I understand how you calculate the half-life. But how are you coming to the conclusion that your absorption is particularly low relative to others? Are you comparing it to the figure in PMID: 11034258 that is posted in the first post in this thread?
I was thinking it’s good to compare blood levels to those in PMID:11034258 to get a comparison to how your levels are similar to the people in the study. That could give an estimate of whether you absorb more or less than average. However I wonder if it is comparable if you take a different type of rapamycin formula. In PMID: 11034258 they administered aqueous solutions containing rapamycin. That’s not the same as giving rapamune pills. It’s more similar to taking rapamycin powder in water. So I wonder if it’s comparable to the same dose taken as a pill. I say this because some people have said on this forum that rapamycin taken as a powder has worse absorption than rapamune pills. Apparently rapamune contains rapamycin complexed with hydroxypropyl betadex which protects it somewhat from stomach acid, If that’s true then the figure in PMID: 11034258 isn’t really useful in figuring out whether one has high or low absorption relative to other people. Am I missing something here?
The figure in this study (the one in the first post of this thread) is the only good one I have seen that gives a good idea of the levels of rapamycin in the blood at different times after different doses. Unfortunately the levels are for sirolimus in aqueous solution which may not be comparable in bioavailability to rapamune pills so for people wanting to test their bioavailability with rapamune pills this study doesn’t help much. So those taking blood tests after taking rapamune pills can only figure out roughly how fast they metabolize it relative to others (by the half-life) but not how much they are absorbing relative to others. That’s unfortunate because the latter is even more important.
Given the above, I have a suggestion. Once more people have taken blood tests of rapamycin after intake of rapamune, it would be good to create a database or graph that shows the dose (in mg/kg bodyweight) each person took, the gender, and the blood levels at whatever time points they measured. Once sufficient number of people have tested their levels that way we would have a database with average levels to which people can compare to see if they absorb relatively much or little. This is greatly needed since the bioavailability differs by quite a lot between people. We really need to encourage more people to test their levels and report them along with the relevant data.
Relative to what I said above. All we need to get a rough idea of the average absorption of rapamycin is for at least 10 people to measure their rapamycin levels at say 24 or 48 hours after rapamune dosing (after not having taken any for two weeks prior so their levels are zero before the dose). Measuring close to the peak level would not be good because it will vary widely depending on the exact timing but at 24 or 48 hours would give a good data for comparison.
I think this can give rough idea of cMax values per different mg as it compares it taken with ketoconazole or without on a sample of 2-6 people and uses sirolimus pills (GFJ study uses oral solution).
The pharmacokinetics of sirolimus study (done on several hundred patients) shows fast absorption and reaching maximum blood serum concentration in 1-2 hours.
Considering above data I posted, 30 ng/ml is a an expected maximum serum concentration (1-2h after dosing) at 6mg rapamycin (especially if you take it with fat, which in my understanding will give you some boosting of bioavailability).
I would also test trough levels too (just before your next dose) as you want this level to be almost zero not to suppress MTORC2 too much/all the time.
Yes, this is the study I used. In what I could find this is the only study that can be used to determine a tMax from a single dose, other studies were done in transplant patients with completely different dosing regimens…
@Agetron did you get your lab back? I will try to take both tests this friday, trough and post dose. You tested your lipoproteins as well, didn’t you? How were your results?
Yes and the results surprised me this time. I only got a 3x’s increase - not my normal 6x’s increase. Now I am wondering is it because I am now on the Rapamune printed on triangle pills - not the sirolimus red RD 54?
I didn’t get trough because nurse didn’t use the right tube …lavender top. I am assuming my trough was under 1.
I had my blood level tested yesterday about 1 hour after taking 4mg of Zydus, ate 1/2 a grapefruit an hour before taking and the other 1/2 while taking - washed down with TBS of EVOO. I have been alternating between 2MG and 4MG week to week. I will get a trough test and a 2MG test at some point.
Hi @desertshore, my Dr knows I am taking Rapa and that I am in the Univ WA study with Matt K. They have been very willing to put in the tests and see what insurance will and won’t pay for. Honestly, I have been surprised how much BCBS has picked up. My Dr is part of a health center so labs and blood draw are onsite and convenient. I am sure they send out for some of the tests, but can do some themselves.
Hi everyone! First post on this forum and I just wanted to start off by thanking @RapAdmin and everyone else for all of the very helpful information that’s been posted. Thank you!
Hoping this isn’t a dumb question, but I purchased a blood sirolimus test from the Marek Health website for $59 and a day or two later I received the LabCorp order for the test from them. On the order (or script), it states the following “I agree to assume responsibility for payment of charges for laboratory services that are not covered by my healthcare insurer.”
So this got me thinking, did I pay $59 for Marek Health to write me the LabCorp order for the blood test? or does the $59 also include the LabCorp services…since I believe my insurer will certainly not cover payment for the blood test.
I think you can just ignore that - you’ve already paid. Just tell them that you pre-paid Marek for the test when you go to Labcorp. I’ve done this many times with blood tests done at LabCorp, but purchased through LifeExtension Foundation, etc…
Most of LabCorp’s tests are paid for by insurance companies - so that is what they are most used to. Health fanatics like us, who do our own blood tests to track our health, are a relatively small group of people compared to the masses that just do what the doctor tells them as part of their annual checkups.
I started my rapamycin journey eight weeks ago with a 2mg dose. I’ve increased that- now taking 8mg every Friday. I’m 67yo male, 6’2" and 215lb.
On Friday 9/15/23, I got a sirolimus blood test two hours after taking my 8mg (8 pills- 1mg Biocon Rapacan). The result was 17.1 ng/ml.
Yesterday (Friday 9/22), I got the same test, but before taking the rapamycin (testing my trough). The result was <1.0.
For both tests, I ate a two egg cheese omelett 30 minutes before taking the pills.
I purchased the tests from Marek Health ($59 + $5 lab fee = $64). Results were available the day after test.
I purchased the Biocon Sirolimus from Vallabh Enterprise/Shreeji Impex: $180 - 300 1mg pills @ .60 per tablet. Why would you pay more?
I’m planning a few more blood tests:
4 mg with Grapefruit juice
8 mg (4 2mg Siroboon Sirolimus)- I just received this purchase of 150 2mg pills from Vallabh Enterprise/Shreeji Impex for $120 (40 cents per mg). I want to compare the Siroboon to the Biocon.
A test three days after taking the pills. I expected my trough test to be higher than “<1mg” if the half-life is 60-65 hours, so I’m curious about mid-week.
The interesting thing about all of this is that there doesn’t seem to be consensus about dosing and frequency (unless you are a mouse or organ transplant patient). I hope being on the “cutting edge” doesn’t cut too deeply!
Thank you for sharing these results. I would be very interested to see your future blood test results too, especially the mid-week one. I’m currently doing 4mg every 2 weeks but wondering whether to reduce the gap. However I am keen on Astaxanthin too and at the moment I don’t take Astaxanthin for 7 days after the Rapa but then take Astaxanthin twice per day for the following 7 days and then repeat the whole cycle.
