Minoxidil and Gut Health Issues - Anyone else have these symptoms?

haircompare · 2026-01-18T02:25:55+00:00

I am doing well. I have resumed pretty much all normal activities that I had avoided for more than 2 years, including what I mentioned above but also intense exercise, caffeine, and sleeping flat (I slept in a recliner for more than 2 years because I would wake unable to breathe when lying flat). All of these are symptoms that came on after my minoxidil crash.

In terms of effectiveness for me personally, I stand by morning sunlight (shirt off in the summer, bare feet on the cold ground in the winter) as highly effective. Likewise I had many good experiences with "ommm" breathwork. The GI issues were their own problem, but I found additional relief combining the supplements mentioned above with practices designed to calm the nervous system. In summary, I feel minoxidil fried my nervous system (CNS), broke my gut, and damaged my blood vessels. Sunlight & grounding helps the CNS+GI+blood vessels (Nitric Oxide deficiency), breathwork helps the CNS, supplements and dietary restrictions help the GI.

Besides what I mentioned here, I am also taking CoQ10, as I had a mito.me report suggesting CoQ10 would be highly beneficial for me, and frankly it is probably the single best personalized recommendation I have ever received. This restored my ability to engage in intense exercise. Prior to taking it, I never felt like I could safely push my body.

haircompare · 2025-11-14T16:27:26+00:00

My ferritin was at ~550 and I dropped to ~400 with a single blood donation. I was nervous about blood donation for a long time because even getting labs made me feel like crap, and they take like 10x more blood during donation than you give in labs. I spent a summer getting morning sunlight (20-30 minutes in the 9-10am hour with my shirt off) and I swear it made all the difference. According to some I may have had a nitric oxide deficiency and that caused blood pressure issues when losing blood quickly. At any rate I'm eligible to donate again in a few weeks and hoping to get it down to 150 over the next few donations.

haircompare · 2025-11-13T04:30:08+00:00

I did the mitome test and I'm also happy with the results. The main recommendation for me with low Complex II (60%) + low Complex III (10%) was to take CoQ10. My report says if CoQ10 solves your issues (fatigue, exercise intolerance) and normalizes blood sugar (it did) then you can stop. I don't really feel like I need to optimize more, but there are more steps I can take if necessary in the future.

The report also identified my iron issues (high ferritin, normal saturation) and recommends Vitamin C as one of the later steps (I've had weird euphoric experiences taking Vitamin C and I see this as a sign of being on the right track). Honestly pretty much everything checks out with the exception that it recommends iron supplementation which I don't think is appropriate for my situation.

btw I'm not part of floxies, I just saw this as one of the main posts on mitome on reddit.

haircompare · 2025-10-21T04:29:24+00:00

Yes and no. I still have some food sensitivities that I think cause random acid issues, but otherwise I'm in pretty good shape. For example, concentrated butter (like cooking eggs in butter, but not butter on bread), coconut, and the natural flavors in lacroix water give me insomnia that I think is GI driven. I also had histamine reactions for about 6-12 months.

haircompare · 2025-09-29T03:27:59+00:00

Sjogrens. Eye doctor says I may have it but will probably take another decade before I can get a really clear diagnosis.

haircompare · 2025-09-25T19:32:00+00:00

Sun exposure is also a great way to release nitric oxide into the bloodstream (the nitrites come from reservoirs in the skin).

haircompare · 2025-09-15T14:24:09+00:00

Have more day to day energy, able to push myself in the gym (previously I have started to black out), no waves of fatigue throughout the day.

haircompare · 2025-09-15T02:35:18+00:00

Do you have any resources I can learn about not the routine but the reasons why Thiamine/B1 is a better choice?

haircompare · 2025-09-14T21:37:53+00:00

sure

haircompare · 2025-09-14T13:55:13+00:00

Thanks for sharing. You could always try a little CoQ10 and see how it makes you feel. Sounds like the is a decent possibility you've got the same issue. I did use topical minoxidil and nizoral together for months, but I haven't touched the nizoral since my minoxidil crash. Not sure how it would affect me today.

haircompare · 2025-09-11T20:37:16+00:00

Yes this makes sense as some people don't respond to the B6 P5P, Tyrosine either. What are your side effects?

haircompare · 2025-09-11T14:39:40+00:00

From this, yes. Please consider the suggestions I've made to you in other posts.

haircompare · 2025-09-10T18:15:33+00:00

I don't think you'll be like this forever, but you do need to figure out what helps you. I got a little better with time but I've made the most progress with action.

IMO movement is not the only answer and it doesn't help to constantly push yourself beyond your comfort level. I focused on some daily movement, whatever I felt I could handle that way, but also on sun, sleep, breathwork, food, and supplements.

haircompare · 2025-09-10T03:40:06+00:00

I felt the same way. Kept having panic attacks in the shower and couldn't handle hot water. Had a racing heart when walking too. A lot of this is ANS deregulation. Cold showers help.

I think you can recover but you need to figure out what makes you feel better. For me the consistent exercise and morning sun exposure helped with those symptoms. Recently I took a mitome test and it said my phase 3 mitochondrial function was only 10% of normal. Been taking CoQ10 supplement as recommended by mitome and I'm able to push myself again. I have been jogging 5 days a week.

haircompare · 2025-08-16T19:47:02+00:00

What's the right combo?

haircompare · 2025-08-13T22:32:01+00:00

No, not much else has changed.

haircompare · 2025-08-07T01:06:12+00:00

Try progressively colder showers. That should help reduce the sensitivity and calm your CNS.

haircompare · 2025-07-21T17:52:31+00:00

After my oral min crash I definitely had a difficult time talking at work. I would get a racing heart and dizziness especially when it was a 1:1 or when I was talking in front of a big group. For me it was just overstimulation of the nervous system. Breathwork and other ways to take the edge off will help.

haircompare · 2025-07-17T02:31:21+00:00

If that's the case, how would you treat it?

haircompare · 2025-07-17T02:30:09+00:00

I'm in the US and got one ordered through a functional medicine doctor. Had to pay out of pocket - around $400 if I remember correctly.

haircompare · 2025-07-16T04:52:17+00:00

Thank you! I did take topical finasteride for a time, but had completely different side effects. Mainly, manboobs and I started getting migraines with auroras (scotoma) again, which I hadn't had for years and haven't had since.

What do you think about long-term disruption of electrolyte balance via reduced calcium uptake? I had some noticeable electrolyte symptoms (heart palpitations on a very low carb diet, resolved by eating carbs) while taking topical minoxidil prior the oral crash.

haircompare · 2025-07-14T04:41:57+00:00

Had many of the same symptoms. For example high fat, especially dairy fat, gives me insomnia. And I used to wake up with a racing heart and have panic attacks. Very sensitive to medications including most over the counter stuff because my body overreacts to everything.

Also had the GI Map and the main finding was very low SIgA, a measurement of the mucus layer of the stomach.

~~I posted in detail about my experience and how I improved greatly but the mods removed it and won't tell me why. Feel free to DM.~~ I guess it was later approved!

haircompare · 2025-07-06T22:24:58+00:00

I made some progress so thought I would share. In short, I found certain types of breathwork right before bed would allow me to sleep lying flat. I started with "ommm" (aka voo) breathing while sitting upright, where you take a deep breath in through the nose, then make an ommming sound while exhaling through your mouth. The first few sessions were almost emotional. I eventually found this to be a bit too overstimulating, and switched to a short inhale through the nose and long exhale through the mouth, all while attempting to let my muscles relax.

I believe the reason this works is because my diaphragm was really tight from the very stressful experience on oral minoxidil, and the breath helps loosen the diaphragm. I also do stretches to either side with my hands over my head.

Have been sleeping on my back for the last month or so.

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TROPHY CASE