How long a break from rapamycin would I need to take in order to correct hyperlipidemia or glucose intolerance, assuming deterioration in those numbers were a rapamycin side-effect? I’ve been taking 6mg weekly.
I have reduced my intake of rapamycin to once every 2 or 3 weeks to stabilize the negative glucose effect.
Currently, I view this glucose intolerance as part of the therapeutic effects of the starvation-mimicking drug rapamycin (Once again on rapamycin-induced insulin resistance and longevity: despite of or owing to; Mikhail V. Blagosklonny).
There are some studies that point out that “combination of lithium with rapamycin canceled the latter’s effects on lipid metabolism” (A triple drug combination targeting components of the nutrient-sensing network maximizes longevity). In my n=1 experiment, adding lithium orotate substantially stabilized the glucose side effect (take 1mg daily and 2-3mg on rapa-days).
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Thats a new suggestion for lithium. An interesting find that needs replication or not. I take lithium not sure sitting in the pub of the anion. However, if there is a mechanism for reducing the lipid issue that would be good. My own lipids bounce around the ok level but at times lp(a) is stupidly low and i have no idea why. Apob generally is ok and ldl-c bounces around the 3mmol/l mark
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As part of a longevity strategy, I’d usually anticipate being on meds/supplements/other changes to optimize these items anyway, and more than counteract anything bad rapa might do in this space. Some people have reasons not to, but that is rare.
For example being on some low dose statin/ezetimibe and SGLT2-i and/or acarbose is pretty common. As a package deal everything ends up looking better.
This is simply my approach. Taking Rapa as a solo med leaves a lot of potential benefits from modern pharmacology on the table.
Chat with your healthcare professional on this, as I can’t really give advice, but just say what I usually pursue.
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Thanks a lot for sharing this and the paper!
Have others who take Lithium seen this effect / have data to go back to to see the effect?
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I have been taking lithium orotate 5mg/day after reading this paper:
Precision Nutrition for Alzheimer’s Prevention in ApoE4 Carriers
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8073598/
Seems like a no-brainer since the adverse effects of such a tiny dose are zero. I don’t know what effect it might be having on my lipids/glucose numbers.
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Do you find that ezetimibe blocking ALA uptake in any way problematic, if we only focus on the benefits of ALA outside of conversion to EPA or DHA?
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5 mg Lithium orotate is inexpensive has a very benign side effect profile and has a lot of potential benefits and synergies. I take it daily. My glucose HBA1C is 4.9. (The metformin and Akkermansia help as well.)
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I will see if i can identify an effect from when i started lithium. Because i take rapamycin less frequently than others its lipids/glucose side effects are likeky to be less.
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So perhaps there is no easy answer to the question: how long does it take for increased lipids/glucose numbers to revert to normal after stopping weekly rapamycin. Or, how long does it take for MTORC2 inhibition to subside (assuming it’s MTORC2 inhibition that causes those side-effects). Too many variables and individual variation, right? Or is there data on this?
I have looked at when I started taking Lithium and also when I started taking Rapamycin. My really low HbA1c at 4.18% was both before Rapamycin and Lithium, but there does not seem to be any clear trend. The values vary too much to spot something easily. Maybe if some detailed numerical analysis was done a figure would come out, but it would not be reliable.
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I can’t tell if in the first study showing the blocking of ALA if this was co-administered with ezetimibe at the same time or some delay?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2405457715001102
So this study showed a 4h interval from Ezetimibe to alpha-tocopherol didn’t seem to affect absorption. This is yet another, not dissimilar situation of concern on absorption.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28027412/
The challenge is the T1/2 of Ezetimibe is 22 hrs.
I guess the answer is, as I do take ezetimibe myself, and am up for my next OmegaQuant – I’ll see what my ALA looks like and see if this is a real factor. I take my ezetimibe at bedtime, and don’t really have calories until noon the next day. Rough to know from the data right now if this is a one off study, or a real concern.
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Neo, I’ve been taking 5 mg lithium orotate daily for two years. I have not noticed any significant effect on LDL-C, Apo-B, or blood glucose levels.
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I thought it did actually
Edit: I looked it up, and do think their complete test, the one for 99 dollars does:
Here is what it measures
ALA should be the second one here right?
You can see a complete sample report here:
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Where does it say that? ALA barely has any conversion to EPA and DHA, and it might have other health benefits.
See above, I added to the post above
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I see, so it does measure it, that’s good. I wonder what whole blood levels of ALA is good, along with the other fatty acids.
are, your Q: Perhaps ask Dayspring on twitter?
Yes have to spring for the Complete one … I might grab one from my Dad as he is doing some work with OmegaQuant … will see if I can get a free one … I have the Basic – but when you submit it, they always give you the option to upgrade. I’ll do that if I can’t get a free one.
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Fullscript has good pricing on these OmegaQuant tests, FYI. Well below retail.
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