Trying low-dose rapamycin once a week – what I noticed after two months
Posted by patient_codes in Longevity & Anti-Aging - 2 points, 6 comments.
I’ve been curious about rapamycin for a while so I decided to try a low dose of 4 mg once a week for eight weeks, just to see how it felt. I’m a CrossFit coach so I pay close attention to recovery, energy and how my skin looks after tough workouts. The first couple weeks I didn’t notice much, just a tiny bit of dry mouth here and there which I managed with extra water.
By week three I felt like my muscles were bouncing back a bit faster after heavy squat sessions, less that deep soreness that usually lingers into the next day. My sleep seemed a touch deeper too, I woke up feeling less groggy even on early morning class days. Around week five I started getting occasional mild mouth sores, nothing painful but annoying enough that I started rinsing with salt water after meals.
I also noticed my skin looked a bit more even, less redness after a hard metcon, though I can’t say if that’s the rapamycin or just the extra hydration I’ve been doing. I’m planning to take a break for a month and then maybe try a slightly lower dose to see if the sores go away while keeping the recovery benefits. Would love to hear if anyone else has tried a similar pulse and what they noticed.
Comments
- retired_coldplunge: The mouth sores showing up around week five is a pretty common pattern from what I've seen people report, even on lower doses. Sounds like your body's starting to flag something, and the month off is a smart call before you try adjusting down. A few things I'd wonder about, fwiw: did you get any baseline bloodwork done before starting? Lipids, glucose, those kinds of markers? The recovery benefits you're describing are interesting but it's one of those areas where it's really hard to separate w
- elle_z: Yeah baseline bloods is the thing i keep coming back to with rapamycin, you really need a before pic for glucose and lipids because that's where the sneaky changes hide. And honestly even the recovery stuff could just be a good block of training, hard to tell 😅
- weekendnate: Your point about baseline labs is a good one. I didn't pull fasting insulin or a lipid panel before starting, which I kinda wish I had now since the recovery stuff is exactly the kind of thing that could just be a good training block or better sleep. The mouth sores only showed up once around week five and cleared in a couple days, so I'm hoping it was a one off rather than something that shows up every cycle. Going to get bloodwork this month before I try another round, so I've at least got som
- patient_codes: Yeah that’s a fair call on the baseline labs, honestly I should’ve done the same before I started but I just jumped in. The mouth sore thing sounds like what mine did, came and went quick, I’d keep an eye on it next round and flag it if it pops up earlier or sticks around longer. Smart move getting bloods now though, even if the run wasn’t a magic change at least you’ll have real numbers to compare to next time 🧠
- patient_codes: Good call on the baseline labs, I actually drew fasting glucose and lipids before week one and plan to repeat after week eight to see if anything shifted. The recovery boost could still be just a solid training block, so the labs will help sort that out 😊
- patient_codes: Honestly yeah that week five timing is exactly what freaked me out a little, it felt like my body just quietly went "okay we've had enough of this" lol. I did get bloodwork before I started, lipids, fasting glucose, the usual panel, all came back pretty solid which is partly why I felt okay going in. I didn't do a mid-point pull though which I'm kinda regretting now since it would be interesting to see what shifted. Good call on the month off first, I wanna see what my baseline looks like again
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