Achieving therapeutic levels of a drug in a specific joint (or other tissue) via local application is not only possible, it’s routinely done. It’s the whole idea behind Voltaren gel (topical NSAID for knees), for instance. You achieve relatively high local levels of the drug but decreased systemic exposure. It’s not all-or-nothing. Did any of those topical rapa studies use DMSO as a carrier? Because that would seem to be your best bet, if anything.
Of course, that’s not to say it would necessarily be safe and/or effective in actually helping the arthritis.
I have been using OneSkin on my left arm. I will try my rapamycin skin cream on my right arm. In a scientific study that OneSkin funded, they said that OneSkin had a higher efficiency against senescence and inflammatory markers than rapamycin. So far it has been doing very well against the untreated arm.
I haven’t seen anyone mention emu oil in a skin or hair formula. Emu is supposed to facilitate penetration of ingredients. Maybe someone here has some experience with emu.
Davin and vegas, for now I’m using aloe gel to hold the other ingredients together because it’s not oily and dries quickly. I don’t doubt that emu oil would work well, but like Dr. Green’s Aquaphor and other oily creams and lotions, it would ruin my jeans.
DMSO alone has been used for athletic aches and pains, and I want to see if I’m getting some effect that could be attributed to rapamycin before substituting it for transcutol. DMSO should penetrate better. But it could pull whatever impurities lurked in the cloth along with it. I saw somewhere that nothing should touch the area for half an hour or so after application.
The solution, which I’ll probably get around to eventually, is to use DMSO and wear shorts until it dries.
So, I think I’m going to try an approach very similar to what was done with this skin cream, but for the “RiverTown” gray hair reversal topical serum, as covered in this post: Reverse Gray Hair, Growing More Hair
My approach would be:
Crush up the tacrolimus, cyclosporin, and minoxidil tablets together into a fine powder (need to calculate the therapeutic doses, have not yet done that)
Dissolve powder into transcutol base (again, need to figure out exact amount) and mix thoroughly
Apply twice a day for X months and report results.
For a 100 gram (3.5 oz) concoction I’d use something like: 120 mg (approx. 5 of the 25mg tablets) of cyclosporin, 500 mg (50 X 10mg tablets) of minoxidil, and 100 mg (50 X 2mg tablets) of tacrolimus, powdered, then dissolve and mix up the powder in 20ml or so of transcutol, then add some other liquids to dilute it. In the typical minoxidil formulation (and the Rivertown formula) they use: 50:30:20 propylene glycol : ethanol : H2O.
Note: Its possible to make the above formulation using the common off-the-shelf Minoxidil liquid (instead of the minoxidil tablets as identified above) that you can buy in pretty much any drugstore or Costco, etc. I tried the liquid minoxidil by itself years ago but it seemed to irritate my scalp and didn’t do much else, so I gave it up. I’ve found that transcutol, which is widely used in the cosmetics industry as a skin-friendly vehicle for “nutraceuticals” and drugs, is much easier on my skin and the research says it helps the drugs or nutraceuticals penetrate the skin.
There are a list of other compounds that have been reported to increase hair growth (see below), but I also want to keep it simple to see the results of just the Rivertown protocol initially.
As a phase 2 of my trial I would look at adding these additional compounds (same approach as above) to the topical serum mix (we’ll optimistically call this the “Wookie Mix” due to its hoped-for effects):
Dutasteride or finasteride
Metformin
Tofacitinib
Ketoconazole
bimatoprost
ECGC
Rapamycin
valproic acid
Tretinoin (topical Mixture - Gel form) - this is a little more complex because I can only seem to find tretinoin gel that would work, not something I can readily mix with the rest of the compounds, so perhaps this needs to be a separate step / application layer.
I really like Transcutol over DMSO. Transcutol delivers deep into the skin without the danger of transporting unwanted contaminates into the bloodstream. Personally, I find it much more pleasant than DMSO. I also think mixing stuff with various “creams” tends to defeat the purpose. With creams, a lot of rapamycin will be left on the skin surface.
A reasonable assumption that supports my recommendation for appx four times the the strength that achieved dramatic results in the Drexel University study. My formula is based on the concentration that Dr. G compounds.
OneSkin is still trouncing my rapamycin cream in my left arm/right arm test. I did start the left arm first so it’s not a fair fight, but I’m not seeing any signs that the right arm is catching up. I may shift the focus of my next batch of rapamycin cream to my scalp. I could swear that both creams are darkening my eyebrows and facial hair but I don’t have way to document that.
Transcutol (an excellent permeation agent that enhances drug diffusion through the skin) is not too expensive (around 15$/250 grs.) and the Excipial Hydrocrème (10$/50 ml.) either. This formulation is for a 0,1% compound while we need a 0,001% mix. The most direct way to convert the table above to our needs of a 0,001% mix is to divide the amount of rapamycin by 100 to transform the 0,1% into a 0,001% mix. In other words 0,03 grs. of rapamycin would turn into 0,3 mg. The critical point is how to measure such a minimal amount. And the only way is to get a cheap digital scale on Amazon.
To overcome the precision scale shouldn’t you have it, another option to get a 0,001% formulation is 3 mg. of rapamycin in 15 grs. of Transcutol (at a cost of less than one dollar) and 300 grs. of Excipial Hydrocrème (at a cost of 60$). That makes a total of 61$ to add to Rapamycin 3 mg. costs (from 40$ and above, depending on provider). Just my two cents.
Thanks for the Rapa DIY! What I am struggling with is what percent of Rapa to add to my cream. Isn’t your 0.1% a high level compared to other recommendations? Can you explain the range variation and why you choose that amount?
My concentration is substantially lower than that. A 0.10% concentration is the therapeutic level required for treatment of facial angiofibroma associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. My concentration tracks Dr. Green’s recommendation of about 0.04%.
Why add the cream at all? I make approx the same solution, transcutol, water, and rapamycin.
Crush tablets, dissolve, and filter through a small French press coffee maker. Fill small spray bottles and spray my whole head and the back of my hands.
This makes a nice pleasant spritz.
The lotion prevents complete absorption of rapamycin into deep layers of the dermis.
Ahhh, if the cream does inhibit the rapamycin absorption then I won’t use it. I thought if I used a cream, specifically Eucerin Anti-Pigment with a SPF 30 then I would be getting more benefits from a single composite each day. However, wouldn’t want to interrupt any of the rapamycin skin abilities if the cream would prevent it. if you wish to explain or link me with any information, much appreciated.
I certainly can put those on at separate times. Maybe putting the rapamycin solution on before bed and the Eucerin in the morning. Does that sound sensible? When do you put on your rapamycin?
I have 2mg Sirolimus tablets so I was anticipating grabbing the correct amount of milligrams specified by the tablets and just smashing them up in a mortar. Then I will use a hand mixer to blend everything together either with transcutol or a cream. I am assuming the outside of the tablets, included in the rapamycin mix will not have any effects.
When you crush the tablets, some of the filler material will not dissolve. That is why I use a small French press coffee maker to filter out particles that would clog my fine mist spritzers. The coffee maker has a fine metal mesh filter.
I tried paper filters but they did not work very well as they tend to clog up and take a very long time to filter through.
The spray solution goes a lot further than the equivalent amount mixed with a cream.
I usually spray it on first thing in the morning and sometimes again in the evening before I apply tretinoin cream.
