I obtained the rapa from India but dragged my feet on my blood work. I hate needles THAT much. But my knee pain (also referenced in that post) began bothering me so much I had it checked out.
Turns out I had some pretty bad cartilage damage. Long story short I needed an orthoscopy and just had that done this morning.
Here’s hoping I feel a heck of a lot better in the coming days!
I’d like to start my rapa on Monday but I’m not the type to ease into things. Has anyone started with a higher dose initially? I’m thinking of getting going with 3mg plus GFJ and EVOO. Then perhaps ramping that up to 5mg the next week.
I’d love to hear from anyone who did not ease into their dosage but started more aggressively. Is this just a really bad idea?
I did, and now think it is a bad idea. I actually started with 20mg/with EVOO and then 20mg/with EVOO and GFJ Every other week. It will screw up many of your blood tests and reduce your age reduction score on most epigenetic tests such as the Levine spreadsheet used by Michael Lustgarten Ph.D. I have been taking rapamycin for ~21 months and I have been steadily reducing the dosage to get my blood markers i.e.; blood glucose, lipids, etc into the generally accepted “normal” range, which all of them were before I started rapamycin.
I should have paid more attention to the more conservative dosing recommendations. Instead, I relied on Dr. Blagosklonny’s more ambitious regimen and now I am hoping I don’t suffer any adverse permanent consequences.
I’m 42 and eased into it with 1mg plus EVOO. I’ve never done GFJ and never will. I noticed 1mg. My ramp up was slow.
Week 2: 2mg (side effects)
Week 3: 2mg
Week4: 3mg (side effects)
Week5: 3mg (side effects)
Week6: 4mg (major side effects)
Week7: 2mg, I backed off thinking my body needed a break
Slowly ramped back up after week 7, all the way to 6mg and no side effects. My side effects were all gastro, lots of gas and diarrhea. I found out later that there is a form of lactose in rapacan (the india version I was taking). I’ve historically been lactose intolerant, so I think this is what was causing major issues.
Surprisingly though, after about 8 weeks of taking rapamycin, the side effects went away even as I ramped up to 6mg with EVOO. I can also eat ice cream again! So there’s that.
I feel best off of 3 or 4mg, personally. I get too exhausted with 5 or 6 and can’t get my exercise in as well.
I recommend not pushing it. You shouldn’t be in a hurry. Ease into it and let the rapamycin do it’s thing over time.
Thanks, guys. This is helpful. Sounds like I should just take it slow.
@midage_runner, I also have the rapacon from India and wasn’t aware there is a form of lactose. I’m vegan, so not ideal. I’ll probably work through this though and change it up down the line.
What brand are you taking now? With the EVOO are you taking a spoonful with the rapa or how exactly are you doing that? Also curious why you say you’ll never do GFJ. Sorry for all the questions!
@desertshores you were doing 20mg of rapa or is that total dosage calculated with the EVOO and GFJ? If it was straight rapa plus those that’s intense!
I got rigors when I tried to jump back on at 6 mg after a month off. Started a couple hours after dosing and lasted several hours. So I restart at 3 mg now and go up by 1 mg per week.
The dosage was 20, 1mg pills with EVOO and GFJ. So, I don’t know what the effective dosage was. The major side effect, apart from disrupting my blood test results, was diarrhea. Many at the time were positing that no one had ever died of an overdose or had irreversible side effects.
If you take rapamycin with the same amount of EVOO the results, if tested, will probably be repeatable. With GFJ you will probably never get the same results twice, because of the variable content of the furanocoumarins in the juice.
The timing, amount of different brands, frozen, fresh, etc., areas harvested from, etc., will cause the effective drug absorption to be different. I think the general consensus is that GFJ will have a multiplier effect of 0 - 9 times. 3-6 times is commonly mentioned.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense regarding the GFC. I’ll probably stay away from that and hit the EVOO instead. Also sounds like everyone is advocating for starting small.
Usually I tend to use the crowd as a contrary indicator but when the crowd is smart folks that take a scientific approach to things… well, that’s different
If you have just had an operation I would leave it for 2 weeks. You would need mTOR to encourage the growth of repair post operation.
I have done 2,2,4,8,6 so far. I have settled on 6 because that is a packet. I don’t take grapefruit juice and I try to ensure that curcumin is taken a few hours afterwards so hopefully does not have any negative effect. I also think every 2 weeks is too frequent particularly for larger doses.
I cannot isolate out any specific benefits of Rapamycin although I have a number of benefits in the round.
10 doses into the Rapa journey: I started with 6mg 1x/wk with no GFJ or any food (I did take fish oil). I got a canker sore. On week 5 I started taking eating 2 eggs and a large amount of full fat Greek yogurt right before Rapa. I got a canker sore. Other side effects which have diminished: strange feeling in body is now gone, scabbing inside nostrils has almost completely stopped, canker sores have stopped.
‘Too frequent’ - if taking every two weeks. But almost everyone takes on a weekly basis. Which must be even worse. What is the problem, immune suppression? Beyond that, additional concerns?
I take it you don’t share any of the beliefs that have Dr. B saying ‘take as much as you can, modulated only by reaching a level where the side effects are no longer tolerable’. What do think is the outcome of such a strategy?
I have explained my view which is basically that there is merit in inhibiting mTOR to encourage autophagy, but we don’t need it all of the time. We need a spring clean every so often. Probably more often than Spring.
Otherwise mTOR has a positive role.
I am not in ad hominem appeals to authority. No matter who the authority is.
Thanks to all the replies, they are super helpful! I’m thinking I may start with 2mg + EVOO
One newbie question… when taking with EVOO how are you consuming it and how much EVOO? Are you just gulping down a teaspoon of EVOO or something before taking the rapa?
Perhaps this is detailed on the forums somewhere but figured I’d ask while we’re discussing.
I have posted my method before, but I’ll gladly repeat it.
First, I was taking a morning shot of EVOO before I ever started rapamycin. I use small paper cups ~ 2 oz, first I put some water in the bottom and then float ~1 1/2 tablespoons of EVOO on the top. Then I just my rapamycin tablets and toss the mixture into the back of my mouth swallow and follow with a drink of water.
I think taking rapamycin with a can of sardines as RapAdmin does might be even better, but I am not fond of sardines.
