Why not stay at a euphoric dosage?
In a word, diarrhea. I’ve had enough of that with norovirus
I can understand that. I have to live with diarrhea from the Metformin I take, so if anything else causes diarrhea, including Rapa, I am oblivious to it. I have learned to accept and embrace being a very “regular” guy.
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Dosing:
I’m switching up the dosing protocol a bit, as I think high acute doses of 5mg + piperine + grapefruit cause me some loose stools. Instead I’m trying 2x weekly:
Monday – 3mg + 20mg piperine + 1 grapefruit
Thursday – 2mg + 20mg piperine + 1 grapefruit
At this dose, I still feel an energy boost and anti-inflammatory effects, but have no adverse effects on stools.
Bloodwork:
I had my bloodwork done again and my cholesterol // apo-B numbers improved significantly:
Apo-B: 130 → 90
LCL-C: 170 → 115
This is after ~12 weeks of being on rapamycin. It seems rapa is not having adverse effects on my lipids and dietary intervention is helping. I have been adding lots of fiber to my diet and reducing my SFA intake.
All my other bloodwork is normal. My fasting blood glucose did rise just slightly from like 80-85, but not sure how significant that is. Insulin is low (~3). My hs-CRP decreased quite a bit.
How I feel // Subjective:
I honestly can’t remember feeling this good in quite some time. My sleep and energy are really quite astounding. I feel like the benefits of this drug accumulate over time, and aren’t necessarily linear.
More energy, clearer head, better sleep, and better recovery.
There’s also been 2 head colds that have gone through my household and I’ve caught neither this time. My wife caught one of them and she generally has a pretty good immune system.
So it doesn’t appear that rapa is suppressing my immune system in a way that makes me more susceptible to head colds.
Supplements // Other
I’m not perfect about keeping things consistent. I wish I were, but sometimes I view supplements as a “toolkit” and so I take what I need at that time. For example, I started ashwagandha again recently as having a sick household can be very stressful. I also added lithium orotate (5mg) for similar stress management reasons. I added pycnogenol after reading about potential hearth health benefits, and because I feel it subjectively helps my skin.
Vitamin D3/K2 – 5000iu // 90mcg
Ashwagandha (KSM-66) – 600mg as needed (currently been about 2 weeks on)
Lithium Orotate (5mg, daily)
Pycnogenol (200mg, daily)
Astaxanthin (12mg, daily)
Sacchromyces Boullardi – ironically this is a yeast and rapa is an antifungal, but it seems to really help my stools.
Melatonin – 1mg as needed for sleep
I haven’t been taking psyllium as much as I prefer just adding fiber to my diet.
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Great to hear - sounds like thing are working out for you!
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Dosing:
I experimented with 3mg rapa + 30mg piperine + 1-2 grapefruits twice per week, but found myself a little run down at times. There’s this fatigue that comes on the day of rapa dosing for me. It’s odd because it’s combined with a sort of energy floor. But in any case I found twice a week dosing to be a bit too much.
So now I’m back to 5mg rapa + 30mg piperine + 1-2 grapefruits just once per week. I plan to stay here for a while. I might eventually try longer breaks to give both methods a shot.
How I feel // Subjective
I think I’m adapting somewhat to the drug itself. I do notice changes in fatigue//energy the day of dosing, but there’s no euphoria, diarrhea, or anything like that. I still noticing an increased tendency towards muscle cramps, I’d say that’s my largest side effect. I need more time to warm up at the gym now.
Overall I’m still feeling pretty great, but I’m not quite as “high on rapa” as I was on the last post. I do seem to have more energy now and my sleep continues to be solid. But I also have bad days where I’m tired like anyone else. I continue to dodge about every cold now (3 have circulated through my house in the last month or two).
Workouts have gone fairly well, although I think 2x//week dosing put a damper on them for a bit. I prefer working out before taking rapa on dosing days, as the dose itself seems to lower my motivation to train hard. Since starting rapa, I’ve gained muscle and lost fat, but it’s been a slow process. It definitely hasn’t caused any noticable issues with gaining muscle, if anything that part has been easier than the fat loss.
Supplements // Other
Again I’m not perfect about keeping this consistent but here goes:
Vitamin D3/K2 – 5000iu // 90mcg
Lithium Orotate (5mg, daily)
Pycnogenol (200mg, daily)
Astaxanthin (12mg, daily)
Sacchromyces Boullardi (500mg)
Melatonin (1-5mg as needed)
Creatine (5g)
Ashwagandha (as needed for stress)
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Just a quick update today:
Yesterday I took 5mg rapa + 40mg piperine + 2 large grapefruits. I also ate 2 cans of sardines for the added fat. So I went all out on the absorption.
yesterday, and into this morning I have this lingering malaise. Despite that, my sleep was a bit shallow.
I would say the general trend I have is for acute fatigue upon dosing, which later turns into energy. This higher dose has caused the fatigue to last longer.
It’s interesting how the side effects haven’t been that consistent over time. I no longer have any euphoria from dosing. That could be related to starting lithium orotate I suppose.
My workout this morning is a bit of a slog now, but pushing through.
I’ve been trying to gain a bit of muscle mass lately with slightly increased calories, Creatine, and more lifting. Rapa has definitely not hurt my progress.
Subjectively, rapa feels the most similar to fasting out of the interventions I’ve tried (although still quite unique).
One other minor note — I’ve started 1-2g of glycine at night about a week ago. I don’t notice too much from it.
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Quick update;
Piperine is almost certainly effective. Ive tried a few doses without it and I almost feel nothing. Ie, 5mg + GFJ is mild in comparison.
Another update;
Gaining weight is harder on rapa. I’m usually really good at it. I am getting stronger but fat gain is almost certainly inhibited compared to pre-rapa.
However, I don’t think it aids in weight loss itself. Perhaps what others have noticed — it makes it easier to maintain a lower “set point”. Said another way, it seems to minimize fat gain while bulking, but doesn’t aid in fat loss while cutting.
Still feeling good. Will have updated labs in another month or so.
Cheers,
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June 2023 update:
Bloodwork:
My labs continue to look good. My apo-B has dropped further to around 80, not ideal but pretty decent considering my family history of high cholesterol. This has all been diet induced (more fiber, less SFA). Rapa does not appear to be adversely influencing my lipids, although it is unclear. Perhaps they would be even better without it.
Insulin sensitivity remains extremely good (low insulin, low normal glucose, low HBA1C.
I continue to lose fat and gain muscle. Rapa has certainly not hurt in this regard. My body fat is now around 15% and I have gained muscle in the last 6 months.
Supplementation:
Added:Melatonin 100mg, 3-4 days per week
Dropped: sacchryomyces boullardi
Dropped: Pycnogenol
Experimenting with: Berberine
Rapa dosing:
5mg // week with 1 grapefruit // 20mg piperine
Subjective:
I feel great. I actually think about my health less now, as all systems just seem to work. I’ve been working out a lot, and I think rapa indirectly improves body composition by healing my joints so I train harder.
The only downside is a tendency towards muscle cramps (I need to warmup more now), and a bit of fatigue upon dosing (which later turns into energy).
I’ve found 20mg piperine + 1 grapefruit to be a nice sweet spot, I’ve tried as high as 40mg piperine and 2 grapefruits and it was a bit too much.
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Positive longer term effects:
— better energy levels, particularly 1-2 days after
— elimination of joint pain that had been around for a while. I’m able to train more now.
— more stamina // better recovery
Negative longer term effects:
— tendency to get muscle cramps
— a bit of a stressful feeling the day of (I feel very task oriented and I have trouble to wind down a bit).
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