Trusty rapa / metformin / acarbose / LDN provider + feedback on my stack

, , , ,
#1

Hi everyone, I’ve been lurking for a while but thought I’d share my Indian provider for my meds as a public service announcement—I’ve been getting the best price I’ve come across and consistently great service over multiple deliveries.

Here is the website and product catalog (you search for the product you have in mind — e.g. acarbose): Wholesale Trader of Pharmaceutical Tablets & Ed Medicine by Blue Crystal International, Nagpur

Some haggling on price is normal and can’t be avoided. But the provider is trustworthy and I am sure the products are genuine based on the classic GI symptoms from the acarbose (I’ve become such a flatulent windbag that I must question if longer life is worth it at such a price :laughing:) and rapa (mouth sore for me the first week, super energy for my husband and BIL).

Shipping time from India around two weeks and all packages are tracked.

One time the package was lost in customs and they Re shipped at no cost. All interaction via WhatsApp. I highly recommend!

Now as to my product / intervention stack:

I take rapa (3-4 mg a week + omega3 fish oil pills + GFJ), metformin (500mg 2x day, but not religiously, meaning some days I do some I forget / neglect), mega doses of Vit B12 whenever I take the metformin, acarbose 300mg a day over my carby meals, LDN (3.5mg a night but not religiously), low dose lithium, a bunch of supplements that are supposed to lower triglycerides (bitter melon, etc.)

Almost forgot—I take NAC (600mg) + Guanfancine to squash my post COVID brain fog as it was shown quite effective in a small study. I don’t intend to take it forever, at least not the guanfancine bit, although it seems like a great nootropic. Its side effect is lower blood pressure which too is a good thing long term but becoming this pill popper of a varied cocktail doesn’t sit well long term.

Then I use a red + near IR light panel very regularly because it feels great (also great powerful ones from AliExpress at a fraction of online retail prices, if you are looking let me know and I can share specs), hydrogen water generator but not as regularly as I’d like because distilling water is a pain in the ass, but I’m getting more regular with it, and red laser blood irradiation watch — again to counter any tendency for higher triglycerides. This I use pretty regularly because it’s easy and convenient.

My skin is looking amazing and I generally feel very good. I tend to eat well too and sneak in collagen powder, inulin, IP6, colostrum powder, ashwagandha, Ceylon cinnamon, non dutched cocoa etc. in my smoothies and baked goods.

Feedback on my stack?

Sometimes I feel like a crazy person at my stack of supplements and get grossed out at the handful of pills I’m about to swallow. I wonder if there’s drug interactions between them that are unknown because unstudied (officially there shouldn’t be, I’ve researched them, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence). Then again we ingest and subject ourselves to so much we don’t know the implications of…. I know this is a philosophical question in our context, but pros and cons and ways of thinking about the “kitchen sink” approach beyond the obvious ones?

So far metformin and acarbose are there for the diabetic side effects of rapamycin (and potentially synergistic action) but I’m not at all comfortable going down the statin route to address triglycerides and hope the supplements plus blood irradiation plus hydrogen water do the trick.

Blood work coming up in July.

Also I’ve read nearly all the heated exchanges Re: metformin but somehow I don’t think I’ve seen Vit B12 deficiency/ supplementation mentioned as a factor when the supposedly deleterious potential effects of metformin are discussed. Am I missing something? Shouldn’t they be mooted in theory if such supplementation is provided? In my research that seemed to be the magic bullet. Please share more wisdom on the subject. I’ve read also that metformin + acarbose is more effective than acarbose alone both for diabetes control and heart protection. I’m no great performance athlete to worry about minimal downward effect on performance. If anything regular HIT exercise is what I need to add to my stack and will be working on this year — if only it came in pill form! I know the picture is complicated but I have a gut feeling the underlying effect of metformin is either decidedly positive or negative, not a wash, and the picture is only muddled due to the study design flaws. Hope I’m betting on the right side but I’m not too worried either way as I’m relatively young (will turn 37 in May) and can reassess down the road.

Thoughts?

4 Likes
Rapamycin for a guy with 8% body fat
#2

Have you thought about ezetimibe? It is supposed to be quite effective in moderate dyslipidemia on its own and it is mostly not systemically absorbed…

3 Likes
#3

No I didn’t know about it, first time hearing it. Will do some research, thanks. But I am very leery of using drugs that don’t have a decades long history of clinical use so anything “new” is almost always off limits as a matter of principle. The average Joe must consider me a risk craving gal due to my self prescribed stack of medications that are controlled substances with black box warnings. But I’m actually pretty risk averse and only feel good about rapamycin, metformin, and acarbose because of their long track record.

3 Likes
#4

Ezetimibe has been around way longer than statins. I use it with no problems.
If you feel and look great, stick with your stack.
Trends in all the usual blood tests are the only thing you need to keep an eye on.

2 Likes
#5
2 Likes
#6

Unless you’re diabetic, stop the Metformin. If your apoB is high, start a statin. Stick with science, not hearsay.

2 Likes
#7

I tend to agree with Karl on this, if you’re healthy and taking acarbose, I don’t think the data supports taking metformin.

More generally I think simpler is better - we still don’t know the affects of the interactions between all these drugs and supplements. I recommend reviewing these earlier threads:

Here: Combine them all! (Longevity Drugs and Supplements)

Here: Can you share your Longevity / HealthSpan Regime?

4 Likes
#8

Thank you all. I will research everything you point out Re: metformin.

I’m not all in on Metformin which is why I think my unconscious mind makes me forget to take it half the time. It’s hedging its bets for me.

My general question is, of the reported counter indications for it, or possible deleterious working mechanisms, can they for the most part be explained via Vit B12 deficiency which Metformin induces? What I’ve read about it so far could nearly always be accounted for by that mechanism, leading me to wonder whether Vit B12 megadose supplementation is obviating these negatives. If you can think of something metformin does or is feared to do that doesn’t have likely Vit B12 deficiency as a working mechanism I’d be all ears.

And yes I’m very sensitive to the potential unknown unknowns of drug interactions when you keep adding to the cocktail. Still I’d rather get to the bottom of the metformin story in a definitive, reductionist way, if at all possible.

1 Like
#9

I was checking out your supplier, and one thing is not clear to me for the SiroBoon sirolimus, it says the price is “Rs 600 / stripe”. What is a “stripe”? They say the package size is 3x10 – is that one stripe?

#10

The Indian Pharma companies tend to package their product in sealed “stripes” of 6 to 10 tablets. These are little packages, either bubble packets or foil packets usually in groups of 2 tablets beside each other in a row, for a total of 6 to 10 tablets. These are the smallest individual packets of tablets you can buy (they don’t sell partial strips, so everything you purchase has to be a multiple of the number of tablets in the stripe. Zydus, for example, has 6 sirolimus tablets in a stripe. I’m not familiar with SiroBoon but it sounds like they come in stripes of 10 tablets.

2 Likes
#11

They mean a strip, not a stripe. Each strip has 10 tablets of 1 mg each. After a bit of negotiation, I have got $5.6 per strip (10 mg) of SiroBoon if I buy 25 strips or more at a time. With $50 flat fee shipping.

Acarbose there is much more expensive than Metformin: $1.2 for a strip of 10 tablets, 50 mg each.

Metformin is $0.5 per strip of 20 tablets, 500 mg per tablet.

Since I’d only need 1000 mg of Metformin daily but around 300 mg of Acarbose, you can see how the former is much more cost effective than the latter but I’ve got both and tend to use acarbose much more regularly still.

LDN is $1.5 per strip of 10 tablets, 3mg per tablet.

This is with the bulk quantity discount and again, $50 flat shipping. I’ve shopped it around and couldn’t get any prices this good. If someone else has I’d certainly like to know :slight_smile:

1 Like
#12

Thank you, that was really helpful (especially relating the pricing you were able to achieve).

#13

It took a ton of shopping around with the various vendors so I hope to save others some trouble if they’re leaning toward importing from abroad. There’s services that prescribe rapa and acarbose / metformin via an online pharmacy in the US but the costs are astronomical compared to this. And it’s pretty clear the products are legit. I know the seller is good after he resent me the shipment at no charge even after two botched attempts at first. Ever since I’ve ordered more and the process was super smooth, about 10 day delivery. My BIL ordered too with the same results. So far 4 shipments under my belt so I’m confident it’s no fluke.

2 Likes
#14

Beyond postprandial glucose-

“To our knowledge [the] first evidence that alteration of the gut microbiome plays a significant role in severe mitochondrial disease”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-023-00815-w