Minoxidil, anxiety, panic attacks.

[Yayo55]

Hi all,

For a few years, I was taking Rogaine 5% foam with no side effects, and some new hair.

In the summer of 2015, I had to buy the Target brand 5% because Rogaine was out of stock. A week after I started it, I had a pretty bad panic attack (which I thought was food poisoning at the time). Since I thought it was simply food poisoning, I stayed on the Target brand because the price was right.

Fast forward to this year. I had a panic attack in February (once again, thinking food poisoning) and in May (again thinking it was food poisoning), and in August I had a few days of panic attacks and uncontrollable anxiety. For some reason, I believed that the minoxidil was doing this to me. So I stopped. Anxiety was still there, and panic attacks were much more mild.

But last week, after a few days of anxiety free living (no kidding, I felt amazing), I decided to start using minoxidil again. The next day, I had terrible anxiety, and two days ago, I had one of the worst panic attacks I had ever had. Yesterday I was a crying mess at my therapist's office. He tells me I absolutely need to be on medication, but I don't want to be on medication.

Does anyone else have or had any issues with minoxidil and anxiety? I don't give a shit any more about my hair.

[AndrewGL]

Hello,

I hope you’re okay. I had anxiety with Minoxidil.

I started taking it January 2019 and very quickly my mental health went down hill.

I had terrible anxiety, no sleep, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

I had to go on medication.

Instead of getting better it was getting worse.

I got so bad that I couldn’t get out of bed to put on Minoxidil for three days. Then one day I woke up completely fine.

I immediately put two and two together, and decided to stay off it. I’ve been fine ever since.

This must be a rare side effect on some people. But in my experience Minoxidil can give you anxiety.

[Amir Yazdan, MD]

Topical or oral minoxidil can cause slight increases in heart rates for certain persons, but so far as I know there is no scientific cause for concern. People with heart conditions and/or cardiovascular problems, no matter how slight, may experience increased heart rate or anxiousness when getting on minoxidil, but direct correlation in healthy subjects is unlikely. Id recommend following up with a doctor for a general health checkup.