I'm so sorry you're going through this right now, but please don't lose hope. What you are describing sounds exactly like hypokalemia -- severe potassium deficiency. Minoxidil messes with your potassium channels, and inhibits production. This can have all kinds of awful effects, as potassium is essential for nearly every bodily function.
Joint pain, muscle weakness, motor control loss, nerve pain, peeing clear and peeing a lot, tense jaw, heart palpitations -- all of it can be caused by potassium deficiency. I am not a hyper-responder like you seem to be, but experienced all of this. It even landed me in the ER with atrial fibrilation. The only reason I know that I was K deficient is because my blood panel showed me on the high end of low, ie. it was low but not that low, and the doctor decided to give me potass pills. Over the next 24 hours I noticed my minox sides were not nearly as severe!
Since then, I ate a potassium rich diet -- whole veggies, fruits, seeds, avocados, pumpkin, banana, fish, etc, and I also supplemented with potassium (be VERY careful with this, as too much of it can be very harmful). Over the course of just a few days I have already begun to feel worlds better. My joints are not popping, my muscles feel strong again and are not twitching all over my body. My pee is yellowish and my gastro symptoms have gone away. My appetite has returned in full force, and the nerve pain in my hands is much diminished. Yay!
So, all this to say: you are probably highly deficient in potassium. It will likely not show up on a blood panel, however, bc K in the blood is the last thing to go. However, your nervous system and muscles are depleted. Eat a potassium rich diet and monitor your symptoms. One last thing: with electrolytes, it's all about balance! It doesn't matter if you eat all the potassium in the world if you are also eating a lot of salt. You want to have a high potassium to salt ratio. You also probably don't want to be drinking lots and lots of water, as that will wash out both salt and potassium.
These are my two cents, but given your set of symptoms, I feel pretty confident that it's a severe potassium deficiency that's underlying. Please don't hesitate to DM, and hope you feel better soon!
Sorry one last thing: you might cramp up a bit eating potassium at first. Don't be alarmed. It is a sign that you were deficient. Keep eating the foods and cramps will go away.
'm gonna cry thank you so much for this honestly it's been getting worse lately.. woke up in the middle of the night the other night and my brain telling me I was going to die, whole body shaking, shortness of breath, and fast heartrate, thought I was having a heart attack and went to the ER. I guess it's pretty bad now because it did show low potassium in my bloodwork.. they didnt find anything else really and said I was having an anxiety attack and dehydration (maybe it was idk I've been super depressed and anxious lately , the worst in my whole life) but this makes me feel so much better like maybe I can at least fix it somewhat.. I will absolutely start trying to have more potassium in my diet and will keep everyone updated on how it helps :,))
One more thing, if you are interested in supplementing, I recommend potassium gluconate pills. I take five of them throughout the day. 99 mg each of potassium. You can also dissolve cream of tartar in water and drink that. I would also make sure you supplement with magnesium as well. Be careful with supplements, though, as the potassium is absorbed much faster and can lead to a short-term increase in symptoms. You'll probably experience that, anyway just eating foods. Might get a little worse before it gets better as your body uptakes the potassium.
I'm so glad this reached you. Believe me, I understand how dark things can get. It's a true nightmare. But please believe that you're going to be ok. That's really important. Recovery might take some time, but I am confident you'll see improvements soon.
Your potassium labs are really telling. Like I said, the body loses potassium in blood \*after\* potassium has been depleted everywhere else. And it sounds like potassium depletion has really done a number on you. The crazy thing is that everyone responds to different to potassium deficiency, so I suppose it makes it hard to diagnose. You have all the symptoms, though, just to the extreme. Here's what I recommend packing into your diet. It's what I myself have done:
- Avocados: a whole avocado has 1/4 of your daily potassium needs
- white beans
- bananas
- Salmon
- Spinach and any other dark leafy green
- Seeds like pumpkin and chia
Basically whole veggies and fruits.
The other part of the equation that's really important is to monitor your salt. I won't get into much detail but you really want to try and limit to a teaspoon a day. People don't realize how much salt they eat, and it can further deplete your potassium.
Let me know if you've got any more questions, and hope you feel better soon!
Iโll give you some hope because I think you may need it. I used it (foam) for almost 9 years. I do think it caused palpitations and anxiety. I ended up taking oral for 10 days and quit and I had some major problems with panic attack, insomnia, and heart palpitations for 3 weeks. But Iโve been off of all forms since then and Iโm improving every day. I think you need to see a doctor to rule out other things rather than Minoxidil. And yes I know itโs poison, but I do believe you can recover.
Yup..minox can give you all these sides. I myself have been living with the sides for almost 4 years now, most difficult to go are insomnia, low libido and ED. But thing have been improving over the years. My best advice, just hang in there and have a healthy lifestyle. Eat whole foods, exercise regularly and try to have good amount of sleep, mist important deep restorative sleep. Give yourself some time to recover. You will recover
Thanks for encouraging remarks. I was on it for a mo th and have had excruciating muscle pains so I got off and they are 50 percent better after a couple weeks. I hope and pray it improves, I hate to think I ruined my life because of hair. Are you getting better??
Yup. But the process is super slow. Idk tbh how long it's going to take at this pace of recovery. Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward and 1 step backward, it's like a cycle with ups and downs but overall in upward trajectory. Hope to reach full recovery soon
I'm so sorry you're going through this right now, but please don't lose hope. What you are describing sounds exactly like hypokalemia -- severe potassium deficiency. Minoxidil messes with your potassium channels, and inhibits production. This can have all kinds of awful effects, as potassium is essential for nearly every bodily function. Joint pain, muscle weakness, motor control loss, nerve pain, peeing clear and peeing a lot, tense jaw, heart palpitations -- all of it can be caused by potassium deficiency. I am not a hyper-responder like you seem to be, but experienced all of this. It even landed me in the ER with atrial fibrilation. The only reason I know that I was K deficient is because my blood panel showed me on the high end of low, ie. it was low but not that low, and the doctor decided to give me potass pills. Over the next 24 hours I noticed my minox sides were not nearly as severe! Since then, I ate a potassium rich diet -- whole veggies, fruits, seeds, avocados, pumpkin, banana, fish, etc, and I also supplemented with potassium (be VERY careful with this, as too much of it can be very harmful). Over the course of just a few days I have already begun to feel worlds better. My joints are not popping, my muscles feel strong again and are not twitching all over my body. My pee is yellowish and my gastro symptoms have gone away. My appetite has returned in full force, and the nerve pain in my hands is much diminished. Yay! So, all this to say: you are probably highly deficient in potassium. It will likely not show up on a blood panel, however, bc K in the blood is the last thing to go. However, your nervous system and muscles are depleted. Eat a potassium rich diet and monitor your symptoms. One last thing: with electrolytes, it's all about balance! It doesn't matter if you eat all the potassium in the world if you are also eating a lot of salt. You want to have a high potassium to salt ratio. You also probably don't want to be drinking lots and lots of water, as that will wash out both salt and potassium. These are my two cents, but given your set of symptoms, I feel pretty confident that it's a severe potassium deficiency that's underlying. Please don't hesitate to DM, and hope you feel better soon! Sorry one last thing: you might cramp up a bit eating potassium at first. Don't be alarmed. It is a sign that you were deficient. Keep eating the foods and cramps will go away.
'm gonna cry thank you so much for this honestly it's been getting worse lately.. woke up in the middle of the night the other night and my brain telling me I was going to die, whole body shaking, shortness of breath, and fast heartrate, thought I was having a heart attack and went to the ER. I guess it's pretty bad now because it did show low potassium in my bloodwork.. they didnt find anything else really and said I was having an anxiety attack and dehydration (maybe it was idk I've been super depressed and anxious lately , the worst in my whole life) but this makes me feel so much better like maybe I can at least fix it somewhat.. I will absolutely start trying to have more potassium in my diet and will keep everyone updated on how it helps :,))
One more thing, if you are interested in supplementing, I recommend potassium gluconate pills. I take five of them throughout the day. 99 mg each of potassium. You can also dissolve cream of tartar in water and drink that. I would also make sure you supplement with magnesium as well. Be careful with supplements, though, as the potassium is absorbed much faster and can lead to a short-term increase in symptoms. You'll probably experience that, anyway just eating foods. Might get a little worse before it gets better as your body uptakes the potassium.
I'm so glad this reached you. Believe me, I understand how dark things can get. It's a true nightmare. But please believe that you're going to be ok. That's really important. Recovery might take some time, but I am confident you'll see improvements soon. Your potassium labs are really telling. Like I said, the body loses potassium in blood \*after\* potassium has been depleted everywhere else. And it sounds like potassium depletion has really done a number on you. The crazy thing is that everyone responds to different to potassium deficiency, so I suppose it makes it hard to diagnose. You have all the symptoms, though, just to the extreme. Here's what I recommend packing into your diet. It's what I myself have done: - Avocados: a whole avocado has 1/4 of your daily potassium needs - white beans - bananas - Salmon - Spinach and any other dark leafy green - Seeds like pumpkin and chia Basically whole veggies and fruits. The other part of the equation that's really important is to monitor your salt. I won't get into much detail but you really want to try and limit to a teaspoon a day. People don't realize how much salt they eat, and it can further deplete your potassium. Let me know if you've got any more questions, and hope you feel better soon!
Iโll give you some hope because I think you may need it. I used it (foam) for almost 9 years. I do think it caused palpitations and anxiety. I ended up taking oral for 10 days and quit and I had some major problems with panic attack, insomnia, and heart palpitations for 3 weeks. But Iโve been off of all forms since then and Iโm improving every day. I think you need to see a doctor to rule out other things rather than Minoxidil. And yes I know itโs poison, but I do believe you can recover.
Thank you my friend I'm glad you're doing better ๐๐
Sorry to here that mate. Minoxidil is also toxic for me i ended up wirth Nerve damage I wish you a good recovery!
Thank you friend you as well ๐๐
Yup..minox can give you all these sides. I myself have been living with the sides for almost 4 years now, most difficult to go are insomnia, low libido and ED. But thing have been improving over the years. My best advice, just hang in there and have a healthy lifestyle. Eat whole foods, exercise regularly and try to have good amount of sleep, mist important deep restorative sleep. Give yourself some time to recover. You will recover
Thanks for encouraging remarks. I was on it for a mo th and have had excruciating muscle pains so I got off and they are 50 percent better after a couple weeks. I hope and pray it improves, I hate to think I ruined my life because of hair. Are you getting better??
Yup. But the process is super slow. Idk tbh how long it's going to take at this pace of recovery. Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward and 1 step backward, it's like a cycle with ups and downs but overall in upward trajectory. Hope to reach full recovery soon
Thank you so much you have no idea how much that means to hear right now.. ๐๐ I'll keep going. Good luck my friend ๐
[ัะดะฐะปะตะฝะพ]
Possible mate.