Has anyone tracked their minimum heart rate and HRV overnight when taking Rapamycin? I notice that a couple of days after taking it my HR goes up and my HRV goes down. If I take a small dose, it returns to normal faster than if I take a larger dose. I have been watching my HR and HRV to decide when to take the next dose. Just wonder if anyone else is using their sleep tracker with overnight HR and HRV measurements to see if Rapamycin makes a difference.
Usually those findings indicate increased sympathetic nervous system activity which doesn’t really make sense in the context of rapamycin.
Not sure what to make of it , if anything.
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I monitor both and haven’t noticed any particular pattern like that.
All I can say is since starting on Rapa my overnight HR has gradually trended down and my HRV has very gradually trended up.
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Hi Texasgirl, could I ask what dose you take and whether you may be low in weight? My HR also increases the days after taking Rapa, certainly overnight. Up to the point that I will have a few days that I will wake up with a racing heart. (It reminds me of the days when I still suffered from a serious disease years ago, during which I would wake up with a HR of 120-145: very uncomfortable). But I only have this the first few days after dosing Rapa, then it will subside. In fact I found your post since I did a search in the forum since I was wondering if more people may be experiencing this.
Edit to add: do we know if/how Sirolimus affects blood pressure?
The increase in heart rate suggests an increase in sympathetic tone which, if anything, should go down with rapamycin.
It’s possible that some people have the reverse effects, like Ritalin is calming to those with ADHD.
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Thank you; very fascinating study. Albeit indeed difficult to understand how the increase in HR that Texasgirl mentions, and that I also experience, fits into this.
That is worrisome to read. I’m going to track my HR and blood pressure more consistently again in the morning. Usually I only have this for 2-3 days after dosing Rapa - may also have to do with the dose and my weight? When I still had Adrenal insufficiency years ago the high HR in the morning was a result of low ACTH/very low cortisol/very low blood pressure since I couldn’t take hydrocortisone overnight.This was the reason I was wondering if Sirolimus sometimes may also sometimes temporarily bring blood pressure down even further. (My BP generally is low already).
Here is a plot of HRV (I use ln rMSSD) Vs rapamycin dose
It appears my HRV is lower when I take my pills
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I take either 2 mg + grapefruit juice weekly or 4 mg + grapefruit juice bi weekly. However, if my heart rate/HRV have not returned to baseline, I wait another week. I wear an Oura ring. My change in HR is small, minimum resting heart rate at baseline is high 50s and HRV is 20. When I take RAPA it seems to consistently go up to minimum resting heart rate of mid 60s and HRV down to 12 or 14. Not a lot of change - just I was considering using these two metrics to determine when to take my next dosage. The only time I have had a really high HR a night was when I took 4 mg + GFJ and then went from sea level to 7200 ft. That combination really had an impact. I won’t take it again when I go to the mountains.
I definitely am not low weight.
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I see several other comments about RHR and HRV at this location
Side Effects of Rapamycin (part 2) - Rapamycin Longevity News
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My normal RHR is 55-60 (even though I do quite a bit of exercise), 9 hours after a high dose of Rapa it is 85-90. My BP currently is 96/53 (normally it is in the 80/50s).
I will measure again later today, but in my experience Rapa definitely affects both my RHR and BP, certainly at higher doses.
I haven’t been tracking my hrv for very long but the one time it went up after taking rapamycin (6mg with gfj), my resting heart rate I have been tracking for longer and that seems to be at its lowest after taking rapamycin and then gradually edges up after around 5 days.
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My RHR definitely goes up in the 24 hours after taking Rapa and after my last dose I woke in the middle of the night with palpitations and a rate over 100.
Has anyone else experienced this? (It’s first time this happened to me).
Otherwise, the trend in RHR has definitely been gradually downward since starting Rapa.
Noticed no difference at all with BP.
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What time did you take the rapamycin prior to going to bed? How many hours after the dose did you wake up with the heart palpitations. Had you had any alcohol that night (which in my experience is the most common cause of accelerated heart rate at night)
I’ve not seen anything like this, but the one time I took it in the evening I just wasn’t tired, and was fully awake until 5am that morning.
No heart rate increase at all.
Haven’t had any alcohol for over a week before this dose that I take at 7am, and the wake up time was around 2am the next morning.
I did have a similar palpitation wake-up around 2 years ago but long before I started Rapa.
This is only the second incident that I’ve ever had.
It might have just been a coincidence, but thought it worth reporting.
I’m on a fortnight schedule so I’ll see what happens in 12 days time.
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I absolutely notice an increase in RHR also the days after taking Rapa, which appears to correct itself after about three days. And if I take a higher dose, I will wake up with heart palpations/a racing heart, as I mentioned earlier in this thread. I only experience this on day 2-3 though usually, so only for 1 or 2 days. Since Rapadmin mentioned alcohol use as a potential cause: I never drink any alcohol.
On another note my RHR trend has not been downwards since starting Rapa.
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This suggests that some people are having an increased sympathetic response to rapamycin involving the neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine. This type of sinus tachycardia, while usually not serious, could mean an increased sensitivity to the drug and might signal that a decrease in dose is in order.
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My point in starting this thread was to see if anyone was observing any changes in RHR and HRV as a guide for dosage/frequency for Rapamycin. At least for me, I will experiment with the dosage/frequency based at least partially on these two measurements.
This was a great suggestion. It also seems in line with the headache I experience day 2-3 (and that I tend to wake up these same 1-2 nights feeling so overheated that I have to remove all blankets even while it is cold). Epinephrine vs. norepinephrine: What to know
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I track HRV every day and don’t take rapamycin sufficiently frequently as to see any trend effects, but my HRV both measured whilst sleeping with fitbit and awake with Elite/Polar is quite variable. Hence I am not sure I would be able to identify any changes from Rapamycin unless they were really large. I can see changes when I go to sleep drunk. Then my HRV (polar) goes down by about 10+ms. Normally it is around 60ms.
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I track my HR and HRV with an Oura Ring and HRV a second time (for comparison) with HRV4 Training app. I have not noticed any changes since starting Rapamycin.
It could be higher blood sugar that has increased from Rapamycin, if you eat something to trigger increased levels.
My HRV is always lower if I have any high glycemic foods at night. This has been true before I started Rapamycin and I think most people have that reaction