I think you are right. I don’t think Rapamycin is a complete solution to the challenges of the failure of body systems as people get older.
To be honest DNA damage, which does occur, strikes me as something that will be quite difficult to fix although identifying failing cells and removing them might be an option there rather than repairing the DNA.
As people know I have my own theory of the main cause of most aging which relates to gene expression. Hence I tend to look at this issue through that lens.
There are as I see it many different ways you can aim to increase gene expression as well as work on the systems in the body which reduce gene expression (inefficient cells and senescent cells).
Rapamycin is a tool that can be used to increase the efficiency of some cells. However, it does need to be cycled for a range of reasons and other tools should be used as well.
if I’m not mistaking, blagosklony recommends starting rapamycin at 25+, unless he has since changed his mind. I want to slow aging before it really manifests (grey hair, wrinkles, male baldness which starts around 35-40). That is why I’m starting at 28 to slow/delay the build up of aging much as possible.
There are a lot of vocal training exercises on Youtube. My favorite is:
Because I don’t want my family to think I am crazy, (could be), I only do this exercise when I am in my car. Old age certainly does have an effect on the vocal cords as it does on other parts of the body.
I’ve been getting an awful lot of bad colds/flu since being on rapamycin - far more than ever before. Same story with a friend of mine. People are telling me it’s this business of reduced immunity etc due to lockdowns, but I don’t buy that (for reasons I won’t go into here as it would be too long); I really know that it’s been an effect of rapamycin. Alan talks about bacterial infections and that taking antibiotics the moment you feel something coming on. I get that. Up to a point. What I don’t get is that these bugs we’re talking about are viruses, and antibiotics do nothing for viral infections. Yes, sometimes a viral respiratory infection can develop into a bacterial affair, eg. sinusitis, or a bronchial infection, but by the time that happens, we’re way past that early stage of feeling something coming on - we’ve already suffered maybe a couple of weeks or more with a full-blown viral episode. So, what I’m unclear about is whether Alan recommends taking antibiotics prophylactically as soon as we feel something coming on, just in case the something might develop a bacterial component? That still means a lot of suffering from the viral infection and I don’t see that the antibiotic would still be active maybe over two weeks later when the bacteria kick off. Plus it could mean taking antibiotics several times a year, with the damage that does to gut bacteria etc. OR, is Alan saying (contrary to conventional thinking) that somehow antibiotics - or does he really mean specifically and exclusively Azithromycin - actually can deal with viruses?
One question I need to ask him or here in the forum is how to differ between viral and bacterial infection? Anyone here who has any thoughts regarding this?
When you get the infection do you Colin keep taking Rapamycin or are you taking a break? When I felt something was in very early stage I took a break and nothing broke out. But I felt a tickling feeling in my troat.
‘Proof’ or is professional guidance from a clinical pathologist that had done extensive research worth something?
Having discussed R with him multiple times, having reviewed some well powered studies, I’ll follow his guidance with a first do no harm approach. So unless your over age 35, Please! delay use and start at a low dose to start till age 40+. But feel free to take at any age if it is a well informed decision. That is your right.
But ‘proof’? There is seldom absolute proof. But lots of hypotheses and theorems in science.
I generally stop taking it when I get ill, and restart only when better. Of course the effects of rapamycin are believed to continue for a long time - years, even - after it has disappeared from the blood. I don’t know whether that includes the effect on the immune system, but I imagine so. Between Sep-20th and Feb-20th I had 5 colds/flu (I really don’t know which - they were so bad - headaches and night-sweats on top of regular cold symptoms). They all lasted many weeks; in some cases I had barely recovered from one when I could feel another starting. One of them developed a bacterial component in the form of sinusitis, which lasted several weeks. I stopped taking rapamycin when all this began in September. After a few days feeling better (which turned out to be short-lived) in November, I took a 6mg dose. At the end of January, desperate to try anything that might fix my never-ending colds, I (stupidly) took a 6mg dose. The on-off (but mostly on) illness just continued. I mentioned a friend of mine having similar experience - he hasn’t given me a blow-by-blow account but he, like me, would previously go years without a cold, and on the very rare occasions when he had one, it was mild and brief. This past autumn and winter he had a succession of awful colds
If i understand Dr. Green correctly, we want to generally suppress inflammation (sterile) not halt it as it is an essential process to normal healing and repair.
I have heard Dr. Green endorse 20mg bi-weekly.
Secondly, mTOR1 is more sensitive to Rapamycin than mTOR2 pathway. At higher doses, it interferes with mTOR2, the innate immune system which is detrimental to your health.
Best to use other interventions like AMPK related ones. Metformin is symbiotic to Rapamycin use.
And remember, an effective dose is generally one without problematic side effects.
I take enough that it greatly lessens my arthritis (hands). This let’s me identify formulations that are less than advertised as i know if they are effective for me at similar doses.
5yrs on Rapamycin/sirolimus, age 69. Dose of 8-10mgs weekly.
Thank you, Krister for doing this wonderful and informative interview with Dr Greene! Does anyone know the best time to do a 2-3 day fast in relation to the Rapamycin dose? Is it best to take Rapa at the beginning of a fast? And would one need to adjust the dose if fasting?
I’ve never not heard back from him. He’s always been responsive for me for the three+ years I’ve been his patient.
I understand he’s had some health setbacks recently, so that might be part of it. Also, he had someone helping him with the admin stuff and I’m not sure if that’s the case anymore.
I’m not really defending him. I’d just suggest that if he hasn’t been responsive, it’s not because he doesn’t care about his patients.
I also had mild gout but that has almost of not completely disappeared. My hands have lots of issues and inflammation… to the extent that I’ve had five trigger finger surgeries and three ganglion cycles removed. But I’ve never relied on xrays for a differential for the pain which is about 70% reduced.
One other aquaintance saw his hand stiffness and pain dramatically improve though i can’t guarantee it will be your personal canary in the coal mine.
I haven’t look much into the data of this as I have no plans to have kids. However I did read somewhere if you plan to have kids to stop taking rapamycin for a few months before trying.
