For those who don't know me (most of you), I've been around a long time, usually only post on one board that has seemed to have gone down after a database crash (and for the few who do know me, please PM me if you know anything about the status of that board).

I have a bit of hair loss and recently read an article about low dose minoxidil being effective at regrowing hair. The article is here (sorry about the paywall if you hit it): An Old Medicine Remedies Hair Loss for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say - The New York Times The article basically says that dermatologist are increasingly prescribing 2.5mg of minoxidil per day for hair loss. I didn't do a whole lot of research, but asked my derm about it, and learned the derm has quite a few patients for whom this has been effective. The derm also said that since the article came out a ton of people were asking for scrips. I was told that it was definitely effective for regrowing hair, but I needed to be aware that if I stopped, I would lose all the regrown hair rather quickly but wouldn't be any worse off than if I had never started. Sold. Got my scrip.

Whaddya know....it works. Definitely have more hair on my head now than when I started, a bit more hair on the arms and nose (outside, not inside), a little on the back, but the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

So lately I've noticed I'm looking a bit softer which I attributed to having to slow down in the gym due to injury, but lately I've thought it might be something else. I seem to be retaining water and am a bit more thirsty. Then I went to the doctor the other day and I had a rather sudden weight gain (I rarely weigh myself) of around 8 pounds.....8 soft pounds, despite eating pretty clean.

This caused me to finally do some research today and I'm kicking myself for not having researched sooner. Well known side effects are water retention and salt retention, and a few posts here and there from lifters saying their workouts went sideways and they looked softer. And then I found this study, which is entitled, "Minoxidil may suppress androgen receptor-related functions": Minoxidil may suppress androgen receptor-related functions - PMC

So....looking for knowledgeable input from folks on the impacts of minoxidil on test replacement and AAS effectiveness. Also throwing this out there for informational purposes. It's an older study, but I wasn't able to come up with anything more comprehensive.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies. Did a search on the forum first, found nothing.