Minoxidil heart muscle ( left ventricle )

[zeroT]

I want to share my story about my experience with minoxdril and the side effects I got. I apologize for my English its’s not perfectly. I am from Norway.

Background:
34 years old.
Weight 69 KG / IBS152
I have healthy lifestyle, do not smoke, and rarely drink. Exercise cardio and weightlifting 3-4 times a week.

I have hereditary hair loss. It comes from my mother and father's side.

I started too losing my hair in 2008, my hair loss continued gradually throughout my studies and I did not understand what to do. I completed my studies/university in 2012 and some of my friends started too notice my hair loss.
It was not so much but I did go from Noorwood 1 too Noorwood 2.

I still had no knowledge of hair loss and considered taking a hair transplant.

To get back what I'd lost. By pure coincidence, I found out that Propecia stopped hair loss and I immediately decided to get it.

I began with Propecia in December 2012 and after 8 months, the hair loss stopped. My hair got thicker and I got a little regrowth. My temples were gone and I was at Noorwood 2. In 2013, I switched to 1.25 finances five times a week.

In 2015 December, I decided to do something about my receding hairline in temples. I wanted to go back to Noorwood 1. I started with Kirkland Minoxidil 5% and went for it for 5 months. 1ML Morning and 1ML evening. I felt like I did not get enough regrowth and was not happy, and then I switched over to Lipogaine 5%. 1ML morning and 1ML evening.

Lipogaine was very good I did get good results and I got good regrowth in temples. Hair returned to Noorwood1 and I was very happy. I did not notice major side effects, but remembered that sometimes the heart beat a little faster.

In the summer of 2018, side effects started to get a little bigger, sometimes my heart beat a little faster and sometimes I experienced shortnes of breath.

I did not think it was minoxdril and ignored this. This calmed down a bit, but in January 2019 more side effects that are powerful emerged. I started to get chest pains and woke up one night with my heart beating faster.

It was 0300 a night and I decided to go to the emergency room.

They took blood test, blood pressure and measured heart rate. Everything was OK.

However, when they took the ECG test they saw something was wrong with the heart muscle.

The doctors decided on further testing and I was transferred to one hospital.

At the hospital, they took many blood tests to see if I have high blood pressure, diabetes, and all other diseases that can lead to enlarged heart muscle. Everything came back negative.

After taking blood samples, doctors took echocardiography, and then they saw that the heart muscle was abnormally large.

It was 13 CM and I mentioned to the doctor that I was taking finasteride and minoxdril for hair loss. However, the doctor did not think it could be a possible cause.

The doctor recommended that I take a gene test because enlarged heart muscle is usually genetic disease or those who engage in active sports can get it.

Then they took the ECG stress test. Everything was OK
I was in hospital 24 hours they took holter 24 hours ECG.
Everything was OK, and they did let me go.

Doctor told me that I needed more testing after six month and result from gene test takes 4-5 months.


I continued to use minoxdril after the incident.I thought I had genetic disease, my chest pains were there constantly there the whole time. I could not do weightlifting and cardio. After 6 months it was time to go back to doctor. They did 24 hours of ECG, Blood tests and echocardiography were again performed. The heart muscle was 13 CM and the gene test returned negative.

I went to the family doctor and told him about chest pain. He referred me on to the CT of my chest and lungs. And everything came back negative. This was in October 2019.


I was so frustrated by my diagnosis and chest pains. I started searching online and came across various articles. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1386573/

That mentions that minoxdril can lead to an enlarged heart muscle ( left ventricle )

I was shocked and immediately cut out minxodril.

The chest pain gradually disappeared and last August 2020 the doctor carried out a new check-up.

24 hour holter EKG was OK.
Bloodtest OK

Echocardiography showed my heart muscle had become smaller between 13 cm and 12cm. I showed the doctor this article. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1386573/

He was very surprised and told me that he needed to check this with Senior colleagues.

I received feedback that they wanted to carry out more tests. The next test was ct scan heart with contrast. It came back negative.

The doctors then concluded that Minxodril caused this. Because I have no diseases, gene test was negative and no one in the family has enlarged heart muscle.

They take such things very seriously here in Norway.

For the rest of my life, they are going to follow me up annually, blood tests, 24 holter eckg and echocardiography. Healthcare is free here, I don’t pay any things for these test.

I have an appointment next week the EKG 24 holter then after some week echocardiography.

I am going too update you guys.

Thank you, ramla, for sharing your story. I went through something similar, quite a few years back, when nobody knew much about those kind of side effects. Fortunately, I went off the stuff, and things returned to baseline. It's good that you are self-aware, and could intuitively feel what was going on with your body, and then trusted those feelings. Also, I'd like to say that your English is great!

 

[ramla]

Thank you, ramla, for sharing your story. I went through something similar, quite a few years back, when nobody knew much about those kind of side effects. Fortunately, I went off the stuff, and things returned to baseline. It's good that you are self-aware, and could intuitively feel what was going on with your body, and then trusted those feelings. Also, I'd like to say that your English is great!

That is good news Zero T! I hope my left ventricle also return too baseline. How many year did you use minoxdril before the side effects come.

 

[Anatomica Hair Transplant]

I am not blaming, doctor has concluded. After many test, i will say its av very, very rare side effects. And after i quit with minoxdril, last year they did se my heart muscle was between 13 to 12 cm. They will do new test soon.

He's right, it's a well-known side effect of local application of Minoxidil. Adjusting the dose is also important, though. But it's always recommended to the patients who'd like to have Minoxidil tratement to have monthly check for liver and heart muscles. For those who can't have monthly check, every 3 months at least.

 

[keepit]

The stuff is absolute poison to some people.. I get that dull ache on the left side from it. Anxiety from the increased heart rate. Facial skin looks horrendous on it.

I get a dull sensation near the left armpit ,did you experience any other side affects like breathing or raised heartbeat or anything else.thanks

 

[moksel]

In spring 2022, I started taking oral minoxidil while doing around 10 hours of endurance training per week (mostly cycling) and noticed a significant drop in my ability to hold power for an hour - around 10-15%.

I began to wonder about the impact of minoxidil on mitochondria, which are responsible for producing energy within cells. It's possible that minoxidil can affect mitochondrial function, causing some people to feel fatigued while taking it. The heart contains a significant amount of mitochondria and because of that it never tires.

However, if mitochondria become damaged, they can swell up, potentially leading to swelling of the heart muscle. This is just a hypothesis, but it's something to consider. Apparently this paper exists but I couldn't find it on google , "Minoxidil may inhibit mitochondrial respiration and induce oxidative stress in rat heart cells" by Xu et al., published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications in 2016."

 

[Modill]

I am suffering also strong side effects from minoxidil.
I have been using 5% twice a day during 14 years all single day.

Nowadays I have strong arrhythmias and also my skin itches in all the body: fingers, testicles, my back, my face, all the body.

I take some supplements like minerals and vitamins and I was thinking was due to some pill and I stopped all pills. But nothing happens.

After stopping minoxidil my heart started beating good again and the itch disappeared.

 

[Thrillowpl]

Hey there, really appreciate you sharing your journey. It's crazy how these side effects can sneak up. Good on you for researching and finding that article. Wishing you all the best with your upcoming tests! Keep us posted.