TL;DR: Oral minoxidil is sending my blood pressure to wavy rides and I wonder whether it is of normal occurrence. I will go see a cardiologist too, but decided to post here too.
So, I have been inactive for some time but returned back as I feel that I should ditch oral minoxidil and hop on the topical. Originally I planned to like increase dose of oral minoxidil from 2.5 to 5mg and get a baseline measurement of my BP without any oral minoxidil taken. I waited a few days (90 hours) to wait minoxidil’s BP-related effects to fully be eliminated. Oral minoxidil at 2.5mg roughly is nearly fully eliminated from the body after 48 hours, where only 0.00061035156mg of the original dose remains, ignoring any excipient/passive ingredient impacts however its BP related and antihypertensive effects last much much longer.
2.5mg*(1/2^12), 12 for half lives elapsed (1 half life=4hr, 48/4=12). After 1 half life, 1/2 of initial dose will remain for any drug, for minoxidil it is 4 hours for 1 half life.
When I do NOT take the oral minoxidil my blood pressure so to speak ranges from 10.9-12.8 for systolic and 7.9 to 8.4 for diastolic. and HB (heartbeat) is between 85-99. Sometimes heartbeat goes to low 80s. Preeeetty normal. HOWEVER, When I take 2.5mg oral minoxidil the systolic can reach upwards of 15 meanwhile diastolic can reach to 9.5, sometimes up to 9.7. Yes, 15 and 9.7, these numbers are absolutely unheard of in normotensive patients when at rest. By the way, I forgot to mention but I was at rest before, during and after taking the oral minoxidil for at least solid 40 minutes. After this happens, my systolic blood pressure drops rapidly to around 11 from 15, and diastolic from 9.7 to high 7-ish or approximately 8. a whopping 40mmhg drop for systolic and a whopping 20mmhg drop for diastolic. Immediately afterwards of systolic and diastolic drops, my heart rate goes over 100 (107 I had recorded after taking 2.5mg oral minoxidil pill) which to me seems that my heart attempts to compensate for drop in blood pressure by inducing a reflex tachycardiathat is increasing heart beat to deliver more blood in layman’s terms. Keep in mind I had no heart palpitations and my heart rate is perfectly normal. I did not develop any pericardial effusion and felt as if I had not taken oral minoxidil at all over the course of 2 months where I had taken oral minoxidil at 2.5mg every day at night.
Oral minoxidil in question here has been obtained from a compounding pharmacy, however I tested their capsules and they contain raw minoxidil powder (with sodium hypochlorite, obtained orange color) and it has given me beard hypertrichosis and early baby hair began popping up. Clearly it seems to be working and is indeed legit. Sadly I cannot get loniten or lonolox here, maybe not to be so sad given the effect of oral minoxidil on my BP and HB
I had conducted a few previous BP and HB tests roughly a 1-2 months ago, I assumed they were inconsistent as my BP ranged from 11-13 after 24hr has past of taking 2.5mg oral minoxidil (I was wrong unfortunately as that was a relatively normal range, not something to be doubtful of and oral minoxidil’s effects range for at least 72 hours and roughly one has to wait 80 hours to be sure.). In addition those tests were not performed at rest. However having done this fully at rest today makes me question whether I should ditch oral minoxidil or not. I will very likely ditch it at this point but want to hear what people have to say and obviously will NOT take their advice at face value and will see a cardiologist. However, I still am curious. If no response I get for this post, I am ditching it and going with topical+tretionin and will not look back .
I think the physiological explanation for what you’re seeing is coherent. The magnitude of BP and HR swings is not acceptable for a cosmetic therapy, and OM is not benign in “normotensive” individuals. The instinct to discontinue is good, you’re observing real, physiologically meaningful effects from a powerful systemic vasodilator. Switching to topical and not looking back is a rational, medically conservative decision, in my opinion. Sorry bro.
tressless is a so dead forum brooooo
nah, but it’s young and so are the new members, so there’s a lot of noob questions. This post was pretty advanced. But your responses to everyone are so helpful, we’re all building this community up right now.
Thanks for the answer. Though my oral minoxidil is not a tablet but rather powder placed inside a capsule. Can it affect, eg. causing an immediate you know, peak or effect afterwards of which its effect can decline etc. Unlike how a tablet is say supposed to work. I asked chatgpt, and researched it myself, it seems highly bioavailable and already peaks in tablet form. Wonder your response though. I still got some 40 capsules left, not that it matters though.
It’s possible excipients/binders would delay onset and modestly smooth the early peak, rather than make absorption truly even over time. In immediate release tablets this means a later, slightly blunted rise in concentration, not extended or flat absorption. But like I said, if you have anything weird going on with your heart, I would drop it asap!
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