minoxidil side effects?

[aceman626]

I would like to get a clear picture of what the side effects might be for just minoxidil, and nothing else.

1) What % of users experience side effects? Is it like 80%? 50%? 10%? or 1%?
2) How severe are the side effects? Is it like a bit of topical flakiness and dryness? Or is it like brain fog, change in blood pressure, anxiety, etc? What else are the the serious side effects?
3) Do the side effects stay consistent, get better, or get worse as you continue to use the product?
4) Are most people who post here self selected with worse side effects? I know a couple of people in real life who used minoxidil and had no problems on it.

 

[resu]

Scalp irritation will be the most common side-effect although I didn't experienced it using the liquid version.

 

[himynameisj]

I am not sure but I heard in some rare cases that some patients experienced palpitations. I think this is the most severe side-effect of minoxidil. Maybe aging too.

 

[resu]

For me it's the only thing that kills the itch, it was driving me mad so I had to resume minoxidil after quitting it a few weeks back. The male pattern baldness itch is too much for me, rubbing minoxidil calms it down somehow.

 

[benjt]

Because, in contrast to public opinion, minoxidil seems to have some effect on androgen receptor activity after all:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4039155/

As such, the statement "minoxidil doesn't address the root cause like finasteride does" which gets repeated over and over again is wrong. Both seem to have an inhibitory effect on androgen activity, one way or the other. However, the PGD2/PGE2 hypothesis is not off the table either.

 

[CliffLee]

I've experienced itching and redness on minoxidil liquid before. I just dicontinued minoxidil for a day or so and it was fine when I reapplied.