Update:
I took two more weekly doses, now I am at 5 mg weekly. I think I will stick with this dose for a while, might increase it to 6 mg later but I am wary at this point, I will explain below.
First some measurable benefits (I wont be planning any blood test for another two months to not be disturbed by intermediate changes that rapamycin produces and might delay this first test even further not to worry too much if changes happen that would point in the wrong or undesirable direction). Since I am taking acarbose (lately increased to a full dose of 250 mg daily, 100 mg at breakfast, 50 mg lunch and 100 mg at dinner, my lunch is usually more of a snack and usually not carb heavy, breakfast is actually brunch, usually I have granola, oatmeal or bread, sometimes pancakes, waffles or crepes, brioche, croissant, so it is carb rich, dinners are mixed, but I tend to have a ot of vegetables for dinner so no matter if there are lot’s of obvious carbs like pasta/rice/potatoes or not I take 100 mg) some things I am seeing could be effect of acarbose as well. Acarbose is giving me almost none noticeable unwanted side effect, had some increased flatulence at the beginning, similar to when eating fibers, but since this has almost unnoticeable. I got my prescription filled for empaglifozin, but haven’t started yet. Might hang with the idea for few weeks more and do the risk reasearch more in depth.
To return to measurable side effect (wanted and unwanted):
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My sleep score is better (my deep sleep time almost doubled) but I sleep considerably less, almost 1 hour less in average, and wake up rested in more energetic. I am a bit concerned about the one hour less total sleep, but might be just seasonal…
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my HRV is up 10 points in average since starting rapamycin (on day that I dose and following day it is really high… this is somewhat strange as it really jups to 70-100 and then drops to 30 and then stabilizes at around 45 before the next dose, but still average is up… previously it was more constant, the daily variations were not that high). It is dose dependant, the more rapamycin I take, the more HRV goes up on the dosing day and subsequent days.
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My body fat is melting. I noticed fist changes in body composition when I measured my body fat with Navy Fat Calc @Kandice shared a while ago, since then my body scale also showed a drop in body fat of 2,5% and it is visibly starting to show. I did not change my workout routine or diet (maybe I even increased caloric intake some). My weight seems to stay more or less same. Seems ridiculous amount in that short period thinking how hard it was for me to loose 10% BF from 25 to 15% and how it was almost impossible to move down form that with my current diet and workout routine and my T levels. I take acarbose had something to do with it as well.
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My stools have become regular, daily… this is something I never experienced in my life, usually I would have them every other or third day, no matter how much fiber/exercise or water I would drink. Now it has been like schedule every morning. Might be the rapamycin or acarbose or combination.
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my VO2max dropped almost 3 points (as measured by my apple watch) since starting rapamycin, this is quite worrying, I also noticed that my endurance is suffering as well, not that is worrying me at this point, but I just noticed it and in connection with measured VO2max it is something to keep an eye on.
The above were measurable. Personal observations seems that I might feel less muscle/joint pain (I had this almost “fibromilagic” pain in my body since I was 6 and had an unknown thick infection…) but since taking rapamycin seems a little dulled… especially on the first three days after dosing. Might be placebo or it might be rapamycin. Who knows at this point.
Since starting rapamycin I developed this knee pain in my right knee that I never had before and it is sharp, sometimes almost not noticeable but sometimes really sharp… never had it before, also I don’t remember injuring my knee… the pain started suddenly, like it came out of nowhere and it is persistent (almost third week). Might be rapamycin, might be random.
Two other things seems to bother me and might be rapamycin connected. I suffered from chronic tonsillitis and sinusitis years ago. I haven’t had an active infection in years, but my tonsils and sinuses don’t seem to like me taking rapamycin. Tonsils are chronically enlarged but seem a bit bigger and painful (low grade pain) since started rapamycin and pain seems dose dependent, the more I take, the more it is pronounced. With sinuses I noticed that since few weeks my nose is borderline stuffy all the time, feels like my nasal mucosa is enlarged/swollen. Could this be rapamycin? Might be also spring and allergens in the air that contribute but I never had seasonal allergis in spring, I tend to have seasonal allergy in late summer/autumn (allergic to wormwood).
This is for myself. Dog is taking his rapamycin weekly too. Seems more energetic and interested. Behavior I thought is gone has returned, some of that behavior is also “unwanted” but seems that he feels stronger and more energetic. He is very stubborn dog at least he was when he was young. Last few years he seemed to be loosing this trait, but hey since on rapamycin it is returning in full force. When he was younger when unleashed he would just go and loose himself exploring for 15-30 minutes at the time, that was not the case in last few years, but that is back too. He has chronic arthritis, so he was not really active in last years for that, but since rapamycin he started first to whine (showing that he wants to do something)… lately last week whining stoped but he is more active in doing stuff. If I give you an example, he comes at the door and greets people, last two years he would not come to the door, maybe just raise head on the couch or not even that. Starting rapamycin he would whine laying down when someone was at the door, since last week he stands up and comes to the door. Same with me prepraring food in the kitchen. Last two years he was uninterested, since rapamycin I could hear him whining on the couch if he smelled something form the kitchen, last week, maybe two weeks ago I noticed him coming to the kitchen with a face, I noticed you have something good here, would you care to share it with me…
Last years when we go for a walk he is like, let’s go home, I am done. But these days he is not done… definitely more energetic.