5mg Oral Minoxidil?

[Etownone]

I was prescribed oral minoxidil.    They come in 2.5 MG pills,    and although the prescription said 2 times a day,   I was taking it once in the morning,    and doing the topical Minoxidil at night.  

But when I talked to my dr,   she told me that I'm supposed to take 2 pills (5mg) once a day and stop doing the topical. 

Is anyone else taking 5mg?  

[champybaby]

Dude. 5mg sounds like too much. I take 2.5mg daily. Maybe on them 6-7 months now? Really wished I got on these from the start vs using foam.

Get off foam, dude. You don't need to take that if you're taking the pill.

[Etownone]

59 minutes ago, champybaby said:

Dude. 5mg sounds like too much. I take 2.5mg daily. Maybe on them 6-7 months now? Really wished I got on these from the start vs using foam.

Get off foam, dude. You don't need to take that if you're taking the pill.

It does sound like too much to me too.   

I don't hear about anyone else taking 5mg.

 

Thx.   

[aaron1234]

Most docs start patients at 1.5MG for oral min. 

[9N5J__]

Are these hair transplant doctors that are prescribing Oral Min? Or are most people able to obtain a prescription for it from a regular GP? 

[Etownone]

6 hours ago, 9N5J__ said:

Are these hair transplant doctors that are prescribing Oral Min? Or are most people able to obtain a prescription for it from a regular GP? 

My hair transplant Dr prescribed 5mg oral minoxidil. 

Ive seen others on reddit say that take 5mg too.    

[MachoVato]

I got 5mg pills. I take it 3 days a week, MWF.

[Rmp]

Supposedly Dr Bisanga (very highly regarded here) prescribes 5mg oral minox to his patients, and I’ve seen a lot of people get great results at that dosage.

i recently started taking 5mg after about 4 months of 2.5, no issues. EKG and blood pressure are good, and I’m very active - however I did cut back on caffeine and sodium a bit to be safe.

[Etownone]

3 hours ago, Rmp said:

Supposedly Dr Bisanga (very highly regarded here) prescribes 5mg oral minox to his patients, and I’ve seen a lot of people get great results at that dosage.

i recently started taking 5mg after about 4 months of 2.5, no issues. EKG and blood pressure are good, and I’m very active - however I did cut back on caffeine and sodium a bit to be safe.

Yeah 5mg was prescribed by Dr Mwamba to me.    

 

[Curious25]

I take 2.5mg at 10am and 2.5mg at 10pm. 
 

Did the first 6 weeks 2.5mg daily, and then upped it from there. 
 

My blood pressure and HR readings 2 days ago were 128/70 and 49, so I am content my BP isn’t being lowered or heart rate elevated at this stage. 
 

I would certainly recommend consulting with a relevant Dr first of all, however. 

[Etownone]

7 hours ago, Curious25 said:

I take 2.5mg at 10am and 2.5mg at 10pm. 
 

Did the first 6 weeks 2.5mg daily, and then upped it from there. 
 

My blood pressure and HR readings 2 days ago were 128/70 and 49, so I am content my BP isn’t being lowered or heart rate elevated at this stage. 
 

I would certainly recommend consulting with a relevant Dr first of all, however. 

That's what I have tabs that are 2.5

And I was splitting them up like youre,  but then dr told me that I domt need to do that,  and just take the 2 tabs in the morning once a day.  

 

 

[Curious25]

57 minutes ago, Etownone said:

That's what I have tabs that are 2.5

And I was splitting them up like youre,  but then dr told me that I domt need to do that,  and just take the 2 tabs in the morning once a day.  

 

 

Yea, that’s one way people do also. 
 

My logic was , due to the half life being 6-7 hours (I think) , plus the fact that I didn’t get any unwanted sides taking 2.5mg every 24 hours . . Taking 2.5mg every 12 hours was a good way to ease myself into 5mg daily. 
 

I have also been following some guy on YouTube called Leo, who has documented his oral minoxidil progression, and he does 2.5mg 12pm, 2.5mg 12am . . So I took his approach tbh. 

[Etownone]

53 minutes ago, Curious25 said:

Yea, that’s one way people do also. 
 

My logic was , due to the half life being 6-7 hours (I think) , plus the fact that I didn’t get any unwanted sides taking 2.5mg every 24 hours . . Taking 2.5mg every 12 hours was a good way to ease myself into 5mg daily. 
 

I have also been following some guy on YouTube called Leo, who has documented his oral minoxidil progression, and he does 2.5mg 12pm, 2.5mg 12am . . So I took his approach tbh. 

That makes sense....   But the Dr made me chance to taking the full 5 MG dose at once.    

Do you take finesteride as well? 

[Curious25]

6 minutes ago, Etownone said:

That makes sense....   But the Dr made me chance to taking the full 5 MG dose at once.    

Do you take finesteride as well? 

I wouldn’t say it’s ‘chancing’ it per say, I just took a more risk aversive approach.

For example, 1mg daily finasteride is a standard prescription that most doctors would suggest for their patients, however many users, start at smaller doses and lesser frequencies, to test the waters, before increasing as and when they feel comfortable. 
 

I don’t take finasteride, I’ll be starting on topical dut 

[Baldingat22]

Probably a dumb question but I’ve been prescribed it to whoever my Doc never said how long to take it. Is this a life long pill alongside dut/fin? Or just a year or so?

[Etownone]

12 hours ago, Baldingat22 said:

Probably a dumb question but I’ve been prescribed it to whoever my Doc never said how long to take it. Is this a life long pill alongside dut/fin? Or just a year or so?

For life...   Or until you don't care about your hair anymore.  

If you are want to quit one of them,  quit fin/dur.   

After multiple HT's,  I made the mistake and quit them both,  and had a huge setback.   I'm back on both and had to have another HT.  

[sunsurfhair]

On 2/11/2022 at 1:03 PM, 9N5J__ said:

Are these hair transplant doctors that are prescribing Oral Min? Or are most people able to obtain a prescription for it from a regular GP? 

Your HT doc should be able to write you a script or you could see a dermatologist. 

[Gatsby]

I take 5mg of oral minoxidil a day. However I was first prescribed 2.5mg a day for three months. The reason being to monitor for any side effects and also to see if 2.5mg is an adequate dose. At my three month review with my dermatologist I didn’t feel any massive gains so he upped my dose to 5mg a day. I have since felt that this has greatly helped my hair in terms of growth and thickness. I would not recommend going over 5mg a day and I would be having regular updates with your dermatologist to measure your response while taking this drug. All the best. 

[surferhair]

On 2/5/2022 at 2:11 PM, champybaby said:

Dude. 5mg sounds like too much. I take 2.5mg daily. Maybe on them 6-7 months now? Really wished I got on these from the start vs using foam.

Get off foam, dude. You don't need to take that if you're taking the pill.

Hi how do I get oral minoxidl? Is it from my hair transplant doctor or can I get it from a website or something?

[sunsurfhair]

I have done the following -

1.25 for 3 months, 2.5 for 3 months, 5mg for 6 months. Just over a year in total. I continue to stick on 5mg. Zero minor or major side effects. Only thing I noticed is my body hair does grow slightly faster which is not an issue for me since I shave my upper body anyway. 
 

BP is good

EKG is good, even had Echo and that was beautiful 

Labs look great (particularly electrolytes, kidneys, liver etc)

I only have good things to say about my experience. I will continue to remain on 5mg orally daily dose which I do at night. I was tinkering with 2.5 in AM and PM, but I prefer the nightly dose prior to bed. The med has been excellent in terms of adding both density and growth to my hair. 
 

hope this helps. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by sunsurfhair

[surferhair]

Hi thank you. Can you please explain me how do I get it? Do I have to go to my dermatologist? Or is there another way? I saw some ads for “keep” and “Ro”.

 

thank you

[sunsurfhair]

2 hours ago, surferhair said:

Hi thank you. Can you please explain me how do I get it? Do I have to go to my dermatologist? Or is there another way? I saw some ads for “keep” and “Ro”.

 

thank you

I get mine from my dermatologist. He told me recently he’s on it himself now 😂 

[surferhair]

Ok great I’ll make an appt. Do you know if there are several brands for it or is it only one that everyone are using?

thx

[sunsurfhair]

1 minute ago, surferhair said:

Ok great I’ll make an appt. Do you know if there are several brands for it or is it only one that everyone are using?

thx

No problem. Some folks take Loniten which is just the brand name. I take the generic (minoxidil) which works great. Costs me $0. The med is extremely cheap because it’s been off patent for years. 

[arthurSam]

My doctor recommends me 1mg per day just before sleeping. But I prefere to continue with topical.

Edited February 15, 2023 by arthurSam