is the only post i found where I saw rogaine effects on GERD.
Bald asshole
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Over the past year I've been suffering (in two bouts, the first in fall and just recently) of horrible stomach pains. I'm a generally healthy, non-smoking, 28 year old with no history of stomach problems.
- I've had a h. pylori test come back negative, gluten intolerance test come back negative and my liver, kidney and thyroid tests are all normal according to my blod work
- I've been taking the following 40mg of Omeprazole in the morning as well as a probiotic and capsule of mastic gum.
I'm scheduled to have a endoscopy next week, but now this thread is making me think that perhaps I should try discontinuing the rogaine first to see if it makes a difference.
I'd love to hear updates from you Allen. How have you been feeling?
- I've had a h. pylori test come back negative, gluten intolerance test come back negative and my liver, kidney and thyroid tests are all normal according to my blod work
- I've been taking the following 40mg of Omeprazole in the morning as well as a probiotic and capsule of mastic gum.
I'm scheduled to have a endoscopy next week, but now this thread is making me think that perhaps I should try discontinuing the rogaine first to see if it makes a difference.
I'd love to hear updates from you Allen. How have you been feeling?
A quick update
Gentlemen,
Just felt that I should give an update on my status. I did an endoscopy in October 2013 which came normal as expected in case of recent GERD. My H. Pylori came negative. Although my GI specialist did not believe in effect of Rogaine on GERD, I completely quit Rogaine in November 2013. It took me three months to be GERD symptom free. I was on two Zegerid per day and I managed tapering before complete withdrawal. You have to consider that when you are on PPI, instant quit would produce even worse symptoms; so you are kind of trapped. In any case, I totally quit Zegerid on February 1, 2014, and my symptoms totally disappeared. My GI specialist still did not believe it and suggested me a Bravo pH Monitoring test, which I did. He was quite sure that I have GERD due to other reasons and he said the test should come positive. Interestingly my result for February 25 monitoring came negative, which corroborated my recent lack of symptoms. At the end he and I both confirmed that my symptoms were due to the chronic effects of Rogaine.
In summary, my GERD started a couple of months after starting Rogaine (potentially it takes some times to get a certain level of Minoxidil in the blood to start affecting the LES) and completely relieved few months after withdrawal of the Rogaine. My most important observation was that the symptom does not go away by immediate withdrawal of the drug as potentially it takes few months for the body to adjust the pH of LES again.
I felt responsible to share my experience. I hope this would be helpful to the forum.
Allen
Gentlemen,
Just felt that I should give an update on my status. I did an endoscopy in October 2013 which came normal as expected in case of recent GERD. My H. Pylori came negative. Although my GI specialist did not believe in effect of Rogaine on GERD, I completely quit Rogaine in November 2013. It took me three months to be GERD symptom free. I was on two Zegerid per day and I managed tapering before complete withdrawal. You have to consider that when you are on PPI, instant quit would produce even worse symptoms; so you are kind of trapped. In any case, I totally quit Zegerid on February 1, 2014, and my symptoms totally disappeared. My GI specialist still did not believe it and suggested me a Bravo pH Monitoring test, which I did. He was quite sure that I have GERD due to other reasons and he said the test should come positive. Interestingly my result for February 25 monitoring came negative, which corroborated my recent lack of symptoms. At the end he and I both confirmed that my symptoms were due to the chronic effects of Rogaine.
In summary, my GERD started a couple of months after starting Rogaine (potentially it takes some times to get a certain level of Minoxidil in the blood to start affecting the LES) and completely relieved few months after withdrawal of the Rogaine. My most important observation was that the symptom does not go away by immediate withdrawal of the drug as potentially it takes few months for the body to adjust the pH of LES again.
I felt responsible to share my experience. I hope this would be helpful to the forum.
Allen
What a thread. I have been on generic MIN 5% foam for the last 5 or so years with NO side effects. I recently underwent a hair transplant in the beginning of Aug. Two weeks after, I started to use Rogaine brand name 5% foam (a friend gave me a three pack as he stopped using). About 2 weeks ago, one day, I suddenly felt bloated after a meal. I attributed it to having eaten too much or something I ate. The problem was that it did not go away. After pretty much each meal, everyday, for the past 2 weeks, I have been getting this feeling of super fullness and a "lump" in my throat feeling as if food is trying to climb up my esophagus. It doesn't burn or hurt but is very uncomfortable and annoying.
I went to the Dr today and all he did was prescribe me with generic prescription strength Zantac. I knew that is all that would happen as with all western medicine, treat the symptoms and not the cause. I don't blame him, it's what they are trained to do. I mainly went it to get a referral letter to a Naturopath anyways, which I got as well.
Anyway, I decided to google Rogaine and acid reflux as I was trying to pinpoint the different meds/supplements I have been taking since the hair transplant, to see what could be the possible issue. I started taking MSM and Biotin after the hair transplant and have stopped taking that for over a week with no relief of the symptoms. I didn't think it could be the rogaine as I have been on generic MIN for the last 5 years or so. I still don't know if it is the Rogaine as the ingredients should be the exact same, no? I do notice that the Rogaine foam does not liquify as quickly as the generic one.... so maybe there are different non medicinal ingredients that effect the rate of absorption? Anyways, I plan to stop Rogaine for a few days and see if my symptoms get better... if it does, great (but not great because I don't want to stop Rogaine). Maybe I will try once a day and see if that works a well..
Allen, thank you for making and updating this post. I will also post my update as well in a few days for the sake of not creating another thread.
PS. I am a 33 year old healthy male. Eat very healthy, and I work out 4-5 times a week.
I went to the Dr today and all he did was prescribe me with generic prescription strength Zantac. I knew that is all that would happen as with all western medicine, treat the symptoms and not the cause. I don't blame him, it's what they are trained to do. I mainly went it to get a referral letter to a Naturopath anyways, which I got as well.
Anyway, I decided to google Rogaine and acid reflux as I was trying to pinpoint the different meds/supplements I have been taking since the hair transplant, to see what could be the possible issue. I started taking MSM and Biotin after the hair transplant and have stopped taking that for over a week with no relief of the symptoms. I didn't think it could be the rogaine as I have been on generic MIN for the last 5 years or so. I still don't know if it is the Rogaine as the ingredients should be the exact same, no? I do notice that the Rogaine foam does not liquify as quickly as the generic one.... so maybe there are different non medicinal ingredients that effect the rate of absorption? Anyways, I plan to stop Rogaine for a few days and see if my symptoms get better... if it does, great (but not great because I don't want to stop Rogaine). Maybe I will try once a day and see if that works a well..
Allen, thank you for making and updating this post. I will also post my update as well in a few days for the sake of not creating another thread.
PS. I am a 33 year old healthy male. Eat very healthy, and I work out 4-5 times a week.
This is an old thread but I want to share my experience as it's very relevant to the discussion, and this is the only discussions I've found on the matter.
I started taking minoxidil for facial hair growth about 1 year ago. I saw progress pretty quickly and kept using it for about 6 months. At around the 6 month point I started experiencing severe silent reflux or LPR. I was unable to sleep with any amount of food in my stomach, and it was pretty devastating to my day-to-day life until I realized that I needed to not eat for 8 hours before bed if I wanted to get any sleep at all. I would get severe sleep apnea, to the point that I would completely stop breathing as soon as I fell asleep when laying down.
During this sleepless point in my life (about 6 months ago) I stopped taking minoxidil as I wasn't interested in trying to grow hair while my life was falling apart. Well after about two months my symptoms cleared up, and I figured I had injured myself and gotten a Hiatal Hernia while working out (which I was doing every day at the time) and figured I was maybe just getting old and need to take it easy with my workouts and not over eat.
Eventually I started cautiously exercising again, fearing that the issue would arise. I also happened to start taking minoxidil at the same time (seeking self improvement all around). Not two weeks went by, and the issue started again. No sleep. This time was worse with much more pronounced GERD symptoms. Again, I thought I overdid the exercising and was pretty upset because I didn't know what I was doing wrong and thought I couldn't workout anymore.
About two weeks ago I started feeling better. I haven't exercised since, and have begun being able to eat whatever I want again. But yesterday I used minoxidil for the first time in a month or two, and last night my symptoms completely resurged and I could not sleep because stomach acid was coming into my throat until about 6am when my food had finally fully digested.
I now know without a doubt in my mind that minoxidil has been causing these stomach problems, specifically causing issue with my lower esophageal sphincter relaxing and letting stomach acid into my throat. I am honestly very relieved to have finally found the cause of this issue and to know it is not my exercise that has been the problem. I threw away all minoxidil I own this morning, and am actually interested to see how many days or weeks the symptoms will persist until I feel better again.
Hopefully it will only be a few days, but now I have to not eat 8 hours before bed until I stop tasting stomach acid in the back of my throat. I also have to eat a GERD friendly diet with no alcohol, caffeine, or spicy food. I am very hopeful that I will never have to deal with this problem again now that I know definitively what has been causing it.
I hope this proves to be useful to others. I have spent so many hours at this point trying to understand what the hell has been happening to me these past 6 or so months and it feels relieving to finally know how to put it to an end for good. I don't even mind that the minoxidil caused a resurgence of symptoms last night because it helped me finally understand that it was the root of my problems.
I am 25yrs old, on the skinnier side, eat healthy, never had stomach issues before all of this, in good shape.
I started taking minoxidil for facial hair growth about 1 year ago. I saw progress pretty quickly and kept using it for about 6 months. At around the 6 month point I started experiencing severe silent reflux or LPR. I was unable to sleep with any amount of food in my stomach, and it was pretty devastating to my day-to-day life until I realized that I needed to not eat for 8 hours before bed if I wanted to get any sleep at all. I would get severe sleep apnea, to the point that I would completely stop breathing as soon as I fell asleep when laying down.
During this sleepless point in my life (about 6 months ago) I stopped taking minoxidil as I wasn't interested in trying to grow hair while my life was falling apart. Well after about two months my symptoms cleared up, and I figured I had injured myself and gotten a Hiatal Hernia while working out (which I was doing every day at the time) and figured I was maybe just getting old and need to take it easy with my workouts and not over eat.
Eventually I started cautiously exercising again, fearing that the issue would arise. I also happened to start taking minoxidil at the same time (seeking self improvement all around). Not two weeks went by, and the issue started again. No sleep. This time was worse with much more pronounced GERD symptoms. Again, I thought I overdid the exercising and was pretty upset because I didn't know what I was doing wrong and thought I couldn't workout anymore.
About two weeks ago I started feeling better. I haven't exercised since, and have begun being able to eat whatever I want again. But yesterday I used minoxidil for the first time in a month or two, and last night my symptoms completely resurged and I could not sleep because stomach acid was coming into my throat until about 6am when my food had finally fully digested.
I now know without a doubt in my mind that minoxidil has been causing these stomach problems, specifically causing issue with my lower esophageal sphincter relaxing and letting stomach acid into my throat. I am honestly very relieved to have finally found the cause of this issue and to know it is not my exercise that has been the problem. I threw away all minoxidil I own this morning, and am actually interested to see how many days or weeks the symptoms will persist until I feel better again.
Hopefully it will only be a few days, but now I have to not eat 8 hours before bed until I stop tasting stomach acid in the back of my throat. I also have to eat a GERD friendly diet with no alcohol, caffeine, or spicy food. I am very hopeful that I will never have to deal with this problem again now that I know definitively what has been causing it.
I hope this proves to be useful to others. I have spent so many hours at this point trying to understand what the hell has been happening to me these past 6 or so months and it feels relieving to finally know how to put it to an end for good. I don't even mind that the minoxidil caused a resurgence of symptoms last night because it helped me finally understand that it was the root of my problems.
I am 25yrs old, on the skinnier side, eat healthy, never had stomach issues before all of this, in good shape.
Okay so I’m really glad I found this thread and it is starting to put my mind at rest that my heart issue and GERD will subside.
I have recently started taking minoxidil again following a 3 week break. I first started noticing some mild chest discomfort soon after application. 3 days ago I derma rolled my scalp and applied minoxidil the following morning, roughly 12 hours after derma rolling.
Ever since then I’ve been experiencing quite severe chest discomfort and today for the first time I’m feeling acid reflux, which I never usually experience.
I’m a 31 years old very health conscious. I’m an avid road cyclist and very aware of heart health. This whole thing has scared the hell out of me. I’m still not out of the woods yet, my side effects are still there, but it’s reassuring to read others experiences and that the side effects went away eventually.
when I restart minoxidil I’m going to be VERY careful with dosage and not apply with 48 hours at least of derma rolling.
Thankyou to you all for the information shared in this thread
I have recently started taking minoxidil again following a 3 week break. I first started noticing some mild chest discomfort soon after application. 3 days ago I derma rolled my scalp and applied minoxidil the following morning, roughly 12 hours after derma rolling.
Ever since then I’ve been experiencing quite severe chest discomfort and today for the first time I’m feeling acid reflux, which I never usually experience.
I’m a 31 years old very health conscious. I’m an avid road cyclist and very aware of heart health. This whole thing has scared the hell out of me. I’m still not out of the woods yet, my side effects are still there, but it’s reassuring to read others experiences and that the side effects went away eventually.
when I restart minoxidil I’m going to be VERY careful with dosage and not apply with 48 hours at least of derma rolling.
Thankyou to you all for the information shared in this thread
My experience with Minoxidil
I started taking Finasteride and applying Minoxidil 5% in 2009. I was given various combinations by the dermatologist in terms of the brand and proportion. It worked very well till 2021. I never experienced any side effect. I never had any issue related to Acid Reflux per se till then. I started getting the reflux from Mid Feb, 2022. I took the conventional antacid or ayurvedic medicines, which gave temporary relief. I went to GI expert, who did not do any examination by started with PPI (Very mild dosage). At the same time, I saw only post about Minoxidil causing GERD. As per the trail, once the level of minoxidil goes to certain proportion in the blood, it would impact the oesophagus valve and the acid would come up to throat. If you stop it, it would take at least 3 to 4 months to regain the original mechanism.
Apart from starting with PPI, I stopped applying Minoxidil in Feb. Reflux started reducing and after July 22, the episodes of the reflux reduced to once in a month, which was normal. I also read somewhere that if you consume too much of menthol (vics or some medicines for sore throats), it affects the oesophagus valve, which triggers off the reflux.
It is quite surprising that there are only three or four posts about it on internet, wherein the problem must have been experienced by many. My feeling is that people may not be linking the reflux problem with something, being used on their head.
I started taking Finasteride and applying Minoxidil 5% in 2009. I was given various combinations by the dermatologist in terms of the brand and proportion. It worked very well till 2021. I never experienced any side effect. I never had any issue related to Acid Reflux per se till then. I started getting the reflux from Mid Feb, 2022. I took the conventional antacid or ayurvedic medicines, which gave temporary relief. I went to GI expert, who did not do any examination by started with PPI (Very mild dosage). At the same time, I saw only post about Minoxidil causing GERD. As per the trail, once the level of minoxidil goes to certain proportion in the blood, it would impact the oesophagus valve and the acid would come up to throat. If you stop it, it would take at least 3 to 4 months to regain the original mechanism.
Apart from starting with PPI, I stopped applying Minoxidil in Feb. Reflux started reducing and after July 22, the episodes of the reflux reduced to once in a month, which was normal. I also read somewhere that if you consume too much of menthol (vics or some medicines for sore throats), it affects the oesophagus valve, which triggers off the reflux.
It is quite surprising that there are only three or four posts about it on internet, wherein the problem must have been experienced by many. My feeling is that people may not be linking the reflux problem with something, being used on their head.
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Exactly. When I had side effects from topical minoxidil I never linked them due to my lack of knowledge at that time and I was full of copium that topical minoxidil can not produce side effects. Don't want to go into details, but I basically had similar experience with topical minoxidil. Feeling much better now since I ditched it.
I even had such blatant side effects as blood platelets reduction, but neither me nor my doctor could link it to topical minoxidil.