Rapamycin for someone completely new to it, where did you start?

Question

Right so im 39 and ive been reading about rapamycin for a few months now and it seems to be the one compound that keeps coming up when people talk seriously about longevity. The autophagy angle makes sense to me and the fact that its been studied for years as an actual drug is reassuring compared to a lot of other things out there. Problem is im a complete beginner. Ive never taken anything prescription for longevity before, no metformin, nothing. Just supplements and decent sleep. I keep seeing people mention dosing anywhere from 3mg to 6mg once a week and bloodwork is always mentioned but i dont really know what im looking at when results come back. For those of you who started rapamycin, how did you ease into it? Did you go through a clinic or get bloods done yourself first? And is there a sensible starting dose for someone whos never touched mTOR inhibitors before? I dont want to jump in blind but i also dont want to wait another year just reading about it. Any pointers from people further along would be brilliant.

patient_codes · Accepted Answer

Yeah the baseline bloodwork thing saved me too, I wish I'd done it sooner with other stuff honestly. The "start low and titrate" advice is solid, I jumped in a bit eager the first time and paid for it with a rough couple days. Splitting the dose is a good call I'd forgotten about 🧠

weekendnate · Answer

Congrats on doing the reading before jumping in, that's already half the battle. For me, bloodwork before anything else was the move. I wanted a baseline on fasting glucose, lipids, inflammatory markers, and a full metabolic panel so I had something to compare against later. A lot of places will run that without a script if cost is a concern. On dosing, the 3 to 6mg once weekly range is what gets thrown around in longevity circles, but the smarter play is to start low and titrate up so you can actually feel how your body responds. Some folks split the dose across the week to soften the GI side effects, which can be rough if you go in hot. I'd also suggest talking to someone who actually understands mTOR inhibitors if you can.

rachel_ketogen · Answer

Sounds smart getting that baseline first – I did the same, checked fasting glucose, lipids and CBC before touching anything. Started at 2mg once a week, felt fine, bumped to 4mg after four weeks and kept an eye on my HRV and sleep scores. No GI issues so far, but I split the dose Mon/Thu just in case. How’s your bloodwork looking after a month?

vik_trains · Answer

Yeah thanks thats really useful. I havent actually started yet, thats the thing, im trying to get all my ducks in a row before i pull the trigger so i dont mess about with something like this blind. The split dose idea is interesting, i hadnt thought about that. Is there a reason you went Mon/Thu instead of just one day a week? And when you say you kept an eye on HRV and sleep, what were you watching exactly, like a trend downwards would have made you stop?

vik_trains · Answer

Cheers for that. Rough couple of days what kind of stuff, just nausea or worse? And when you say split do you mean taking half monday half thursday or something like that? Also what did you actually get tested for in the bloodwork before starting, was it just the standard panel or were there specific markers?

vik_trains · Answer

Cheers for this, the baseline bloods idea makes a lot of sense and i didnt really think of it that way, i was more focused on what to take rather than what to measure first. I will look into getting fasting glucose, lipids and the metabolic panel done before i do anything else. What sort of inflammatory markers did you ask for exactly, was it just CRP or more than that? And when you say start low, do you mean like 1 or 2mg to begin with rather than going straight to 3mg? Trying to keep this sensible.

Rapamycin for someone completely new to it, where did you start?

Comments