Need New source of 15% Minoxidil-former Dr. Lee Patient

[Tracy C]

You have no source. You made it up.

The Bald Truth Talk broadcast is on Sunday's at 8:00pm eastern time. Call in.

[Tracy C]

I don't really think it's fair to suggest the lack of common sense when someone doesn't trust the drug industry.

I can respect that. However it is obvious that this person has no common sense. I have no patience for tin foil hat talk.

[Tracy C]

It may be a case of diminishing returns..that is the side effects outweighed the benefits.

That is exactly correct - and that is the reason why Upjohn did not bother to design a study to submit to the FDA. It had no chance of being approved anyway. So why bother going through the expense.

[Xandroxuser]

The problem is, Tracy, you keep suggesting there may be harmful side effects from using 15% minoxidil but you don't say what they are.

[Xandroxuser]

I wonder what you guys make of this - in terms of the alleged harmful effects of 15% minoxidil.

Q. How safe is it to use a 12.5% Minoxidil Solution?
A. It requires a serum concentration of 20 ng/mL of minoxidil to cause any hemodynamic or other systemic effect in the human body. Allowing for the average 1.4% absorption of minoxidil from topical application, a 5% minoxidil solution will result in 1.16 ng / mL of minoxidil in the serum and a 12.5% solution will result in a 2.9 ng / mL of minoxidil in the serum level. So, there is more than a 16-fold safety margin from the use of 5% topical minoxidil and a 7-fold safety margin from the use of 12.5% Minoxidil Solution.

[Xandroxuser]

It is sometimes said that topical minoxidil can cause low platelets. It would be interesting if people who had been using 15% minoxidil for a long time had a blood test and checked their platelet levels and reported them on this thread.

[Xandroxuser]

It would also be interesting for people using 5% minoxidil for a long period of time had their platelet levels checked and reported the results on this site.

[Xandroxuser]

It would also be interesting to learn of what the possible additional harmful effects are of women using 5% minoxidil as opposed to 2% minoxidil.

[Tracy C]

The problem is, Tracy, you keep suggesting there may be harmful side effects from using 15% minoxidil but you don't say what they are.

You are conveniently ignoring the obvious to suit you. What I said was, and has always been, that the chances of experiencing the possible negative side effects of Minoxidil increase when the percentage increases. Now that is pretty straight forward but let me see if I can dumb it down for you...

The possible side effects of 15% Minoxidil are the same as the possible side effects of 5% Minoxidil - but the chances of experiencing those possible side effects increases with 15% Minoxidil.

Is that basic enough for you to understand it? I hope so because there is no simpler way to put it. If not, perhaps you should call into the show. The broadcast is on Tuesday evenings at 8:00pm eastern time.

Yes, this time I am being intentionally condescending. Usually when it happens it is not intentional, but this time it is.

It would also be interesting to learn of what the possible additional harmful effects are of women using 5% minoxidil as opposed to 2% minoxidil.

When a woman uses 5% percent Minoxidil, her changes of growing facial hair increases. However, if she is also taking Spiro to treat her hair loss, the Spiro prevents that side effect from happening.

[Xandroxuser]

I fear very little is 'obvious' in this area. I am allergic to penicilin and to PG in minoxidil solutions. I believe that any administration of penicilin and/or PG will lead to unwelcome side effects for me - fever in the case of the penicilin; inflamed scalp in the case of the PG. If a user of 5% minoxidil seems to be experiencing no side effects, you seem happy with that - assuming the person wants to use it for his appropriate MPB. However, if a user of 15% minoxidil prefers to use it because he experiences more hair growth (than the 5%), or believes it is helping him to maintain more hair growth, and he seems to be experiencing no side effects you are not happy with that.
I put my question another way. What 'side effects' are you claiming he might be experiencing, if he is not knowingly getting any side effects?
In other words, it is far from 'obvious', otherwise I would not be raising these questions.

[Tracy C]

I put my question another way. What 'side effects' are you claiming he might be experiencing, if he is not knowingly getting any side effects?

The side effects are listed on the bottle, in the information that comes with the bottle, on the outside packaging that the bottle comes in and on Rogaine's web-site. Did you not read them? Again, the side effects are the same but the chances increase when the percentage increase. Just because he is not experiencing side effects with 5%, that does not mean he won't experience side effects at 15%. In fact he is much more likely to experience those possible side effects with 15% than he was with 5%.

Now this is really really plain English. It does not get any plainer. Your argument does not hold water. Call into the show and pose your question.

[mpb47]

Interesting tidbit between % and sides. Last year I was only using 2% then stopped for about 3 months beginning in Nov. Started losing a bunch of hair in March (due to both the lack of minox and hormone medication dr put me on).
Anyway I went back to Minox but went with 5% this time. I have pretty much confirmed this weekend (comparing May to current photos) that my vertex has been filling in at least on the left side. Not sure about right as that is where it was expanding but I believe it has at least halted. Also have been noticing for awhile now that overall my hair feels much thicker-lots more volume.

But last week I was having lunch with sister and an aunt. Last night my sister mentioned that my aunt was shocked how I looked. That I looked bad and my eyelids were droopy and my skin was gray. She said it because they think I am taking too many diet pills (I have lost almost 50lbs so far and the pill do help).
But I am sure the pills have nothing to do with the eyelid problem but rather it's the 5%. I am going to use 2% more often or just skip using minox here and then and see what happens. To be fair I do use a LOT of minox but that was because my vertex was expanding like crazy back in march/april. Anyway I don't see how you guys can tolerate 15% without it messing up your skin, but I am not surprised it is not approved. Do you not have any issues with 15%???