Blood Tests and Biomarkers pre-Rapamycin

I had some blood tests done and plan to start rapamycin in the next week, you can see my results below. I’m a 43 y/o male. Phenotypic age came back at 36, aging.ai age is 39y/o.

Blood tests look okay for the most part, my APO-B is at 92mg/dL, I’d like to bring that down. Are there any supplements you guys recommend for that? I’m adding psyllium husk and amla back into my diet which have made a difference in the past.

AST was also elevated, perhaps due to holiday drinking. I’m going to have to quit alcohol for some time until I can get that back down.

I had IGF-1 measured as @RapAdmin mentioned that might be a useful metric to track in the blood test thread, it came in at 129ng/ml.

Any other tests you guys would recommend before I start rapamycin? I am considering the CAC since my APO B is elevated.









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Awesome and very complete pre-test information.

Thanks so much for sharing! I look forward to following you on this adventure.

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You’re pretty young to need a CAC, and very healthy too it looks like. Unless you use a lot of Ibuprofin or something it’s probably not necessary.

I looked for Alkaline Phosphatase only because mine is usually high 80’s or 90’s and Lustgarten says it should be like 45. I don’t know how he does it. Lol, actually I do because he reports his food like no other and it is a crazy diet. But am I the only one with a high number here?

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Today was my first day with Rapamycin. I did 1mg with avocado oil as a test. No noticeable reaction positive or negative. I’m also taking:

  • Metformin 500mg bid (only on the day I take rapa)
  • Amla 1 tsp bid (I’m mixing the powder with pomegranate juice, the Amla powder is terribly bitter)
  • Astaxanthin 12mg bid (to help lower ApoB)
  • Psyllium Husk 1 tbsp (every day except rapa day, I don’t want it to interfere with rapa absorption)
  • I have a probiotic I’ve been taking in the mornings
  • vitamin D & K2 od
  • glycine 2g od
  • omega 3’s 1600mg od
  • melatonin for sleep 1.5mg

I think that’s it. This stack will probably evolve as we go.

I plan to retest my lipids, ApoB, and AST levels next month.

Next week I will try 1mg rapa with grapefruit juice and see how that goes.

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Here’s a link that might give a few helpful suggestions:

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Looks good and it sounds like you are doing everything right to lower your AST and APoB :facepunch:t2::+1:t3:

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Just be aware that you could be increasing your effective rapamycin dose to anywhere from 3mg to 6mg, which is quite a jump when you are first starting out.

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You’re right, I need to think about it. The prescription I have is for 1mg for 4 weeks, 2 mg for 4 weeks, 3 mg for 4 weeks etc until I get to 5mg/week. This pace seems a bit slow to me but I’m not really sure the rate of increase others are using when starting out…

Because I didn’t know any better I immediately jumped in at 5 mg and then increased it the next week to 10 mg. No ill effects whatsoever. It wasn’t until I did 20 mg with GFJ and EVOO that I had any unpleasant side effects. I realize the prudence of caution when starting a new supplement or drug, but in the case of rapamycin I believe (not medical advice) many people are overly cautious.

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Week 6 Update.

I’ve done 6 doses of Rapamycin, and I’ve added in some Acarbose alternating with Canagliflozin to my stack. I had some new blood tests done, here’s what I’m seeing.

eGFR has gone from 86 to 73, so definitely a drop there, and creatinine has gone from 1.09 to 1.25. Anecdotally I’ve heard other people mention that the drop in eGFR happens to them from rapamycin so maybe this isn’t completely unexpected. I will order a cystatin C test next time around.

My CO2 blood levels have gone from 29 to 18, which was flagged as low. I’m assuming this is a side of acarbose/canagliflozin and I might dropping into ketoacidosis at times, would that explain it? The uranalysis was also flagged for high glucose, no doubt a side effect of canagliflozin.

My liver enzymes had some interesting changes. If you recall, my AST levels were elevated at 46 pre-rapa, now they are at 21, a huge drop which I’m happy about. ALT also moved from 15 to 9. Pretty significant changes imo. Oddly enough Alkaline Phosphatase went up from 78-102. I’m not exactly sure what’s happening here but my liver enzymes have changed markedly.

On the cardiovascular side my LDL was virtually the same at 126, while ApoB dropped from 92 to 86. I have to admit I thought I would see a more dramatic drop in LDL and ApoB since I’ve been going hard on the psyllium husk, amla, and astaxanthin. My triglycerides went from 61 to 78, a pretty big move up, I’m assuming from the rapa. I will likely add ezetimibe and lithium to my stack to help in this area. I have a CAC scheduled for March 3rd.

Hba1c went from 5.1 to 5.3. I’m a little surprised at this since I’ve been using acarbose and canagliflozin. I’ve never had a reading above 5.1 before.

In general I feel great. I’m sleeping better than I have in years (although not necessarily on the day I take rapa). One odd side effect I had several times was a pain which I thought was in my right lung. I went in to see the doctor, he performed a chest x-ray and the only thing it showed was the scar tissue in both lungs from covid-pneumonia which I had in 2021. The doc figured it must be musculoskeletal and prescribed ibuprofen and a muscle relaxant. I only took the ibuprofen for a few days and then it seemed better but it’s something to monitor.

I’ll probably rearrange the supplements I’m taking going forward. I don’t love the acarbose, I much prefer Canagliflozin and I’ve dropped a few pounds on it as well.

Those were the highlights from what I see. Let me know what you guys think!

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I’ve been on Rapa for almost 3 years egfr went from mid 90’s to low 100’s. Disagree

Alkaline phosphatase was gently rising from 52 in 2012 to 76 in 2019, then started Rapa in 20 and it shot up to 140, then declined to now, 94. Agree, it may cause AP to go up.

Thanks for posting these numbers, I like to see if Rapa had an effect on others. Good luck on your CAC!

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I see that you’ve got blood pressure on there which is good to see. (Also great job, that’s excellent bp)

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I think this may be why my eGFR is so good:

http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v17n22.shtml

I take 3 grams of Niacin a day and since my oldest daughter came down with Cancer I’ve been reading a lot about it and one of the things they say to do is sodium bicarbonate. I’ve gotten a soda stream CO2 thing and get a lot more bicarbonate than ever before. Actually I’ve mentioned elsewhere here that if you dissolve Glycine in water and hit the soda stream it tastes like a very good soda. Delicious way to start the day. Also much easier to look forward to than a shot of baking soda dissolved in water.

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Bicep,

Review the following, if you have not seen;

Does Baking Soda Function as a Magic Bullet for Patients With Cancer? A Mini Review

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Thanks Joseph ! I had not seen this one. I had seen several articles and chapters of books and even one ebook on sodium bicarbonate. Still stuff here I did not know, so appreciate that.

One thing I don’t yet know is how much carbonated water it takes to equal 60 grams of sodium bicarbonate. I’ll start digging.

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You need to know how much is dissolved in the water.

Published Reference:

Maximum Solubility in water{that is distilled water] is 69g per liter at (0 °C), 96g per liter at (20 °C) 165g per liter at (60 °C)

Water temperature affect solubility.

If you make a solution of 96g sodium bicarbonate dissolved 1 liter of water at 20°C/68°F, 625ml would give you 60g

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Seems like a lot. Pressure would affect it also. I admit you’re doing better than I am.

I have a soda stream at home, and I am looking for ways to make a healthy drink for my family. Bubbly Glycine water it is! Looking forward to trying it.

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Thank you for posting this - I had no idea niacin and sodium bicarbonate were beneficial for the kidneys. Looking back on my blood tests it makes sense. In Mar 2019 my eGFR was 117! I believe this is when I was taking niacin regularly. I might add those two into my regular rotation of supplements.

I’ve been thinking more about how I got my liver enzymes down so much these last few weeks. I’m actually thinking it may have been the Amla…

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Week 6 lab results



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