I am 74, in good health, exercise, nutrition, supplements, monitoring. I do take Metformin both for its anti-cancer effects and because A1C is slightly elevated (5.8 which is “prediabetes” but research suggests not much cause for worry in a female my age.) I also take Repatha which has reduced my Lp(a) from 40 to 29 mg/dl. and also reduced LDL. HDL is very high; trigs are very low. I have read that it is best to start rapa as a young person. Is 74 too old?
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Join the rapa family now. Maybe next year you’ll feel like you’re only 55. I mean, it’s never too late.
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FWIW: I didn’t start until I was 80 years old and I found many benefits from it.
Rapamycin has many benefits beyond life extension. One of the most profound benefits that I didn’t expect was that it made me pain-free. I had many of the arthritic symptoms of old age, joint pain, etc.
I believe this effect was also found in dogs. There have been many reports from people who fed rapamycin to their elderly dogs that could hardly move and the rapamycin made them active again like they were many years younger.
I think rapamycin has slowed my aging dramatically. One other effect was improved skin condition.
It may take several weeks or even a few months to experience the effects.
Older people need higher doses than younger people.
Start with a lower dose and titrate up until you start to experience unwanted side effects. And then, titrate down to the point that you have no side effects. Dr. Blagosklonny, probably the father of the use of rapamycin, thinks that you should take the highest dose possible without side effects. My opinion is that this mainly, and maybe only, applies to older people.
So join the club and I believe you will live longer and healthier.
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The research seems to suggest that the biggest gains in lifespan improvement (in mammals) is if they start earlier in life, but what has surprised the researchers is that rapamycin is even quite effective when started later in life…
In the study where they did not start giving rapamycin to the mice until middle-age (20 month old, equivalent to about 60 in human terms) and in the study they saw a median lifespan improvement of 11% (m) and 15% (f) (source ).
So, still not too bad. I think the key when starting it older in life is to first make sure you have your basics under control; that is, your blood glucose levels / insulin levels, and lipids. And continue to track those closely as you take rapamycin and work with your doctor to keep them in the good range.
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Deborah,
You are never too old.
Start ASAP.
“If you wait until you are ready, it is almost certainly too late.” ~ Seth Godin
Above quote from;
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I believe Dr. Green was somewhere near your age when he began Rapamycin (and treats many patients that are older) and has seen good results
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How does one access it in Australia? I am taking Astaxanthin but would like to add on Rapamycin. Really enjoy reading all these posts btw.
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Deborah_Hall, I am in your age range and I was in excellent health with a low BMI when I started. After reading many reports of benefits for a drug that was approved for human use many years ago I decided “why not?” Now, it’s just part of my weekly regime. I’ve noticed nothing in particular except bits of itchy rash here and there and possibly a small bit of weight loss, but as I said I was very healthy when I started. In the end it may improve my health and longevity or it may not, but either way it’s not much of a problem for me to continue using it, so I do. With this said, you may experience minor mouth ulcers or bits of itchy rash, but I’m sure you’ve read about how to resolve these potential problems. The other two things commonly experienced may be higher blood glucose and higher LDL-C and you’ve likely already read about ways of resolving these problems, too.
Thank you all for your responses. Still deciding what to do. It seems as though there is a choice between interventions that slow your (or, mTOR) down, thereby reducing stress, ROS, metabolism. The Metformin and Rapamycin interventions. Or there are the interventions that speed things up, or are anabolic, such as growth hormone, maybe creatine. Restricted period eating seems also to be on the first strategy – gives the metabolism a chance to take a break and repair. I am still assessing what I personally need for my own best balance. Since I already am dealing with elevated LDL and slightly elevated glucose, I ama little wary of Rapamycin. I have several of the hallmarks of the Ashkenazi centenarians – very high HDL, very low Trigs, small body size. I have osteoporosis and I sense that I am already on the long life, high frailty, lower muscle and mTOR side of the spectrum. It’s clear that protein, exercise are high priority for me. My highest priority goal is avoiding cognitve decline since I have famliy history of AD. Will keep reading, assessing.
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Hi Michele,
I think there is one physician who is prescribing it in Australia (that we know of) - see our list of physicians on the link below. People have also imported it from India and other locations to Australia (sometimes with success, other times it gets taken by customs I think). See this link for details on all the options: How to Get Rapamycin, Where to get a Prescription