What are your RDW values/what is the physiological meaning of them?

And does having low RBC affect RDW?

My levels just increased this year (to 13.2%), for reasons I don’t fully understand… (even though I recently went high-fat/low-carb AND high-fat mostly from olives/olive oil/nut milks)

RDW was 12.3 on 02/10/2020 and 11.7 on 11/11/2020 and 12.0 in 2014…

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My RBC fluctuated from 4.59 to 5.14 during the last 12 mo (measured monthly). RDW for the same period stayed in the range of 13.1 - 13.9. All within norm. Other markers (CBD with differential) are within norm as well, besides MCHC which is lower than normal for the whole 12 months (a little lower than 32). Not sure if it’s Rapa to blame.

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Here is @ConquerAging latest on RDW which is the larger driver of biological age in the Levine model.

11-4-12.6 is the target for lowest ACM

I’m at 12.9… How to improve?

  1. Higher omega 3 in food (I’ll up my supplementation)
  2. Lower caloric intake (hmmm…I’m still thinking)
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Looking at the list he has there, Glucose is the number 2. Mine is all over the place. I check most mornings. With my blood work I get one chance every 3 months and my last one was 97. I think they should use hemoglobin A1c, wouldn’t that be more fair?

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I think the idea is to use fasting glucose.

The problem with the list of variables is that some values don’t change that much. RDW is not that variable itself so to have any effect it has to be multipled by a larger number.

CRP varies by a lot, but for that reason they use the natural logarithm of the number.

ALP probably varies by the most apart from chronological age (and CRP)

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Yeah, I’m talking fasting glucose. First thing in the morning, my glucose can be from 75 to 105. It’s all over the place. Higher around the day I take Rapa, but it really varies.

It may be better to take it a bit after waking. All sorts of things can happen during sleep.

Here are what values changed for me from before starting Rapamycin(sirolimus) 8mg/week to being on Rapamycin for 7 weeks.

My RDW value went from 14%(Before starting Rapamycin) to 11.8%(After being on Rapamycin)

WBC went from 7.2 to 5.2

Neutrophils(Absolute) 3.7 to 3.0

Lymphs(Absolute) 2.6 to 1.5

A1c unchanged 5.4 to 5.4
(im taking Metformin 500mg 2x daily morning and late evening when glucose levels are supposed to be ar their highest)

Ive never had my C - Reactive Protein (cardiac) ever tested before, but after being on the Rapamycin 7 weeks it was reading 0.85 mg/mL

*(Labcorp’s chart values say a value < 1.00 mg/mL indicates a Low Risk for future Cardiovascular Event)(1.00 - 3.00 mg/mL is said to show Average risk)( >3.00 mg/mL is High cardiovascular event risk)

Hopefully my C - Reactive Protein value will continue to drop the longer I am on Rapamycin.

The most amazing things I’ve seen while on Rapamycin is a drug induced red itchy rash around my lower abdomen area that hung around for over a month and didnt want to go away, suddenly started to vanish after my first week on Rapamycin. By week 2 the rash and inflammation/redness/itching was completely gone! The second thing I’ve felt a moderate improvement in is heart function(mine was normal with no diseases before Rapamycin, but after being on Rapamycin for a 3+ weeks, I noticed being able to do more intense cardio/aerobic activity, like going up flights of stairs without getting nearly as winded as before…im always carrying a heavy backpack up a few flights of stairs to get to work during the week.

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