Hi Wooly, I'm a woman and assume you're a man but I've had the various side affects you mention. I've been posting a lot here and at other boards trying to see if others have had similar side affects. My worse one has been scalp ache which I believe you are calling a dull headache. I've had migraines much of my younger life and this is really a scalp ache to me rather than a real headache.
I started with 2% w PG and got small pimples and it felt like when I pressed down on the top of my head that the roots of my hair were inflamed as well as having the ache I described. Then everyone though it was the PG so I went to Dr. Lee's 5% azaelic acid and then I had some swelling of the lips, felt weird, had worse scalp ache, and got 2 herpes outbreaks (I found one reference that said azaelic acid can aggravate herpes). I also started retaining some water and got puffy eyes.
Then went to Dr. Lee's 5% without PG and even at using only 1/4 ml got terrible scalp aches and also throbbing head when first standing and walking around.
Each doctor believes their product will change the situation - at this point having already tried 3 different positions with different delivery systems I believe it's the minoxidil causing this for me.
I've now gone 3 days without minoxidil and my scalp is still tender but shedding has gone from about 20-30 down to about 12 so far today. Everytime I had the scalp ache pretty bad then I could count on getting a lot of loose hairs just falling out.
I've lost more than 50% - probably now 60% of my strands - and probably 99.9% of them were all very long hairs of 18-24 as I have long hair one length except for bangs.
So, even though I tried these various concoctions since about 1/2006 to now all I have to show for it are a lot of achy scalp nights, throbbing head, puffy eyes, some water retention in fingers and calves, AND A LOT OF LOST HAIR!!! ... started with only a very minor (what I now know was very minor) thinning spot in middle of crown and either minoxidil or my personal reaction to minoxidil has now thinned my hair all over to the degree the thin spot was and entire crown area is now far thinner.
My recommendation would be that you either stop or drastically reduce your dose although dropping down to 1/4 ml didn't help me - that's 3 short swipes with a Q-tip - even 1x time and I get the scalp ache - it justs builds with each day I apply the stuff.
Also, I did find the closer I put it on after shampooing and blow drying that the more body effects I would get - sorry, I also got a racing pulse until I dropped down to the 1/4 ml.
After a lot of reading about telogen effluviums, I decided minoxidil has been either causing a Telogen Effluvium for me or giving me all the symptoms of one where some event causes a lot of your hairs to go from anagen (growth) into non-growth - telogen stage (I think I have those right). Some people get an aching scalp, feels like bugs are crawling in their scalp, pins and needles feelings.
Also, if you do a search for minoxidil you will find, I believe, that one of the side affects can be numbness in extemities.
I had hoped this would help regrow my thin spot and I've only made things far worse - some people say they regrow ok after quitting/trying minoxidil and some here and other sites say they've never regrown the lost hair after a year or more!!!
THIS STINKS ... Wooly, I hope you post a more detailed description of your headache feelings and other side affects. There aren't too many people posting about side affects - probably because they stop using minoxidil and then just don't post anymore.
I started with 2% w PG and got small pimples and it felt like when I pressed down on the top of my head that the roots of my hair were inflamed as well as having the ache I described. Then everyone though it was the PG so I went to Dr. Lee's 5% azaelic acid and then I had some swelling of the lips, felt weird, had worse scalp ache, and got 2 herpes outbreaks (I found one reference that said azaelic acid can aggravate herpes). I also started retaining some water and got puffy eyes.
Then went to Dr. Lee's 5% without PG and even at using only 1/4 ml got terrible scalp aches and also throbbing head when first standing and walking around.
Each doctor believes their product will change the situation - at this point having already tried 3 different positions with different delivery systems I believe it's the minoxidil causing this for me.
I've now gone 3 days without minoxidil and my scalp is still tender but shedding has gone from about 20-30 down to about 12 so far today. Everytime I had the scalp ache pretty bad then I could count on getting a lot of loose hairs just falling out.
I've lost more than 50% - probably now 60% of my strands - and probably 99.9% of them were all very long hairs of 18-24 as I have long hair one length except for bangs.
So, even though I tried these various concoctions since about 1/2006 to now all I have to show for it are a lot of achy scalp nights, throbbing head, puffy eyes, some water retention in fingers and calves, AND A LOT OF LOST HAIR!!! ... started with only a very minor (what I now know was very minor) thinning spot in middle of crown and either minoxidil or my personal reaction to minoxidil has now thinned my hair all over to the degree the thin spot was and entire crown area is now far thinner.
My recommendation would be that you either stop or drastically reduce your dose although dropping down to 1/4 ml didn't help me - that's 3 short swipes with a Q-tip - even 1x time and I get the scalp ache - it justs builds with each day I apply the stuff.
Also, I did find the closer I put it on after shampooing and blow drying that the more body effects I would get - sorry, I also got a racing pulse until I dropped down to the 1/4 ml.
After a lot of reading about telogen effluviums, I decided minoxidil has been either causing a Telogen Effluvium for me or giving me all the symptoms of one where some event causes a lot of your hairs to go from anagen (growth) into non-growth - telogen stage (I think I have those right). Some people get an aching scalp, feels like bugs are crawling in their scalp, pins and needles feelings.
Also, if you do a search for minoxidil you will find, I believe, that one of the side affects can be numbness in extemities.
I had hoped this would help regrow my thin spot and I've only made things far worse - some people say they regrow ok after quitting/trying minoxidil and some here and other sites say they've never regrown the lost hair after a year or more!!!
THIS STINKS ... Wooly, I hope you post a more detailed description of your headache feelings and other side affects. There aren't too many people posting about side affects - probably because they stop using minoxidil and then just don't post anymore.