Hi I’m new here and ordered generic rapamycin that’s due to arrive in 9 days. I’m a 53 y/o female and have noticed rapid aging recently. I don’t have stellar longevity in my family history. I’ve spent the last 14 years gradually getting to this point through alternative treatments that put my CFS into remission. I mainly did it through my own research. My focus was on that for the longest time and I honestly thought if I restored my health that would be enough but noticing I was aging rapidly and listening to a podcast on rapamycin prompted me to shift gears. I’m 5’1 and 103 pounds and according to my biometric scale I’m equivalent to a 48 year old fwiw. The longevity advantage site puts my phenotypic age at 42. I still feel there is room for improvement so I’m excited to be here and start this journey. I’m also going to start my 14 y/o chihuahua on rapa as well.
Hi and welcome to the site. Thanks for introducing yourself. It sounds like you are doing really well already, which is a good place to start. I always say that rapamycin is an interesting and potentially very beneficial addition to our longevity protocol, but we really need to make sure our basics like exercise, nutrition, weight, etc. are in order (ideally before starting rapamycin).
I encourage you to do some pre-testing as outlined in this thread (it sounds like you may have already done this - but the more the better), before you start your rapamycin so you can see any measurable impact on your biology over time: A Friendly, Biological Age Reduction Competition?
What measures did you use for calculating your biological age - was it an epigenetic test, or one of the free phenotypic or Aging.ai calculations?
Thank you, it was a free online calculator that I entered my most recent blood work into to get the phenotypic age estimate.
I have spent quite a number of years hacking my diet, lifestyle etc but just didn’t realize that wasn’t enough. I always assumed wrongly that focusing on things like nutrition, hormones and body composition would naturally take care of longevity.
I’ll definitely get more blood work before starting the rapa. Thanks again!
My rapamycin came Monday and I started my 14-16 y/o chihuahua on it immediately. I only gave him .25 mg because he a small dog. My husband and I had been feeling like the end was rapidly drawing near for him lately based on our experiences with our many dogs over the years. He made a quite dramatic turnaround literally overnight. His coat looks shinier (not sure how that’s even possible), eyes brighter, he started looking more alert and engaged, returned to barking excitedly when we would get home from work and has a renewed interest in his toys.
Of course my husband noticed and said what does this do for humans? I explained what I had learned so far and he asked me to please order more because he wanted to try it himself. He’s 49 and like me has been feeling the aging process taking a toll over the last few years. So now there’s another my dog, my partner and me story unfolding…
I dosed my chihuahua Monday-Wednesday-Saturday for the first week and us humans have only had one dose. We will all start a weekly dosing schedule for ease of administration together on Monday. The initial changes in my dog have remained but not exceeded his initial dramatic response. I’m more than happy with this because he seems to be enjoying life again.
I had an interesting week myself. I’m less than half the size of my husband and noticed the effects more than him but we both had more energy and actually made it to the gym together a couple times before work. That hasn’t happened in years (literally). I’ve been lucky to get in one workout a week recently because of my demanding job (or so I thought) but I got in 4 between Tuesday and Saturday with ease after starting rapa. I forced myself to take Thursday as a rest day. I don’t quite know what to make of it but I’ll take it.
@mike666, yes I’ve been somewhat holistically oriented since 2009 despite (or probably due to) working in the medical field for 25 years. Conventional medicine could never help me overcome my issues so I was forced to find my own way which led me to alternative approaches.
Thanks for all of your helpful input!
I just weighed my dog and he’s 14.2 pounds. He has been at 16-17 pounds for the past couple of years. He doesn’t seem to be eating a lot less and still enjoys his food with gusto. 
FWIW
blsm, review Matt Kaeberlein work, he is the main published researcher on using rapamycin on dog’s.
If you have not watched/reviewed Attia podcast number 10, consider watching.
Dog’s treatment with rapamycin is different than human treatment for longevity,
Matt Kaeberlein is the “rapamycin master” for treatment in dog’s
@mike666, I think he might have lost edema/swelling? His collar was noticeably loose which is what led me to weigh him. It does seem too fast for actually weight loss.
@Joseph, Will do. I’ve read some of his research which helped me determine his dosage. Thank you so much for the suggestion and link.
He is a member of this forum.
@Joseph, very cool!
The first picture is my dog when he started going down hill in late October and the second picture is after his first dose.
@mike666, I tried holistic medicine after suffering for 10 years with chronic fatigue syndrome. I had a body fluid exposure while working in the hospital and was put on a 50 day course of levaquin. After that incident I never recovered and was practically disabled. The only thing conventional medicine could offer was psych meds which basically didn’t help but sedated me for years. After realizing I was being poisoned from psychiatric meds and developing tardive dyskinesia in my late 30’s I made radical changes and went to a functional practitioner (OD). That was the start of my long journey to regaining my life. I will definitely continue with everything I’ve incorporated up to this point because those things helped save my life. I’m just looking to halt the rapid aging and have a better quality of life since I previously lost over a decade of my relative youth to poor health. My great grandma and grandma both died at 39 so I’m doing everything I can to live a full life with whatever time I have left. My mom made it to 69 thanks to modern medicine but went down hill in her mid 30’s so I’m just trying to beat the family history I’ve been dealt as well.
You wrote…His coat looks shinier (not sure how that’s even possible),
His body is likely releasing the natural oils for skin and coat health.
Probably the oil glands are functioning at top level again… making him slicker and softer…more water repellent… like a duck.
He probably feels softer to the touch and smells better too.
There is another person writing about his14 year old weiner dog’s miraculous turn around after 6 doses. That dogs fur is softer too. And the dog smells better. Lol
I like reading about these improvements in functional declines. If it works in a dog… why not humans too.
Happy for you.
Welcome! I’m sorry to hear you had a negative experience with psych meds and tardive dyskinesia. If you don’t mind sharing - did your psych really go for FGAs or SGAs or was it some other psych meds?
ME/CFS is a tough one and nothing beyond exercise and sleep hygiene is generally recommended due to consistent failures in all kinds of clinical trials, but perhaps this may be worth looking into with your doc:
We do know the levels of expression of genes with roles in the HPA axis and the sympathetic nervous system are different for those with CFS. There are differences in how the body responds to hormones and other chemicals released in response to stressors.
Here are DNA sequence changes in three genes associated with brain function, stress reactions, and emotional responses in CFS - TPH, COMT, and NR3C1. If you are not concerned about cost - CLIA certified whole genome sequencing potentially might offer some clues or future treatments.
Especially if you have fibromyalgia as well you might want to consider WGS (GABRB3, TAAR1, and GBP1) - there is some variability and overlap where it may be worth getting a neurologic signature for future clinical trials since it is comorbid and relates to specific treatment response. It may also be useful since “brain aging” may be 3x faster in fibromyalgia.
Some tests may be correlated with certain cluster of symptoms - notably elevated basal serum tryptase levels - it might be worth looking into clinical trials that are addressing those so you can connect to the best research scientists out there. This is not something where going to psych would move the needle beyond maybe low-dose methylphenidate for certain symptom relief in some cases or if you have anxiety disorders/depression.
However, it’s most likely multiple factors with a number of different stressors that affect multiple immune factors with some heterogeneity among individuals - it’ll be difficult to predict how rapamycin would fare.
I’ve heard reports before on almost instant energy increases upon starting rapamycin. It’s very puzzling. Seems too immediate for something like mitochondrial function or cardiac ejection fraction to explain it.
Does it just act like a stimulant in some people, like caffeine? And if so, why?
@tongMD, I weaned off all psyche meds in 2009 after realizing I was developing tardive dyskinesia. I caught it early so it seemed to resolve just by stopping the meds. I’m not sure on the abbreviations you used but I was on many different antidepressants, benzos, and a couple atypical antipsychotics eventually as well over a 10 year period. I haven’t had an AIMS test in many years but rarely notice anything out of the ordinary. One nurse friend I asked in 2015 said couldn’t notice any movements with my eyes or mouth which was where I was effected. I was prescribed vyvanse for a while for the fatigue but once they figured out I had celiac disease and I went gluten free the fatigue gradually resolved. I’ve considered myself fully recovered from those issues since about 2013.
I’ll definitely look into those genetic markers. I’ve had a 23&me so perhaps I can use my raw data? Thank you for the valuable suggestions!
@rivasp12, yes that’s basically been my experience so far. It’s kind of crazy tbh and I definitely don’t know why it’s effected me so dramatically. I like it though that’s for sure! 
Yeah, my bad on the technical acronyms - I was referring to 1st and 2nd generation antipsychotics. I’m scratching my head why psych would prescribe that since none of the common comorbid psychiatric disorders (anxiety/depression) would generally warrant that. In some disorders, one would want to check whether mTOR inhibition may affect that - since in kidney transplant patients there is an increased incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders.
23andMe isn’t CLIA-certified whole genome sequencing (partly why it’s so low cost relatively) - they only give a small slice of all the possible SNPs, so it’s unlikely you would gain significant insight on CFS from 23andMe - if you’re able to find an excellent medical geneticist who can help with interpreting whether the evidence is significant or not (almost always these direct to consumer genetic tests and “reports” have little to no validity) that would be ideal, but some academic centers can take a whole year or more in terms of waiting lists
Just a guess - elevated cortisol similar to calorie restriction?
Well the psychiatrist I was going to had his practice shut down and a class action law suit filed against him so it was quite possibly malpractice. The meds really never seemed to help anything so they were probably not truly indicated in the first place. I realize most doctors aren’t like that and I probably just got connected with the wrong one. I highly doubt I could stay off those meds for 14 years if I truly ever had the type of mental illness they designed to treat. Those are just my reflections as a former patient though. I know very little about psychology and psychiatry in general.