Rapamycin and Grapefruit Juice

See this thread Improve Bioavailability of Rapamycin (2)

Hello forceofnature you asked: I’m curious how your ApoB looks on TRT, do you have that tested?

From blood test one month ago. A few points high… but my doctor says it is nothing.

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Patrick, Do you mind revealing the names of these products that you take? Thanks.

Tongkat Ali, Turkesterone and Fedogia are double wood brands
DIM is SM Nutrition 200mg

Just a cautionary note. I have never seen any of the proponents of rapamycin recommend taking it in conjunction with grapefruit juice. Matt Kaeberlein and Dr. Green discouraged taking grapefruit juice. MB did not disagree, but at least acknowledged why some people did so (to save money

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3589309/bin/supp_120951_grape-bailey-1-at.pdf

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For me, it’s more for convenience as well as cost savings as it is a pain to arrange a courier to hand carry my Rapamycin from India to Hong Kong. If I have it shipped, customs will take it. Hand-carrying it is legal.

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When I said “cautionary“ what I meant to convey is that you are already taking an experimental drug. You really should think hard before compounding your risk by adding something like grapefruit juice that no medical doctor, even one who is approving of Rapamycin, would recommend. I would never do it, nor would I recommend it even if you are only taking rapamycin.

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Ran across this a couple of months ago: How to EASILY peel and segment grapefruit - YouTube

I never got as good with a knife as the woman in the video, but the procedure became pretty easy and efficient after a few tries. The segments went in a freezer bag and I’ve been thawing them as needed. They taste like fresh grapefruit.

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Just got my first mouth sores after taking 2mg of Rapamune with one whole GF (400g fruit ).

I went to 10mg of Rapamune before and never got one till taking GF.

Same feeling with 10mg of Rapamune made me feel lethargic and out of energy for a couple of days.

Last thing, what about that MDs statement “The ones who takes Rapamycin with GF juice are damaging their livers or renal system” .

What do you guys think about it and are there any evidence that it indeed damages Kidneys and Liver?

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This could be potentially equivalent of 14mg of rapamycin if you consider @Agetron lab results.

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Exactly. I get a 6-7 increase on one fresh squeezed Red Grapefruit about 5 fluid ounces of juice when taken with rapamycin/Rapamune.

In two weeks … before I do my blood panel… I will take 2mg rapamycin/Rapamune with the juice of one fresh Red Grapefruit . My labcorp sirolimus results should be about 12 ng/mL .

The increase of the potential of rapamycin/Rapamune with GFJ is pretty high for me… not sure why. But… I am in great shape… no visceral fat… healtht gut, and veined out… all the time.

Sasa wrote: What do you guys think about it and are there any evidence that it indeed damages Kidneys and Liver?

The GFJ works in the gut… to my knowledge it has no affect on the kidneys or liver… except in the final dose if it is really high.

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Agetron, what is final dose and what do you define as “really high”?

Did you do any liver enzimes and kidney filtration rate after taking GF, any changes?

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Hello Sasa… for about 7 months (mid-April 2022 to mid-November 2022) my normal rapamycin high was 38.1 ng/mL That was taking 6mg rapamycin and 5 fluid ounces of Red Grapefruit juice.

In November 2022 … my last blood test…my kidneys eGFR was 70.2. Normal is above 60. So no kidney issues at those doses using GFJ.

Phosphatase was also normal… Liver function.

Acid phosphatase: An enzyme that acts to liberate phosphate under acidic conditions and is made in the liver, spleen, bone marrow, and prostate gland. Abnormally high serum levels of acid phosphatase may indicate infection, injury, or cancer of the prostate .

After this last blood panel… starting in December 2022…I changed to 2mg and GFJ. Will do a new blood panel in a few weeks. I do one about every 4- months.

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Thanks for sharing that data mate!

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With the amount of exercise you do it might be worth testing for Cystatin C. It may be that your eGFR comes out as higher.

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Hmmm… higher is even better… :wink:.
Will check it out…

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I think the risk here is that if you are taking another medication (in addition to rapamycin, such as some statins) you could easily overdose on those medications and cause kidney or liver damage. But - I recommend you do your research on this if you are concerned about it.

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Apart from the fact that creatinine metabolises in blood samples post draw it is also increased by greater muscle mass.

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I understand part about multiple medication usage.

But for someone that uses only Rapa, are there any evidence that GF + Rapa only does some damage to Kidney or Liver?

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Since I’ve not posted much, I thought I would finally share my experience with rapa. I am a 49 year old male and I’m in good health overall. I can run a 7 minute mile (2 miles), and eat a balanced diet. BMI is 21.9. I would say my biggest health issues are from stress and anxiety. Sleep is good most of the time, but when it’s not good the insomnia causes me anxiety.

Did my 4th weekly dose of 2mg Rapa with grapefruit yesterday morning. Some n=1 observations.

Week 1 - I took my first dose in the morning. I felt a little subtle shift and then a few hours later felt tired but not bad. Evening time came and and I didn’t feel tired. I went through my usual getting ready for bed routine and got in bed. Mild chest tightness on left side. Nothing painful by definitely not something I experienced at all since I got covid in September 2020 (I had chest tightness for about a month after that). Took 2 hours to fall asleep (normally takes 10 minutes). I chalked it up to anxiety around taking Rapa for the first time.

The next day I expected to be tired only having slept 5 hours, but I was not tired at all, no headache like I would usually have. I ended up doing a bunch of chainsaw, tree maintenance, and burning. That night took longer to fall asleep, but slept more. That week was interesting. Felt a bit more energetic and focused than usual.

Week 2 and 3 - not much to report, I can say that after these two doses I had no real side effects, I just slept less the night of and after the dosing, but didn’t seem worse for wear.

Week 4 - As usual 2mg of Rapa and a whole red grapefruit at the same time. Felt good all day, tons of energy, but by the evening I was tired. I had quite a lot of exercise, and rapa on dosing day can make me feel a bit zombie-like at the end of the day. Bedtime routine, stretching and breathing, reading a book in low light, but noticing some chest tightness, not pain, just like some dull numbness on my left side. I got up and moved around and didn’t notice it, but when I was on my back lying down in bed it kept coming back and it cause me some level of anxiety. I got up several times and sat and did some breathing, but each time I’d lie down that chest weirdness was back. I finally fell asleep. Woke up 5.5 hours later and was surprised that i had slept such a long stretch under the circumstances. The chest tightness still there, but it was time to get up, and so I did. I went for a walk with my old girl (12 year old Dobie) and still feeling it a bit. 2 mile run at a good pace and it seems less pronounced now.

My conclusion: 2mg of rapa with grapefruit once a week is not to be trifled with. Overall I felt a great energy boost, but with the downside of insomnia (and my anxiety around that) and some chest tightness. No other side effects at all. However, I do think I will do washout period of at least a couple of weeks and move to a dosage without grapefruit. Honestly, my experience last night kind of freaked me out knowing I had no idea about the levels of Rapa in my blood doing the grapefruit. If I had to stretch a dose I’d do 1mg with grapefruit, but not 2mg. 2mg with grapefruit once weekly was too much for me.

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