Hello, I’m a 37-year-old woman, too old to be allowed to freeze my eggs in my country. I’ve heard about rapamycin and recently started taking it.
In January, my AMH was 2.88 and my FSH was 11.
At the time, my lifestyle wasn’t optimized (I was eating a lot of sweets).
Since then, I’ve reduced my sugar intake.
I’ve always exercised a lot.
I now pay more attention to my sleep than I used to.
I started with 1 mg the first week, 3 mg the second week, and I’ve been taking 5 mg per week for the past 4 weeks.
I feel a big difference in my energy and mental clarity — I’m thrilled.
Given my goal (fertility preservation), would it be helpful to increase the dosage?
I would love to connect with other women my age who are taking this treatment, so we can share our experiences and thoughts on the benefits of this compound.
Hi! I’m waiting for my first shipment of pills, but I was also hoping to connect with other women who are starting out with Rapamycin. In my case I’m more interested in preventing/delaying menopause than in fertility (I don’t have kids, but on purpose), but there’s so much information that it’s been like drinking through a fire hose so I thought it might be helpful to have some other people to process with!
I was in a clinical trial that tested I believe 3mg once a week, so I was going to start there and perhaps progress to 6mg.
Hi @laloutre25 and @LilyD I’m a PhD scientist and planning on starting on rapamycin 5mg/week to improve fertility outcomes. The VIBRANT trial that evaluated rapamycin for ovarian aging that Lily was on used the 5mg/week dose. That’s what I plan on taking for 3 months, followed by a 4 week “washout” before trying IUI.
I’ve spent dozens of hours researching rapamycin and fertility and I agree with you @LilyD that there is so much to process. I almost joined the VIBRANT trial, but was worried about the timeline (they asked me to stop trying to conceive for 1y after the study). Happy to share our experiences and connect.
Hi, thank you for reaching out! I just took my first dose (3 mg + fatty meal, so perhaps effective dose of 4.5 mg?) last week and will take a second one tomorrow. I’m going to try grapefruit an hour ahead and stick with the 3 mg to see if there are any side effects, but so far nothing to report. Have you already begun? Wondering if you plan to use any of the methods people have talked about here to increase bioavailability- i.e., taking pills with a high-fat meal, using GFJ.
@LilyD my prescription was just shipped so I haven’t started taking it yet. I don’t plan to take it with grapefruit juice because I reviewed the studies that evaluated it, and they raised some concerns for me:
-Unpredictability: The effect varies by person and juice batch.
-Risk of overdose/toxicity: With weekly dosing, a small change in metabolism can lead to unexpectedly high peak levels.
-Difficult to titrate: You lose precision in dosing unless you’re frequently checking blood levels.
Also, the trials that evaluated rapamycin in a fertility context and showed benefit did not use grapefruit juice. I hope that helps!
Thank you for this perspective. It makes 100% sense. I guess I’m willing to tolerate a little more unpredictability, maybe because I’m not specifically hoping for a fertility benefit. I’ll be very interested in hearing more about how things go for you, thank you for sharing your reasoning and please keep me/us posted!
Awesome! Where are you at now? I did 12 weeks at 5mg (it lengthened my cycles), and within those 12 weeks I tried 4 weeks at 6mg… and I started growing a mustache! So I stopped.
Have you started yet? Where are you at now? I just finished my 3-month trial — it lengthened my cycles, and when I increased to 6mg, I started growing a mustache . I’m not sure whether I should stop for good or do occasional cycles.
As for the recommendation to avoid conceiving for 1 year after stopping… I had no idea!!
Hello, thanks for the update. I am still waiting to receive my prescription, I expect it should arrive soon. It’s interesting that your cycles lengthened after 3 months, did you re-test your AMH and FSH yet? The growing mustache part is not ideal! Sorry to hear that. I think the 1 year recommendation is overly cautious since the VIBRANT trial did not have pregnancy outcomes. I have seen another IVF trial with rapamycin that only stopped treatment for 4 weeks before the next cycle. I will send you an update once I start. I’m going in for my day 3 labs soon.
FWIW:
In addition to rapamycin, which theoretically should extend time before menopause,
there is some limited evidence that melatonin supplementation may delay menopause.
There is also some evidence that melatonin may help prevent breast cancer.
Two of my daughters, ages 43 & 45, have been taking high-dose melatonin because their mother died from breast cancer.
Neither one of them is showing any signs of menopause.
They both claim it significantly reduces the side effects of menstrual periods.
Bulk Supplements wasn’t tested in their report but I saw zero mention of contamination and heavy metals so it was just a question of best bang for the buck. In that regard can’t go wrong with Bulk Supplements.
Thank you for your message and your encouragement! According to ChatGPT, the mustache growth is linked to rapamycin, which is why I shouldn’t go over 5 mg. I haven’t retested yet because I’m aiming to do it only twice a year — I’ll do it again in July.
I’m reassured by what you said about IVF. Do you happen to have the link to the study where they only paused treatment for 4 weeks?
Thank you so much for this information! I actually take melatonin almost continuously because I’m a chronic insomniac — so I have to say, I really like the sound of this!
. I’m not sure whether I should stop for good or do occasional cycles.