My Rapamycin Experience — A Personal Longevity Experiment
I decided to start taking rapamycin for longevity and thought it would be useful to document the experience here.
This is not a recommendation. I am simply documenting what happens to me, including the things that don't happen.
I was particularly influenced by Krister Kauppi's rapamycin journey and notes. His ongoing log gave me the idea of keeping my own record, both so that others can learn from my experience and so that I have a reason to keep track of what happens over time.
I will be updating this post occasionally throughout my experience.
How I Got Interested in Longevity
I have been following developments in longevity research for several years and have become increasingly interested in the field.
I think I first came across Bryan Johnson a few years ago. I followed some of his work, although I am not particularly a follower of his now; I find his approach increasingly commercial.
From there I discovered David Sinclair and started following many other researchers and people working in the longevity space. I have watched quite a few podcasts over the years, but I have always put Peter Attia's work in a somewhat different category. Through Peter Attia, I came across Matt Kaeberlein, whom I particularly admire for his approach to evaluating the data in the field.
There are, of course, many other respected researchers in the field, including Alan Green, Joan Manning, Kaufman, Sabatini, and Stanfield, as well as many others I have not mentioned here.
Eventually, rapamycin became particularly interesting to me. The idea of targeting some of the fundamental biological processes involved in aging — autophagy and cellular recycling — made sense to me as a potential longevity intervention.
I had some concerns before starting, particularly around side effects, infection risk, possible changes in blood markers, drug quality/authenticity, and the fact that I was obtaining it without a prescription.
After looking into these issues and following the experiences and discussions in the longevity community, I decided to give it a shot.
A Little About Me
Basics
I am 47 years old, male, 180 cm tall, and weighed 88 kg (on a good day) when I started.
Diet
My diet is generally clean — probably around 80% of the time. We eat mostly whole foods and try to choose organic foods when practical, particularly at home. I eat plenty of protein and healthy fats while generally keeping both total fat and carbohydrates relatively controlled. I am not following a strict diet or calorie-restriction program.
Exercise
My exercise routine before starting rapamycin was relatively modest. I normally run around 6–8 km once a week and do basic mobility exercises. More recently, I started adding a light kettlebell routine two or three times per week.
One thing I would like to follow over time is whether anything changes in my exercise performance.
In July, I was running approximately 10 km in 70 minutes (8.57 km/h).
I recently ran 7.6 km in 50 minutes (9.12 km/h). While both routes are mostly flat, these aren't directly comparable measurements. The weather is cooler now, and because the route is shorter, I am less tired before the faster pace at the end. I will be abe to provide comparable data through out the year, running the current track.
Red Light Therapy
I have a reasonably large red-light therapy panel. It feels great when I use it, but I'm still struggling to incorporate it into a regular routine.
Overall Health
I would describe myself as generally healthy, and I don't currently have any medical condition that I am following up on. High blood pressure runs in my family, but my readings have not been particularly high, so I have not started medication for it.
My morning resting blood pressure is generally around 110–120 / 70 mmHg.
I normally sleep around 6–8 hours. My sleep schedule isn't particularly disciplined, but I do my best to maintain it.
I have regular blood tests annually. I had a magnesium deficiency last year during a period when I had a functional problem with my right shoulder. That resolved after taking magnesium supplements, and my magnesium level is currently normal.
I don't take any supplements specifically because of rapamycin. At the moment, I take a B-complex vitamin at night with food to support my vitamin B levels.
I smoke and drink socially.
My bloodwork results after 12 hr overnight fasting on 21 August 2026, before starting rapamycin.My plan is to repeat the bloodwork under approximately the same conditions after completing two rounds, so that I have something reasonably comparable to the baseline.
| Marker | Baseline |
|---|---|
| WBC | 6.01 ×10⁹/L |
| Hemoglobin | 14.8 |
| Platelets | 252 ×10⁹/L |
| ALT | 19 U/L |
| AST | 18 U/L |
| CRP | 0.2 mg/L |
| Ferritin | 75.2 ng/mL |
| HbA1c | 5.3% |
| Glucose | 101 mg/dL |
| Insulin | 4.8 µIU/mL |
| Total cholesterol | 210 mg/dL |
| LDL | 146.8 mg/dL |
| HDL | 50 mg/dL |
| Triglycerides | 66 mg/dL |
| Creatinine | 1.00 mg/dL |
| eGFR | 89 mL/min/1.73m² |
| Magnesium | 1.90 mg/dL |
| Vitamin D | 29.2 ng/mL |
| B12 | 270 pg/mL |
My Rapamycin -No Prescription- Protocol
I started with 2 mg once per week, on 03 Sep 2026, increasing the dose by 1 mg each week. I took my first 6 mg dose on Thursday, 01 Oct 2026. I switched back to 5 mg on 08 Oct 2026 for practical reasons, since Rapacan comes in strips of 10 tablets.
My plan is to continue at 5 mg once per week through the remainder of the first eight-week period, followed by four weeks off.
This is simply the personal protocol I have chosen. I came across the 2 mg → 6 mg escalation approach through anecdotal experiences and discussions in the longevity community, and it made sense to me. Nothing I share here should be taken as a recommendation; these are simply the conditions I chose for my own anecdotal experiment.
I choose to take the dose at around 9 PM on Thursdays. On weekdays, I normally have dinner around 6:30 PM, so there are roughly two and a half hours between dinner and the rapamycin.
I deliberately chose Thursday evening because it gives me a relatively low-activity 72-hour period over the weekend. I tend to exercise less on the weekend, particularly avoiding muscle training, and my diet is also less disciplined on weekends. This gives me the weekend to get back to my normal routine before Monday morning.
I previously experimented with 72-hour fasting once a month, but I am not currently planning to combine that with rapamycin. I may reconsider that later.
Dosing Log
My first two weeks were largely uneventful. A few hours after my first dose on September 3, I felt a little nauseous, but I suspect this was more of an emotional or anticipatory response than a genuine side effect, so I don't want to attribute it to rapamycin. Apart from that, I didn't notice any side effects or changes.
In the third week, at 4 mg, I may have noticed an increase in my running pace, and I felt the same again in the fourth week at 5 mg. I am deliberately putting a question mark around this: it could simply be how I was feeling that day, my training, or an emotional expectation, and I don't consider it evidence that rapamycin improved my running. I didn't notice any other changes in those weeks.
I had only just taken my first 6 mg dose in the fifth week when I wrote these notes, so there was nothing to report yet. In the sixth week, I returned to 5 mg for practical reasons related to the tablet packaging, again with no meaningful side effects so far.
I will keep logging these measures weekly in the coming weeks.
| Week | Date | Dose taken | Side effects | Other remarks | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 Sep 2026 | 2 mg | Mild nausea a few hours after the first dose; uncertain whether it was related | Nothing else noticeable | 88 kg |
| 2 | 10 Sep 2026 | 3 mg | None noticed | No obvious changes | 89 kg |
| 3 | 17 Sep 2026 | 4 mg | None noticed | May have noticed a faster running pace; uncertain | 88 kg |
| 4 | 24 Sep 2026 | 5 mg | None noticed | Again, possibly a faster running pace; uncertain | — |
| 5 | 1 Oct 2026 | 6 mg | Nothing noticeable at the time of writing | First 6 mg dose | 87 kg |
| 6 | 8 Oct 2026 | 5 mg | No meaningful side effects reported so far | Returned to 5 mg for practical reasons; Rapacan comes in strips of 10 tablets | 87 kg |
What I am Hoping to Learn
My main interests are general health and wellbeing, changes in blood markers, and whether the biological processes associated with rapamycin — particularly autophagy and cellular recycling — translate into anything noticeable or measurable over time.
I am interested in the broader idea of reducing accumulated cellular damage, including damaged proteins and cellular debris, and potentially supporting mitochondrial function and other processes involved in aging.
If I happen to lose some weight without deliberately changing my diet or exercise, that would also be interesting to observe, although I am not making weight loss a primary objective.
Most importantly, I want to see what actually happens rather than assume that I will experience a particular benefit.
What I am Tracking
For now, I plan to keep this fairly simple:
- Body weight
- Morning resting blood pressure
- Running pace/time
- Kettlebell performance
- Sleep duration and quality
- Subjective energy
- Bloodwork
I don't expect to notice dramatic changes. Maybe not noticing anything will be an outcome of this experience, and I think that is worth documenting too.
I'll update this thread periodically as I continue.
For now, that's where I am: Week 6, 5 mg/week, with no meaningful side effects noticed so far.