New users starting up on Rapamycin!

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#41

In response to “CreateSomething”…First let me say that I applaud your concern for your parents’ healthspan!

I wanted to give you some feedback on your dog’s dosage by providing a frame of reference. My 6-year old Doberman Jackson has DCM but at a very early stage; therefore, he’s still asymptomatic. Many of us in the Doberman community holter and echo our dogs from the age of 2 years since DCM is so prevalent. Coincidentally, at the same time he was diagnosed via an echo, I found a pre-clinical 6-month study, REPAIR (Rapamycin Treatment in Preclinical Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy), being conducted at Texas A&M, which BTW is also one of the several universities conducting the TRIAD study. The Rapamycin in this study will work hand in hand with the Pimobendan, Vetmedin, the standard medication prescribed for DCM in dogs. The Pimo helps the heart contract as the left ventricle becomes dilated, but they’re hoping (as in Dr. Green’s case) that the Rapamycin will help keep the heart muscle tissue in good condition, thereby prolonging the dog’s life beyond what Pimo can accomplish by itself.

Thankfully, Jackson met the strict criteria, and since the senior cardiologist conducting the study (Dr. Sonya Gordon) knew me from my previous participation in her 3-1/2 year double-blind study on Pimobendan for DCM back in 2006 or 2007 with Jackson’s great-great grandfather, we were accepted into this 24-dog pre-clinical study. I feel extreme lucky since a pre-clinical study allows all the participants to receive the study drug, and they will continue to receive it for the rest of their lives. So, I’m thrilled to say the least.

Jackson’s about to complete his 3rd month of weekly 9.6mg (4 –2.4mg tablets Rapamycin) and is doing wonderfully. That dose was based on his initial weight of 86 pounds. The only side effect has been a weight loss of 4 pounds. As cardiologists, they like the lighter weight, but as a conformation dog show person, I know that weight loss consists of muscle mass because 86 pounds is his ideal show weight. I can see he has lost muscle mass in his thighs and upper arms which, as I’m sure you know, is one of the side effects. IMHO, if your Golden-Doodle is in the 60-pound range, 6mg should be safe for her if you use the 0.11mg/pound that A&M appears to be using for Jackson.

I don’t know the TRIAD dosing schedule at all but can certainly ask when I take Jackson back for his 3rd monthly checkup on May 16.

That’s how I became interested in Rapamycin for myself. I’m close in age to your mother…I’ll be 70 in August. I also ordered from India but decided on Rapacan by Biomed. Yesterday was my 4th dose of 5mg which I’ve decided to take on a weekly basis, every Wednesday. Jackson’s study requires that he take the study dose on the same day and as close to the same time weekly, so I’m doing the same. I did not ease into the 5mg dose but have had no adverse effects whatsoever. At some point I may change my dosing pattern, but for now I’m going to follow in my dogs footsteps. :paw_prints::paw_prints::paw_prints:

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#42

Just an FYI since I just placed two orders of Rapacan 1mg by Biomed from two different India distributors whom I’ve used several times this past year. These prices were as of yesterday, April 28, 2023. Both shipments have expiration dates of 11/24 verified by photos sent. I expect delivery to take anywhere from 14-30 days.

Lifebelt Sales: 150 tablets (15 strips) of Rapacan 1 mg
Including all taxes and shipping to USA by Indian air post is $135.9

sales@lifebeltcorporation.com

Safe Overseas: 150 tablets (15 strips) Rapacan 1mg
$0.65/tablet = $97.50 plus shipping of approximately $35.00

safeoverseas22@gmail.com

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#43

May ask how you paid?

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#44

With both of these distributors, I’m able to use Wise which allows you to pay by debit card, credit card, or direct bank transfer (no way, not for me). I use my debit card after authorizing the out of country money transfer with my credit union. In the past, I’ve attempted to pay with my Visa credit card, but they immediately declined payment to India. Western Union does the same thing.

Additionally, using my debit card allows almost instantaneous receipt of funds by the distributor at which time you’ll receive a Wise transmittal receipt. I then forward the transmittal receipt to the distributor to let them know the funds were successfully transferred. Then they usually begin the shipment process within 24 hours. These two distributors have always sent me photos of the package label and the product before shipment and followup the next day with the tracking number so I can follow the shipment.

Wise is very easy to set up, but you have to be careful to choose your money transfer using USD but change the recipient’s payment to INR (Rupee). I always round up a few dollars to account for the fees.

It might be of interest to some on this thread to know that you can also order your Azithromycin as well. I also order Cephalexin and Metronidazole to have on hand for my dog.

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#45

dad: long 2-3 hour sessions at the gym 3-4 times a week.

I’m curious what he does for that long at the gym 3-4 times a week at his age. Impressive to be doing anything, of course. But keeping up the exercise might be at least as important (if not more) for his longevity than rapa.

At 73, he’s starting to really feel it, and he is afraid he may have to give up golf this summer

I’m 59 and have been using rapa for about 9 months (6mg once a week). I haven’t noticed any effect on my capability to exercise. I go to the gym 5x a week and do barbell work (squat, bench, dead). I’ve been doing that for many years and I’d definitely notice if there were any change, positive or negative, in my ability to lift. Possibly older users have a different experience. However, I’m not sure if you should expect rapa to improve or sustain your dad’s ability to play golf. Be sure to report back if it does, though!

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#46

My pops was unique through middle life—through my childhood his lunchbox was crammed with vegetables—broccoli & cauliflower were his goto. Raw, boring, abundant vegetables. Always ate oatmeal with blueberries every morning. Man of habits. He has never been overweight. How many people can stomach downing a pound of vegetables, uncooked, raw, for 30 years at lunch? However, he also drinks 2-10 Coors Light a week for most of his life. And smoked for 20 years, and has been on nicotine gum for the past 20 years.

So to specifically answer your question, his social life isn’t exactly bursting at the seams. So, his ‘job’ now (at 9 years in retirement) is to just exercise a few times a week.

  • Goes on the elliptical for 50 minutes, now targeting Zone 2 bpm (after reading Outlive)
  • Will go through several machines for weight lifting (after reading Outlive, he does a lot more weight training)
  • Then he goes in the sauna/steam room for 20 minutes or so
  • Then he mosely takes a shower, shaves…
  • Then goes plays pickleball at the gym for an hour

Summary of his life now: Golf, Exercise at gym, Pickleball, support his wife (my mom) in babysitting the 8 grandkids [bless their souls].

In other news, he stopped by this week and we input his 33 parameters into the Aging.ai calculator. The only 2 parameters of the 33 we didn’t have was Iron and something “Lactose…” I can’t remember. So, we asked ChatGPT average scores for a 73 year old man for those 2 parameters and went with it…

It returned an age of 43 years old. He was all smiles. However, his Kidney/Liver functions were the only lower’ish ones: makes sense with all the Coors Lights over the years.

So, how the hell can he be 43 years young regarding 31/33 blood parameters?

  • We screwed something up. There was a LOT of converting Units of Measurement. We used ChatGPT-4 to do all the converting. Wow, we would’ve been stuck in the dark 6 months ago before I started using ChatGPT on a daily basis. These conversions were all across the board–divide by 18, divide by 30, divide by 66–being a non-medical background, the conversions seemed very sporadic. Not my typical Imperial-to-Metric conversion I’m accustomed to in the Engineering world.
  • These ‘absolute age’ are B.S. with these age calculators
  • My dad is legitimately healthy A.F.

If anything, the Placebo effect of my dad seeing “43 years young” at 73 years old, should have an amazing impact on his overall energy, chronic pain, & healthspan! hah

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#47

In other news - our Zydus Sirolimus was delivered a few days ago. I know, I started this thread for only my parents, but after reading an embarrassingly high amount on this forum regarding Rapamycin, I can’t help but give it a try at 37 years old.

At my daughter’s fastpitch game yesterday, Saturday, in the sunshine (finally!), I decided to take 1mg and gave 1mg to my dog while at the game, around 11AM.
Usually, drugs impact me more than most people–I take half as much, and ‘feel’ it. Also, the placebo effect is definitely strong w/me.
Knowing that - I was much, much more talkative for the next 10 hours. Went to a birthday party, went on a run with a friend, went to friend’s house for dinner… It was like I wasn’t even myself, just, very happy, hyper, talkative, more center-of-attention playing with all the kids, more inclined to start conversations with new people. Rapa did something, or strong placebo.

Last night, I passed out at normal time, around 11PM, but was up through the night. It felt like a very, very poor sleep. I’m a little ‘out of it’ - like brain fog - this morning as I’m having my daily morning cup of joe.

Dog:
No big difference yet with the 7.5 year old golden doodle good boi.

My parents are planning to start this Monday, May 1st. Seemed like a great starting point. They’ll take it on Mondays, as I said before, ramping up 1mg/week until my mom is at 3-4mg every 2 weeks, and my dad at 4-6mg every 2 weeks.

Overall for my experience - very anecdotal, subjective, and strongly placebo just due to excitement around finally taking my first Rapa. But so far I loved my 1mg of Rapa, even if the sleep last night was off. Next Saturday I’ll take it earlier, instead of 11AM, shoot for 7-8AM.

I’m going to increase 1mg a week, to around 4mg, then dose every 2 weeks, similar to my parents. And I’ll try taking it every Saturday morning just in case it impacts my sleep the first night, so I can (hopefully) be well rested by Monday morning work. Plus - with Saturday being the biggest ‘social days’ - why not enjoy Saturday’s high social times instead of (sometimes, depending on mood) dreading it?

After reading a post on this forum, I called my parents and prepared them that they don’t have to be religious about the dosing if they’re feeling sick, since Rapa reduces the immune response. So, only take your 2week dose if you feel perfectly healthy

I’m also going to get into my Dr. office and get my blood taken for once–I don’t think I’ve ever done a full blood panel ever in my life.

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#48

And another Rapamycin enthusiast has been born.

Welcome to the pack.

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#49

I’ve started a different dosing route for my Rapamycin and would love to get some blood level data.
But I live in the UK and it’s difficult to find anyone to measure it, most companies deal via NHS only.
I’m considering measuring my own levels using a sirolimus ELISA kit has anyone tried anything similar ?
Only had a preliminary look-see but I’ve seen one with a 4ng/ml sensitivity.
P.S I have had some experience in the past using insulin ELISA kits at work.

#50

People have successfully used DocTap in London for their Blood/Sirolimus testing. See discussion here: How to get a Rapamycin (sirolimus) Blood Level Test - #83 by Sylwia_CC

#51

Thank you for that, i will definitely consider it, but the distance and cost probably rule it out.

#52

I wonder if there are private services like this in other cities around the UK?

#53

I’d be very interested to know if there is anything near to me.

Regarding my earlier post, my rationale for suggesting using an ELISA kit was
they only cost £200-250/plate,
you can run 96 samples (excluding standards),
turnaround time from adding sample to getting results is 2-3 hours (depending on incubation time),
if the plate comes in a series of strips you can run the plate over a number of days,
acquiring a micro plate reader means I could also do some of my own blood panel work like high-sensitivity CRP.
Plus I just love pushing technology to its limits :blush:, I used to measure insulin levels using ELISA with a 5ul blood sample.

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