Thank you very much for posting this. I went back and looked at the data from my Apple Watch. In the first month when I started taking rapamycin my VO2 max dropped .4 points (it was fairly consistent prior — .4 to .5 points higher). That was July 2022. Since then it has gone up 4.3 points. I doubt that was solely attributable to the rapamycin however. One sidenote, I really like the athlytic app. It takes the Apple Watch data and gives a V02 max for things like cycling and swimming (for me they are much higher than the Apple Watch readings). But none of that gets recorded in the health app so the 4.3 point increase is only for the outdoor walking and running that the Apple Watch records.
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Good to know. Thx. Will check the app, it is true that also my VO2max drop might not be solely connected with rapamycin, but it surely overlaps so I need to take it into consideration. It is the measurement that worries me the most atm, but I will try to schedule a proper VO2max test soon and also running season is just starting so my data might improve.
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@scta123, fwiw I have a history of prolactinoma and I was told eating can raise it slightly so if you ate before your test you could retest while fasting. I was also getting tested regularly at one point and it was recommended that I test the same time of day for better consistency.
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Good to know @blsm thx. I will schedule some tests in a month or so with my doctor, I just got MRI that is clear, so no adenomas or suspect adenomas (at least that).
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Another update is in order I guess.
I have been taking rapamycin 3 months. Not much to report, just to keep myself a diary of sorts.
I don’t think I noticed much new. But below are my observations, some I have described in other posts in more detail, here is just to condense all.
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I seem to continue to loose BF, but not bodyweight, which seems that I build some muscles too in the process. This rapamycin effect on BF is ATM most noticeable.
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my three month HRV average is not as high as it was in first weeks of rapamycin, there is still an upward trend (january-march average was 44, march-june is 48) but not so apparent as in first weeks. Might be also that I am a bit stressed lately and this might contribute to HRV decrease that is driving the average down as well.
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sleep is a mixed bag, I am keepeng the increase in deep sleep score (most noticeable difference pre and post rapamycin), but my average total time asleep has decreased and is mostly driven by sleeping less on weekends (just after my dosing day) and quite few 6h sleeps. I feel rested though and ATM don’t find it problematic. It might be seasonal too or stress driven as I mentioned before.
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I did my blood lipid test (TC 181 LDL-C 112 HDL-C 58 nonHDL-C 123 ApoB 84 TG 44), no other values, I am keeping this for September when I have scheduled a comprehensive blood panel and some other tests with my GP. My lipids are slightly higher than before, but nothing alarming. Everything still in green zones. Some might disagree that this is optimal, but a quick phone call with my friend cardiologist reassured me that I should not worry too much and I wont. I wanted to add some lipid lowering supplements, but I am really bad at taking supplements so I decided to add just 10 grams of psyllium husks to my breakfast. We can see what that will do in September. Has anyone any good results with psyllium?
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stools remained regular all three months. I am still not sure is it acarbose or rapamycin or both, but it is a novel experience for me and I am not complaining. Now that I added psyllium (second day) it wont be possible to determine any more the role of rapamycin, but does it matter?
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pains and aches are not magically gone, I really notice a relief one day after dosing, this is the day I feel best, other days are mixed bag. Depends on my previous day workout, sleep, mood, stress… hope that rapamycin will help more in this.
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I noticed that my seborrheic dermatitis I get in my ears, in my beard, on my nose, sometimes in the hairline… seems to be acting strangely, can’ t decide in a good or bad way? Mostly I have less of flakes and redness it seems and I almost have a wishful thinking it is going away, but then suddenly overnight I develop redness and scales again… we will see what is rapamycin, what are other factors.
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VO2max is also a mixed bag, drop that correlated with rapamycin improved in the last month but then just a sudden drop again (this is what apple watch measures). I had ergospirometry done at my lung specialist and this was an improvement (43.7) over my last one I took 10 years ago which was a really poor result (36.1) as I have asthma and I need to do the test without any medicines. I will keep an eye on this one for a while. It is bothering me, since it was really stable over the last years at around 46-47, but then a sudden drop correlated with rapamycin use. And it seems not able to pick up again. My speed, HR and personal feel does not correspond with the apple watch algorithm, but let’s see…
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I had my allergy tests done and very strangely I lost almost all allergies I had previously. I am unable to tell if rapamycin had something to do with this since my previous test was 10 years ago.
I am currently taking 6 mg/week. Did this as only two mg pills were available but seems body adjusted well and my mouth sores are not an issue anymore, so I will keep this dose now for next three months until I get my tests in and I reevaluate the rapamycin usage.
I Have had a small surgery, removed one late precancerous and two other early precancerous skin lesions, one on my forehead. I took rapamycin as scheduled and seems that skin is healing really well and less scar tissue is forming. Might be, that rapamycin had something to do with this, just yesterday I came across this study for topical rapamycin which is interesting in this regard, might be that oral rapamycin does similar.
Dog is doing fine on rapamycin too. Changes now are not that noticeable anymore, but he still acts younger and perkier than before. All in all seems that rapamycin is not a magic pill but might help in some ways. I will keep going and post my journey here.
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@scta123, thanks for the update. I’m a little envious of the BF decrease but I’m remaining patient.
I need to update as well but as a celiac who unknowingly had repeated low level gluten exposure from the cafeteria at work starting mid February thru early May it has made it a bit difficult to discern my progress. I did handle it much better than I would have in the past but it still wasn’t good.
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@blsm Most say BF loss increases over time so I wasn’t expecting it so soon in the journey, but I am glad that I could move it a bit, since being on CR and working out for previous year just did just so much and then I plateaued and couldn’t move it down no more. There are also down sights of fat loss, IMO slightly older face features and some “sagging” skin. The first two months when most of the fat loos happened the skin on my stomach was rally strangely crepey and loose, not when standing upright, but when bending or od doing a plank or smth. it looked really yucky… but has improved since. Probably skin shrieked. @Agetron was describing this in his posts too.
Since mTOR is up-regulated and sustains inflammation also probably in celiac, makes sense that you handled it better. But I agree that sometimes it is just difficult to se this small or big changes since there are so many variables…
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A little update. I have been taking rapamycin for a little over 6 months. I had a complete physical last week. Today I got back partial results from my blood test (still waiting comprehensive hormone panel). I had also done a extensive cardiovascular tests in June and all markers were optimal.
My current stack is:
6mg rapamycin weekly
100mg acarbose before meals
my rip on BJ green giant morning shake:
10g EAA
6g taurine
2g glycine
1,5 g NAC
6g collagen peptides
tablespoon chlorella
teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
tablespoon high flavonol cocoa
1g vitamin C
1g TMG
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BF became stable at about 11%, I have been practicing moderte CR(ON) (10% CR) since few years, but my BF was stable at around 16% before rapamycin. I did not loose any weight, my weight remained stable.
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average HRV is up from 44 to 54 in the last 6months. I have not included any changes in lifestyle or any other supplements. Noticed that HRV is really mostly dependent on how physically tired I am . Now that I have been tracking it, I can sense the difference on how I feel and can easily eastimate my HRV.
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sleep improved. My average is about 7,5h and my deep sleep improved from 20 minutes before rapamycin to 50 minutes in the last 6 months. I wake up mostly rested.
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My blood sugar remained stable (fasting glucose remained optimal and HbA1c is 4,8%)
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blood lipids all decreased after six months on rapamycin (there was a slight increase at 3 months) TC 154 (before 181) LDL-C 96 (before 112) HDL-C 46 (before 58) ApoB 72 (before 84) TG 35 (before 44). No mayor changes in diet or any supplementation. I tried psyllium for a while but it was difficult for me to stick to it and my intestine protested a lot. I try to increase fiber in food, but barely meet 50g daily. My saturated fat intake is also not low at average 37g daily. So there is some room for improvement. I will try to focus more on plant based / vegetarian diet in the future.
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My seborrheic dermatitis improved really by a lot, especially in the last two months. There was a whole month that it was completely gone, now there are some flakes in my beard, but not much and it is easy to control with ketoconazole ointment. I did not need hydrocortisone since starting rapamycin.
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I am doing no specific VO2max training, but I noticed slight improvement in the last months.
I am most glad that my blood lipids and blood sugar are doing ok. Blood lipids decreased about 15% and fasting glucose decreased slightly. My BP decreased slightly, from 116/75 (two week average) to 112/72. Most noticeable changes are HRV, deep sleep, lost some of the myalgic pain and greatly improved digestion. I still need to calculate my Levine and Aging.AI 3.0 results. I will update this post later.
Dog is doing fine on rapamycin too. Just this week he developed a mouth sore two days after dose, but did not seem to hurt or bother him. It has healed in few days. He is still perkier and lively. Seems more mobile and curious. His coat on muzzle stop graying, seems even some gray reversed.
I will keep going and post my journey here.
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Levine phenotypic age results at chronologic age of 48:
The result is good, but previous was better (33 at 47). I noticed that all markers were better except RDW which increased from 11,8 to 13,2. Does anyone have any idea what could drive RDW up? And what to do to reduce it?
RDW is a measure of how consistent the size of your RBCs is. If you start producing smaller RBCs then initially RDW will go up and then go down as your RBCs are all smaller.
MCV and RDW tend to be issues for people who drink quite a bit of alcohol (like myself although I am currently only having one drinking day a week).
I really drink very little. Not because of health or that I wouldn’t like it, but alcoholic drinks tend to be quite caloric and I try to avoid liquid calories 
Would any other factor drive RDW up? If it would remain at previous level, my phenotypic age would be 26-27 
Best to give all the values for last time and this time. It is easier to suggest things then.
If you can afford it, you should enter the “Rejuvenation Olympics” 
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All of these have “improved” apart from CRP and RDW.
Rapamycin will reduce the size of RBCs. That takes MCV down, whilst there are cells of varying sizes (pre and post rapamycin) RDW will be higher, but that probably isn’t the issue.
Because I do weekly blood tests I know how much all of the values tend to vary. Some vary also by time of day of the blood draw.
If I were you I would be interested in the movement in CRP as in the broader sense it is a significant biomarker (at its base level indicating the senescence burden).
One problem with albumin, for example, is that if you have a calorific deficit albumin is likely to be lower at that time (which is deemed to be bad).
Albumin also is a U shaped curve for mortality.
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0,06 increase in hs-CRP you think is relevant? I wasn’t planning on getting another blood test until next year. I don’t want to be to obsessive about it.
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Haha I don’t like my competitive side to get much fuel.
I just reentered my baseline blood test into Aging.AI 3.0 and it now shows a much higher age than six months ago. (35 vs. 21). Guess algorithm is learning.
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It would be good to know why? Is is merely a testing artifact. Did you have an illness?
It might be just testing lab, this time it was hospital referential lab, before it was my PCP lab service. But that week I was on verge of developing a cold, woke up with sore throat and stuffy nose.