We’re in the same place with our dogs. For dosing we’re following MK’s protocol exactly, which has her on 3 pills a week. I asked my partner if she was concerned about the skin tags and she wasn’t at all. I guess I’d like to know more about why tags would be an issue. My sense is that it’s not the tag itself, but what it may represent – a metabolic failure that might have other ramifications. If this is the case, I wonder what those other ramifications might be.
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Yes - all reports are that the skin tags are benign, so its not a huge worry I don’t think. But you may want to research the issue a little more deeply to find out if it suggests any other negative risks that may be developing…
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I used to have skin tags, but more recently I have not been able to find them. I am not sure when they went or exactly why they went. Because I have so many interventions it is hard, but not impossible, to know what causes what. It was probably the citrate, but it could have been something else. I remember having them, but they may have stopped before 2022 in which case it might be melatonin or vitamin D.
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I have skin tags. I have a family history of them. No one in my family has ever died (or had any other negative effects) arising from skin tags. I heard that they can be caused by eating too many carbohydrates? Honestly, though, there are much more important fish to fry than worrying about these benign eyesores.
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Good question, but unfortunately I don’t think anyone has an answer to this yet. We really are early on in the quest to learn the optimal dosing of rapamycin for longevity, for any type of mammal.
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I didn’t worry about skin tags when I had them. I only wish I knew when they disappeared as I would have a better idea of why they disappeared.
What I would say is that Rapamycin did not cause the skin tags I had, but also taking Rapamcyin has not created skin tags. However, I take it quite infrequently. Probably the least frequent of regular users of Rapamycin on this forum. (currently 21 or 28 days, it was 28 days over christmas because I left my normal base, but I intend trying it at 21 days soon and possibly with grapefruit juice - not that I like grapefruit juice I am wondering if eating a pomelo (or part of one) would be a nice alternative).
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Could it be the berberine improving your blood glucose?
I don’t know what causes the skin tags. I do think one thing that increased cytosolic acetyl-CoA does is to enable cells to better handle local disruption without bringing in the immune system (through cytosolic ROS). That tends to get rid of warts and may therefore be the cause of the skin tags disappearing. However, I don’t know.
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I think they’re a sign of insulin resistance
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I think MK’s dog aging project was using something like 0.1 to 0.15 mg per kg of body wt. So 3 mg (three 1 mg pills I assume) would be suitable, in his study for a body wt of roughly 20 to 30 Kg or 44 to 66 lbs. You might shoot for low end if not there.
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Very interesting about the menopausal states. Thank you for sharing!
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She’s actually scared to stop Rapa now lol, well not scared but not inclined to do it, given what happened in August. She’s been getting worse headaches than usual, unfortunately, but the periods have been like clockwork since. She’s 53 fwiw. Thanks for commenting
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Just saw this video on skin tags… perhaps of interest for your dog.
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Much appreciated! We’re giving her a brief rapa vacation to see if it makes a difference. It will be her first such vacation since she started on rapa about 1st months ago. Will check in to let everyone know how it goes.
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For the sake of long-term continuity I’ll keep posting from time to time. For this post I made a few discoveries that you may find interesting!
My Partner
My partner is in her early-to-mid 50’s and has not gone through menopause. When I asked her what I should write she said she experienced another coincidence with her period and rapa.
While on vacation this summer she forgot to take her 5/pill weekly pulsed dose. Upon returning home she decided to get the Shingles vaccine, as I noticed an article somewhere saying a study found a reduced dementia risk for those who have been fully vaccinated for Shingles.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03201-5
She asked me if she should take rapa before getting the vaccine. I recalled the Manick (is that right?) study that had adults take rapa for 5 weeks (is that right?) then a few weeks off, then were given a vaccine. In the study the rapa people had a higher immune response. I told her I wasn’t sure why the study had the people take 2 weeks off before the vaccine but maybe it was a good idea.
Bottom line, she skipped the second week’s dose and got the vaccine instead. Her arm was pretty sore for a few days.
What’s more interesting is that her period that month was so light as to be nearly non-existent. Again, a short pause from rapa seemed to result in a missed or nearly missed period, just as happened last year. It seems that rapa may be keeping the period’s going, thus potentially delaying menopause.
She says she doesn’t have much else to report in the way of health or issues. On the days she takes rapa she tends to have more energy and sleep better.
Our Dog
Our dog is now 14 years old and going strong. We have two dogs about 8-10 years apart, and people often mistake the 14 yo for the younger one. She is still full of energy, is nosy, loves walks (once a day, most days, 0.5 - 1.0 miles), and doesn’t struggle with arthritis any longer.
She seemed to have arthritis a year or two ago. We started giving her Dasquin MSM pellets in her dinner. We give the other dog a little bit and our 14 yo most of it. She shows no signs of arthritis now.
Every once in a while we think a back leg might be shaking, especially in her sleep, but it appears to be very rare and not consistent, so maybe it’s just sleep. Again, it’s rare, but sometimes she’ll have a little tremor in her legs when walking, but it goes away very quickly and doesn’t come back. We wonder if it might be sarcopenia–muscle loss. We give her extra protein (canned chicken) in her breakfast and dinner and partly walk her to keep the muscle power up.
In general she’s alert, joyful, and a little demanding when it comes to treats, walks, dinner, or anything she has in mind that we should be doing. It’s fun to see.
My Health
Every year I get a set of blood tests. I like to use the Levine age calculator to see how I’m doing. Here are the results:
Natural Age: 48 — Levine Age: 43 — Difference: -5 years
Natural Age: 49 — Levine Age: 52 — Difference: + 3 years
Natural Age: 50 — Levine Age: 46 — Difference: -4 years
I was nervous last year because my Levine age suddenly jumped from -5 to +3, a change of 8 years. However, that change seems to have been an aberration as my most recent tests have me at -4 years, very close to the -5 of two years ago.
If I’m being honest I’m definitely less healthy overall than I was two years ago. I’ve had a persistent shoulder problem (more on that below) that has kept me from exercising as much as I would like. Also my job has become MUCH more stressful. So much so that at the end of vacation I felt momentarily close to tears thinking about taking all the stress back onto myself.
On the subject of stress, I think it may have more to do with my mindset than the job itself. Like I’m taking it more seriously and putting more pressure on myself to do well. Also, I’m taking less and less mental time away; that is, I feel like I should still be working when I’m not at work, so I’m less inclined to feel free to do fun things and generally enjoy life.
These are things I need to work on, mentally and spiritually. I do feel they have an impact on my health generally.
Shoulders, Ankles, Feet Oh My - Minoxidil and the swelling of the body
Here’s a medical mystery that I just solved. I’ll give you the long version…
I started taking Minoxidil and Finasteride around COVID-time. I took them both together for perhaps a year or two (can’t exactly recall).
I got worried about Finasteride when I realized it was dulling my experience of orgasm by 80-95%. Literally there were times when I got right to that point then felt nothing. I’ve completely stopped taking it. At the same time I started taking Pumpkin Seed oil which has the same effect on my system if I take too many drops. I still take a little of it daily, but not much.
I did keep on with Minoxidil for a while longer, but eventually I got tired of putting wet stuff on my head every night. Reading an article about oral Minoxidil I began taking a quarter pill a day. Over the next several years I increased it to half a pill, then eventually a whole 2.5mg pill when I ordered some from India and they were unbreakable.
Issue 1: Unrelatedly, I started to have trouble several years ago with persistent pain in my left food under what would be the middle toe forefoot bone. On your palm you would trace your middle finger down into the palm and it would be the big bone on the palm side of your knuckle. Well that spot in my foot was terribly painful and bruised from walking on the treadmill. This pain continued for the next 2-3 years.
Issue 2: After a while, I also began to experience unrelated problems with my left shoulder. I spent a year trying to solve it myself through rest and NSAIDs but it was shockingly persistent. After a year – A YEAR – I finally went and got a scan and went to a Orthopedic surgeon. The woman who scanned my shoulder said it was one of the most swollen cases of bursitis she’d ever seen. The surgeon recommended “Crossover Fitness” bands, which by the way are awesome for building up your shoulders.
Issue 3: Unrelatedly I began to have problems with my hands going numb, especially when sleeping. Several times a week I began waking up to find my hands had no feeling in them whatsoever. This was very concerning, especially since it was becoming so common. No matter what I did I couldn’t figure out how to sleep so that my hands wouldn’t feel like they’d died at night.
Issue 4: Unexplainably I gained 10 pounds.
Issue 5: Unexplainably I had breast pain in my left chest.
Issue 6: Fast-forward to a trip overseas I took recently. It was a 13 hour flight. I kept feeling kind of weird in my ankles but figured it was anxious muscles from sitting for so long. But when I got into the hotel and took off my socks I was shocked. My ankles had ballooned up! My socks left deep impressions in the swollen skin and all around my ankles were little red marks from broken blood vessels.
My ankles had swollen on the flight so much that it hurt to walk. This has NEVER happened before in my entire life. Not even a little. I get that I’m getting older, but this was shocking and a clear sign that something was wrong.
Satori: Somehow in that moment everything fell into place: The foot pain, the shoulder pain, the numb hands, the swollen ankles, it was all connected! Guess what the side effects of Minoxidil are: Fluid retention, swelling of feet or lower legs, low blood pressure, tingling of hands, unexplained weight gain, breast pain.
Holy cow, I did this to myself!!!
Now that is a really bad feeling. Suddenly I understand why this drug is prescription and should be used under a doctor’s supervision. Granted, I’d intended to only take a quarter pill, and I discussed this with my doctor, but then my vanity got the better of me (I took this for hair regrowth) and I thought more would be better.
I stopped taking oral Minoxidil immediately. Of course I’d just had the prescription refilled and ordered a boatload from India, so I have several hundred pills laying around.
But guess what: in the 4 months since I stopped taking 2.5/daily of Minoxidil my foot pain has gone away, my shoulder pain has gone away, my extremities do not swell (although those little red marks from the burst blood vessels are still as clear as the day I got them), the hand numbness has gone away, the breast pain has gone away… and my hair has gotten noticeably thinner. Also my weight has dropped 3-4 pounds.
I’m considering whether I should stop taking the pumpkin seed oil, too, because God knows what the long term consequences of that might be. Seems like I’ll be the newly bald guy at our Rapa conventions, but I’m very happy to be so much healthier.
This is a big wake up call to me to watch it when it comes to self-prescribing medications.
(By the way, my knees have become more painful since stopping Minoxidil. I’m wondering if the swelling was actually helping their function.)
TECAR Therapy
I bought a home TECAR machine from aliexpress which I have used on my shoulder and knee. I’m not sure I’m doing it right, as I may be inclined to make things hotter than they need to be. Any direction with this machine would be appreciated.
RAPA
I don’t have a lot to report about Rapa. I take 4-5 pills in a pulsed dose and often give myself 8-10 days between doses. I feel happy and healthy. I have not noticed anything beyond what I have noted before regarding my health viz a viz rapa.
Random Details
I have starting doing 8-16 intermittent fasting. I take a little MCT oil in the morning to get the system going and then don’t eat a meal until lunch. I find I have a ton of energy, which is surprising to me.
I use a Tonal at home and really enjoy it. It’s an exercise machine that uses cables and a large screen. Probably I liked going to the gym a little more, but the Tonal gives you good advice about form, plus it tracks your weight and history, plus it’s convenient for my partner and kids, some of whom are too young to be allowed in a gym.
I started taking AG1 about 6 months ago, which Peter Attia consulted on (I believe). It’s an expensive daily super-vitamin powder that has way more than normal vitamins. I like it but my partner stopped using it after she suspected it was hurting her stomach. I think something else was the culprit. Nevertheless I feel like it’s good for my health longterm. I don’t notice any short term differences between when I take it and when I don’t.
The Crossover Fitness straps for my shoulders and for knees and hips are fun to use and I am getting a lot stronger. I thought I tore my rotator cuff, and may have done so to a slight degree. These exercises are supposed to help “bulletproof” your shoulders.
We also got a vibration plate. It was regularly $1500, but we found it on eBay for $600. I enjoy using it for up to 15 minutes a day, but again I can’t tell if it’s doing anything or not. I suspect it’s one of those have-to-use-it-for-years-to-tell-a-difference type things. It vibrates up and down (not back and forth) at 30hz. Apparently there’s lots of data from the last 20 years about these plates. Supposedly they’re in the weight and fitness rooms of most major athletic programs, college and pro.
Oh, on eBay I also bought some BFR straps (blood flow restriction) straps from BSTRONG. The background is that a Japanese researcher was kneeling all day at a Shinto ritual. When he stood up his legs were exhausted as though he had been on a long arduous hike, and yet he’d been kneeling and still all day. Fast forward several decades and KAATSU was born. Apparently (and supposedly) blood flow restriction (not halting!) makes your muscles exhausted with much lower weights. This (again supposedly) elicits the same muscle growth reaction in your body, but since the weights were less you have less muscle tearing and less repair that is necessary. Therefore it is claimed that you gain more muscle faster than if you did normal hypertrophy exercises at normal weight. I don’t have a lot of experience with them, but will keep using them from time to time. You definitely get a big pump!
Finally, I feel like I should say that none of the above things are paid content. No one is giving me anything for mentioning anything I’m doing. These are just products I’ve found organically and am giving a shot.
Thanks for reading! Kind Regards…
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UPDATE ON NOV 17, 2025
It’s been a while, thanks for the request for an update. My partner, my dog, and I still are taking Rapamycin and all continues to go well.
ME
I seem to recall mentioning a whole slew of things I was taking and doing for health in my previous posts. I have stopped most of them.
I sold the blood restriction bands on eBay. They did tire the muscle early and with less weight. I have little doubt that they work. But they were uncomfortable, the air leaked a little, and I was ultimately uneasy with messing with circulation.
The TECAR therapy seems to have worked on my shoulders, but I put most of my emphasis on my newfound shoulder health on the Crossover Fitness bands that I still use religiously and my ceasing use of Minoxidil, which seems to have been causing fluid buildup that was hampering the healing of my shoulders.
We use the vibration plate just a little. It’s another thing, like the bands, which probably works, but is kind of a pain to use. All that noise and shaking.
For RAPAMYCIN, I have settled into a weekly pattern of 6 pills one week and 3 pills the following week, often with a tablespoon of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) or another higher fat meal. I follow this pattern to ensure that my blood levels of rap are essentially zero at least once per two weeks. I’m not convinced that 6 pills weekly allows me to get that low.
I find that Rapa gives me an energy boost between 24-48 hours after taking it, so I take it two days before a weekly high pressure meeting I have. I feel like it helps me have the extra oomph I need to perform well.
I take MELATONIN at about 1-2mg, typically twice a week. It gives me vivid dreams and often makes me sleep in an extra hour or so. I take it before a day off so I can sleep in. If I’m tired and need the sleep, I find the Melatonin doesn’t give me a hangover, but if I’m well-rested the Melatonin will have me yawning throughout the next day. Mostly I take it because of the little bit of research I did, finding it’s good for the Mitochondria and may help with maintaining health.
For other supplements I’m taking a daily D&K2 where the D is 4000 IU. I take Slo-Mag several times a day. I take a high quality Omega 3. Occasionally I take a Cialis.
My hair was helped a lot from the Finasteride and Minoxidil I took. plus the Pumpkin seed oil, but I feel like I nuked my prostate. Even though I’ve stopped all of them I hardly feel orgasms as strong as I once did, even 3 or 4 years ago. I’m in my early 50’s, but I feel like I made a fool’s choice in trying to keep hair and perhaps tanking my ability for arousal and intimacy. I’m keeping an eye on this hoping it is slowly coming back. Low dose Cialis does help, and it turns out going on vacation helps a lot too, so maybe stress also has a lot to do with it.
My blood markers have been fine. I get blood tests once a year in April, so it’s been a while. I insist on getting the ApoB as well as the other standard tests. My lipids are a little higher than they were before rapa, but not so bad that my doc is worried about it.
On the aging algorithms, where you put in all your blood test results and it spits about a biological age, I’ve been consistently several years older on the bio age than actual age. That’s a bummer, but I don’t think it’s rapa’s fault. People say I look like I’m 10-15 years younger than I am, so that’s gotta count for something. Good skin, bright eyes, healthy hair, good energy, etc.
I can’t think of anything else I should add on me, but please do feel free to ask. I did a stupid thing and hurt my left knee, but I’m trying to work through it.
I did make a Rapa buy from China after all the tariffs went into place. I was worried the package would get seized, but it didn’t. I bought Chinese Cialis in that order. It does seem to work less well than USA Cialis. I semi-suspect it’s fake, but then it’ll kind of work. The jury is still out on that.
MY PARTNER
My partner is now in her mid-50’s. Several times she has noticed direct links between her periods happening/not-happening and her rapa use, but I’m sorry to say we’ve both forgotten the details. it’s been two months of no periods now, so perhaps menopause has finally struck. I think it’s fun to think we might get a surprise baby but she rolls her eyes and says there’s no way. Because of travel (we don’t take Rapa on vacation) she hasn’t been consistent with rapa for several months, so that’s another potential tie-in.
OUR DOG
Our dog is 15 and sparky as can be. She gets a big jolt from her weekly rapa of 3 pills. It’s very noticeable that it gives her energy or otherwise makes her feisty. She doesn’t see super well and her back legs don’t seem as flexible as they once were. She slips on wood floors now and didn’t used to. But I can say she’s a happy dog with no major health issues.
Actually, I should say she had some problems with allergies this year. Her feet would itch and she was gnawing on them so much. The vet said she got an infection on her feet so we had to give her a bunch of medicine. We stopped rapa at that time and didn’t reintroduce it until the issues seemed to have been gone.
I know there are concerns that even pulsed rapa can lower an animal’s immune response. Hopefully the rapa didn’t contribute to this.
I need to ask my partner, but I think we’ve restarted rapa since then. Before that Illness our dog was on rapa for probably 3 years straight, except for when we were away.
WRAP UP
I’ve noticed that Bryan Johnson stopped taking rapa. I don’t fully trust the guy, but it did lower my confidence in the drug. I heard maybe Dr. Attia stopped taking it too, not sure why.
I’d be curious to hear if people think that there’s some new game-changing awareness that is making experts give up on the medication. From the little bit I’ve seen and heard I’m not aware of any good reason to stop taking the drug.
It’s weird getting older. As a young man I never thought about illness or -gasp- death. Now I feel it stalking. I sense that I need to keep working out or weakness will come so fast that I may not be able to shake its grasp. It’s not a great feeling. In my arsenal I have: Good work/life balance; Basic supplements like vitamins, minerals, and protein powder; exercise; and Rapa. For now it feels like enough.
My best to everyone,
Higome33
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Thanks a lot for the summary!
I think that there is more and more signal in favor of rapa in small studies looking at some biomarkers (e.g., Rapamycin as a preventive intervention for Alzheimer’s disease in APOE4 carriers: targeting brain metabolic and vascular restoration - #76 by adssx ). We need larger studies…
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No - I don’t see any new information being presented. Its more that the ones that are doing this (Bryan Johnson, Eric Verdin) either have some minor negative side effects (slightly lower HRV), or don’t see any immediate benefit and want to wait for more data (Verdin, I think). Attia paused due to mouth sores.
Good data continues to roll in, as we document on the home page, but the trials are small. We need more clinical validation, but that is going to take many years - especially given the government and commercial funding in longevity these days (which is down dramatically over the past two years).
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I think they rely on the wrong biomarkers.
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