I take at a max of 42 days
I think more people are going to start to do this. Myself included
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Last year I tried rapamycin in weekly doses of 1, 3, 6mg, but I stopped due to an unpleasant large aphtha. During those few weeks I had a strange feeling and a worsening of chronic sinusitis. Summer is slowly coming when my immunity is at its most optimal, so I would like to try again with pulse (once a month) intake. Any advice on how to gradually reach the goal and what is your personal opinion on a minimum monthly effective dose?
I was looking at the clearance issues recently. Depending on the dose, 10-14 days will ensure minimum mTOR2 suppression but it may take longer than that it one wants a complete washout and “recovery” to prior state.
Its interesting… we really don’t have a lot to go on here other than the very general heuristics that higher doses of rapamycin have almost always resulted in greater lifespan improvements in the studies (mostly mice). And we have the research that seems to suggest some blunting of some types of strength gains from exercise (likely dependent on muscle fiber type as shown here: Rapamycin & Muscle Growth Decoupled: Longitudinal Hypertrophy Bypasses mTOR.
So I don’t think there are any “one size fits all” sort of heuristics. The best we can probably hope to come up with is a testing/monitoring protocol that takes into consideration the most frequent side effects (and to do blood testing to track or look for them) so as to avoid any issues with subtle side effects, and then take into considerations your own age / muscle and strength status and goals over the coming years.
I’ve taken up to 28mg of rapamycin in a single dose without any noticeable side effects (I didn’t do any blood tests immediately afterwards, so may have missed blood glucose or lipid disregulation). But now with strong control of my lipids (currently LDL-C at 45 or so), and blood glucose (with varying levels of acarbose, sglt2 inhibitors, and potentially imeglimin), these are less of an issue for me.
I would like to build up some strength to have in reserve for as I get older, so my bias it towards greater strength gains over the next few years. So perhaps (and I’m just thinking here) I might do something like 28mg once per month.
Anyway, just getting my thoughts down in bits so that people can comment or criticize as they feel appropriate. Feedback always welcome.
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In light of the most recent findings and my own experience, I am going to follow a monthly regimen for a while to compare the differences.
I have been taking high doses weekly for about five years with no major adverse effects, and the positive result is that rapamycin has significantly slowed my aging process, according to Horvath et al., though these may simply reflect healthspan.
The two minor side effects that I have experienced on a high weekly dose are thinning of my fingernails and slower wound healing. How much of this is attributed to rapamycin or to old age, I don’t know. But it is well known that old people heal more slowly.
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I agree with all of this and the evidence – observational, crowd-sourced, advocacy-driven, and uncontrolled that it is – seems to favor the area of 5 mg on a weekly cycle. Linearity of dose/response in humans is TBD but some of the mechanisms of action would not necessarily imply linearity.
I’m going to re-initiate rapamycin soon and will try 5 mg on alternating 10 and 14 day cycles.
As someone in the target age for which you want to be prepared, I can say for myself that prior, mostly lifelong, preparation has been enormously beneficial. You will reach a point where maintenance is a reasonable goal followed by a zone in which slowing the rate of decline becomes the proper focus. Considerable delf-denial exists in this zone where enthusiasts claim they have the strength or the cognition they had 20 years ago. Unfortunately, a trip to the performance lab or a neuropsych test will quickly dispel that self-attribution. That’s OK. This a comfortable place where effort is rewarded so long as the goal conforms to reality.
Another line of research would answer the question you raise: given who we are as unique individuals, what is our optimal regimen.
One possibly worthwhile observation goes to the recent research suggesting that those of us who thought muscle chemistry ruled out significant improvement may only need more time and/or effort on task to achieve results. Contrary to virtually all expert guidance, I’m completely certain that I derive more benefit from once weekly or alternate week lifting to a very strenuous one-rep-max or even 0.5 rep max (after warming up of course), paying obsessive attention to form, and releasing over a 5-10 second period. There may be something to the idea that we simply need to do “more and harder” as we age. I look forward to more research on the question. It is the kind of thing that any university performance lab can conduct and it would not be expensive.
I was taking a large (25-30mg using GFJ) monthly dose to coincide with my FMD week each month. It worked very well but was a setup for a severe infection if unlucky. I was unlucky eventually, and spent 5 months getting my immune system back to normal (allergies, histamine intolerance). I’m back to normal now, and back on rapamycin after a 7 month holiday. Now I take a modest )10-12mg using GFJ) dose every 10-14 days. I found weekly to be too hard to tolerate (wore me out too often) and monthly dose to be too big (I couldn’t hide at home for long enough), so this is my sweet spot.
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Once a week is quite intensive and you don’t remove all rapamycin from your body before the next dose. I’m at once a fortnight but I’m considering once a month at a higher dose.
When you say 30 using GFG do you mean 30 + GFG therefore a dose around 105mg or do you mean a dose of say 8mg plus GFG therefore a dose around 28mg.
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The big monthly dose was 8mg with GFJ and olive oil. So around 25-30mg effective dose. Now it’s 3mg with GFJ and olive oil, every 10-14 days…the variation allows me to fit a depressed immune system into my office work / public gym workout / social schedule as safely as possible.
I can remember a few years ago not noticing any effects of rapa besides tiredness for a few hours. Now I feel it quite distinctly: tiredness for a couple days, but zero body / joint aches, amazing visible vascularity, no seasons allergies. And I can confirm it is not costing me muscle gain from lifting.
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Is there an evidence-based non-financial case to be made in either direction for altering the dose, uptake, and dissipation curves of rapamycin significantly beyond its research-based parameters?
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True, but in the scheme of things… you’re fairly young and healthy. I too, would tale less of a dose and less often if I was under 40 years. Aging spikr is at 40 years
Over 60 years… big difference… second aging spike at 60 years.
I find N+1 anecdotal reports from forum members both fascinating and rather confusing.
You would think you wouldn’t have any problems, since exercise is generally recognized as beneficial for the immune system.
My own N=1 experience with rapamycin at high weekly doses of rapamycin is that my immune system has been strengthened. As I have frequently posted, I have been taking high weekly doses of rapamycin for years. And, knock on wood, I have had zero, nada, infections, colds, flu, or any other illnesses in the last five years. I am 85, and the literature tells me that I should have a weaker immune system than someone your age.
The only plausible explanation for your case is perhaps that, being an athlete, you tend to overtrain from time to time. There are reports that indicate that overtraining might lower the immune system, resulting in URTIs. This is called overtraining syndrome. There once again seems to be a J curve involved…
Other confounding factors, such as stress and lack of sleep, may be playing a larger role than rapamycin. Often repeated, “correlation does not imply causation.”
AI:
“Chronic high training loads (not single sessions) in elite endurance athletes do correlate with increased URTI incidence in multiple cohort studies. The dose-response appears J-shaped: moderate exercisers get fewer infections than sedentary people, but very high-volume athletes tick back up.”
There is evidence that several immune parameters are suppressed during prolonged periods of intense exercise training. Ref2
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Let me be clearer about my anecdote. My immune system was depressed temporarily which happened to coincide with my exposure to a flu virus. I assume I had flu virus in my body when I took a big rapa dose (my daughter came down with the flu just as I did; we had been exchanging a scuba regulator a few days before). Effectively I turned off my immune system just as I needed it to fight off the flu virus. It was the worst illness of my life. It took me 3+ months to recover fully.
On the other hand, I agree that rapa has improved my immune system overall. I think of it like exercise: when I workout hard, afterwards I am weak and tired. But a couple days later I’m better than I started. If I had to workout again later the same day, I would not have done well.
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The anecdotal reports of the effects of rapamycin and its varying effects indicate to me that we are still in the dark. It will be interesting if genetics turns out to be a big influence on the effects of rapamycin.
After performing the searches, the results do not show any direct studies on rapamycin’s differential effects based on blood type in kidney transplant patients.
For amusement I went looking for the health effects of blood types in general: Perhaps genes are the main factor in the robustness of your immune system.
Does Your Blood Type Reveal Your Lifespan? The Truth About Longevity
This is from YouTube, Dr. Kevin Adewale, a cardiovascular surgeon. "His views are based more on his personal observations than on scientific fact. But I hope he is right on this, as I am type B. No real facts to back up his specific history or the benefits of type B blood.
"Type B, the metabolic generalist. Type B appeared approximately 15,000 years ago among nomadic populations moving across central Asia and the Himalayas.
Constant movement, constantly shifting food environments. The body adapted by developing the most metabolically flexible immune system of any blood type."
“Cycling, swimming, hiking. High-intensity training without adequate recovery tends to spike inflammatory markers in type B individuals more sharply than in other blood types. Type B, the most adaptable metabolism on the planet.”
A more rational chart with citations from AI:
| Blood Type | Key Advantages (Lower Risk of…) | Key Disadvantages (Higher Risk of…) |
|---|---|---|
| Type O | Reduced Risk: Heart disease, blood clots, pancreatic cancer, severe malaria. | Increased Risk: Bleeding disorders, peptic ulcers, pregnancy-induced hypertension, cholera. |
| Type A | Reduced Risk: (Generally fewer established advantages) | Increased Risk: Stomach & pancreatic cancer, blood clots, H. pylori infection, hypertension, diabetes, severe COVID-19. |
| Type B | Reduced Risk: Kidney stones. | Increased Risk: Pancreatic cancer, blood clots, Type 2 diabetes, certain infections. |
| Type AB | Reduced Risk: (Fewest established advantages) | Increased Risk: Pancreatic cancer, blood clots, stroke, memory / cognitive decline. |
Evidence: Type B is Not Associated with a Superior Immune System
Large-scale systematic reviews and meta-analyses—the gold standard of scientific evidence—show that people with non-O blood types (A, B, and AB) have a higher risk of contracting various viral infections compared to people with Type O blood. This includes SARS-CoV-2 and other viral diseases.
Though on the plus side: Blood type B might imply longevity
And then on the other hand: Blood group does not appear to affect longevity a pilot study in centenarians from Western Sicily.
So another YouTube guru, with credentials, is actually not credible. 
Though blood types associated with rapamycin’s longevity effects might be a topic for speculation and discussion.
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@desertshores wrote: it will be interesting if genetics turns out to be a big influence on the effects of rapamycin.
After performing the searches, the results do not show any direct studies on rapamycin’s differential effects based on blood type in kidney transplant patients.
I am blood type O.
Reduced Risk: Heart disease, blood clots, pancreatic cancer, severe malaria. Increased Risk: Bleeding disorders, peptic ulcers, pregnancy-induced
It was said type O was resistant to Covid and had less severe effects on those who got sick with covid.
I might even be a super responder to rapamycin due to my genetics (Scottish and Czech) and type O blood.
Based on my constant and notable rapa health benefits.
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