Originally Posted by peforeal
Dino,Good luck with the experiment and getting the high blood pressure back to normal. I actually thought that minoxidil was originally used to lower blood pressure, not raise it. Of course, I have no experience with the 15% mix. One thing I’ve done since last November is to use the 5% Rogaine foam for the first time. I like it much more than the original 2% Rogaine that I stopped using years ago in 1998 when I switched to propecia. With the 5% Rogaine foam, I’ve had noticeable hair regrowth in three slightly thinned out areas that weren’t helped by the propecia. Also, I’m still taking my reduced half dose .5 mg of propecia.
Peforeal
You are right on that it is suppose to lower blood pressure but if you already had kind of low blood pressure to begin with I was reading information like this. The stuff I was using was 15% so that may be just too strong for me I’m going to wait and see what happens and than reintroduce the foam or the normal strength one. I was very happy with the hair results of the 15-5 product I was taking.
MadSci Network: Medicine
Query:
Re: Why would Rogaine give chest pains?
Date: Sat Apr 14 11:32:28 2001
Posted By: G. Monreal, Staff, Cardiothoracic Surgery , The Ohio State University
Area of science: Medicine
ID: 986263013.Me Message:
Hello Eric! Thank you for your question.
You asked: "Why would Rogaine give chest pains? It’s listed as one of the
rare side effects… I’m curious as to why in the world a topical solution
would give someone chest pains? What are the interactions of the chemicals
which cause sensations of pain in a different part of the body? Is it
serious or damaging?"
***The following information is not presented as medical advice by MadSci
or G. Monreal and should not be taken as such. All the information
summarized and explained below can be found in further detail on the
following excellent websites:
https://www.reg … .com/works.html
https://www.rxm … hs2/minoxi.html
Rogaine contains the ingredient minoxidil, which is a vasodilator. A
vasodilator works to lower blood pressures by relaxing the peripheral
vessels and increasing perfusion of the tissues. This relaxation decreases
the resistance inside the vessels and creates an overall decrease in
systemic blood pressures. If the pressures drop too much, the body will
compensate by increasing the heart rate in an effort to maintain
appropriate circulation, and the body may also retain fluids in an effort
to add more volume to the circulation (which increases pressures).
Vasodilator —> Relaxation of the peripheral blood vessels —> Decrease in
systemic blood pressure ———— if pressures drop too much, then: Low
pressures —> Increased Heart Rate and Retention of Fluids —> Blood
pressures come back up
Vasodilators are used to help lower blood pressures in people who have high
blood pressures (hypertension) by reducing the afterload on the heart, so
the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump the blood through the body.
OK, how do they help?
Here’s an analogy:
Imagine taking a mouthful of water and trying to blow that set volume
through a coffee stirrer in a fixed amount of time. The coffee stirrer is
very, very narrow (has high resistance), and you will have to work very
hard to blow all the water through in enough time. The pressures inside
that straw as the water pushes through will be very great, and you will be
tired afterwards (you are the heart). This situation is comparable to
someone with high blood pressures.
Now, imagine that you have to blow the same amount of water in the
same amount of time through a regular drinking straw. The straw is wider
(like a dilated vessel), and the resistance inside is lower, so you will
not have to work so hard to push that water through, nor will you be as
tired afterwards (you, as the heart, will appreciate not being as tired!).
Now, what does all this have to do with minoxidil??
Back in the early 1980’s, minoxidil came onto the market as a drug for
lowering high blood pressures. Scientists and doctors theorized that since
it is a vasodilator, it should dilate the blood vessels in the scalp,
perfusing the scalp tissue with oxygen-rich blood and nutrients in hopes of
stimulating the growth of new hair follicles and encouraging cell division
of the hair matrix cells, producing thicker strands.
So why is one of the extremely rare side effects of minoxidil chest pains?
If someone is already taking antihypertensive medication for high blood
pressure and decides to use minoxidil, in theory the addition of this
second pressure-lowering agent could drop the blood pressures lower than
they need to be. Likewise, someone in congestive heart failure may already
have low pressures to begin with. Their heart is already beating faster,
and the body is already retaining fluids in an effort to maintain
pressures. Adding a vasodilator to that mix could, in theory, make the
situation worse by lowering pressures even further (and thus encouraging
the heart to beat even faster and the body to retain even more fluids).
How do chest pains develop from all this? When pressures get too low for
whatever reason, and the heart is unable to perfuse it’s own coronary
vessels adequately, regions of the heart can become ischemic as the oxygen
supply to that area is reduced. The heart then switches from aerobic to
anaerobic respiration, and toxic by-products accumulate (such as lactic
acid), leading to fatigued heart muscles and chest pains.
Hope this information helps to answer your questions!
Sincerely,
G. Monreal
http://www.mads ci.org/posts/ar … 57610.Me.r.html
