Neal,
I think you’re pretty new here. So let me give you a little more information on our site.
We are a science-oriented site, with many doctors and scientists who participate. We try to have deeper discussions and be science-based so we like to see research studies and we discuss the relative merits of these studies carefully and from different perspectives. We also have a policy of not recommending a course of action to other people. Nobody here knows the other person’s situation, health, etc in any detail, so its not appropriate or reasonable for us to recommend any sort of medical course of action.
You can say what you would do in a given situation, but going beyond that could really be understood as “medical advice” and that is not something we support here.
Biology, and aging are both extremely complex topics that people spend a lifetime studying small aspects of and still are not experts. So we encourage humility when making statements and judgements, because there is always a reasonable chance you are wrong.
Let me give you an example.
You stated just now:
Was thinking that rapamycin is dose dependent so the more you take the better the overall results and the more severity of the conditions then higher amounts of rapamycin would apply!
Unfortunately that is definitely a wrong way to think about rapamycin - and its a mistake that could kill someone. Rapamycin is an immunomodulator drug; which means it can increase the strength of your immune system but it also means that it can decrease the strength of your immune system. At higher levels this drug was first approved for organ transplant (kidney, etc.) recipients, to weaken their immune system to that their body does not reject the new organ.
Rapamycin (and drugs that are almost identical to rapamycin and work the same way as rapamycin, called “rapalogs”, such as Everolimus) are also used in cancer treatments at high doses.
At high doses rapamycin and everolimus have been proven effective in some types of cancer treatments and tumors. The problem is that at these high doses you can also make the patient very susceptible to infections due to the greatly weakened immune system. With a greatly weakened immune system, your body has few defenses agains these infections.
So - with regard to rapamycin (and most drugs) “the more you take the better the overall results” is a really bad idea. Higher is not necessarily better with any drug, or chemical; most everything has a range that is helpful and a range that is unhelpful or harmful . I recommend you read this: Yes, the Dose Really Does Make the Poison (Skeptoid Blog)
Please Read: Deadly Example:
This doesn’t happen very often, but it has happened: A few years ago a young woman age 27 was in a clinical trial taking higher doses of everolimus when she was infected with sepsis and died two hours later, probably because she had a weakened immune system.
Rapamycin is not a risk-free drug, especially as you increase doses above the regular 5 to 8mg dosing once per week level that is typically used in longevity applications.
In the study below I believe they were taking 10mg per day, so a very high dose compared to longevity applications.
The most common Adverse Effects (AEs) of everolimus therapy were laboratory abnormalities (100% of patients) and infection complications (83 episodes in 15 patients). Infectious episodes of pharyngitis (67%), diarrhea (44%), stomatitis (39%), and bronchitis (39%) were the most common infections. They were mostly mild or moderate in severity (grade 1–2).
In two cases, life-threatening conditions related to mTOR inhibitor treatment were encountered. The first was classified as grade 4 pleuropneumonia and Streptococcus pneumoniae sepsis, whereas the second was classified as death related to AE (grade 5) Escherichia coli sepsis.
A 27-year-old woman with TSC was started on everolimus
treatment because of AML of the left kidney
(60 Å~ 48 Å~ 36mm in size). The other signs of TSC were
facial angiofibroma, hypomelanotic macules of the skin,
and shagreen patch. The diagnosis of TSC was made
12 years earlier when the patient underwent nephrectomy
because of a large tumor of the right kidney. The
patient received everolimus at a dose 10 mg/day and the
trough concentrations of the drug ranged from 4.08 to
5.08 ng/ml. After 3 months of everolimus therapy, a
reduction in AML was observed (40 Å~ 31 Å~ 20mm in
size). During treatment, hypercholesterolemia (309 mg/
dl) and transient leukopenia (3.2 Å~ 109/l) with neutropenia
(1.34 Å~ 109/l) was observed. She also reported
oligomenorrhea. After a gynecological consultation, a
functional ovarian cyst was identified and contraceptives
were prescribed. However, 2 weeks later, she was
admitted to the gynecological unit because of subabdominal
pain and an ovarian cyst (64 Å~ 53mm in seize)
on ultrasound examination. Torsion of the ovarian cyst
was suspected. On the day of admission, WBC was
9.2 Å~ 109/l, the absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was
6.6 Å~ 109/l, the hemoglobin level was 10.8 mg/dl, the
PLT count was − 275 Å~ 109/l, and the C-reactive protein
concentration was 8.0 mg/dl (normal < 5.0 mg/dl). The
patient was advised to continue intake of contraceptives
and everolimus. The next day, the general condition of
the patient aggravated. Her blood pressure was low (85-
/50mmHg). Her WBC and ANC decreased (WBC
−2.4 Å~ 109/l, ANC − 1.8 Å~ 109/l), whereas the hemoglobin
level (11.0 g/dl), the PLT count (185 Å~ 109/l), and coagulation
tests were normal. Computed tomography of the
abdomen and pelvis showed AML of the left kidney (size
as in the previous examination), an ovarian cyst measuring
65 Å~ 50 Å~ 40 mm, and fluid in the retroperitoneal
space with density of the blood. Further aggravation of
her general condition was observed. The patient was
transferred to the ICU and she died after 2 h with
symptoms of shock and multiorgan failure. Blood and
urine cultures collected when she was in the ICU were
positive for Escherichia coli.
Complications of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor anticancer treatment among patients with tuberous sclerosis complex are common and occasionally life-threatening
https://sci-hub.se/10.1097/CAD.0000000000000207
she has early stages of dementia (vascular). I’m quite a good bit younger than her so I’m doing it for the hopeful longevity results.