#21

Yes - but you’re not just getting the pills for that price; aren’t you also getting the virtual doctor visit/ prescription for rapamycin also, and I think I’ve heard that some blood tests may also be included. You have to compare apples to apples…

#22

Nope – there was never any virtual doctor visit.
I completed some online forms, paid with my credit card and was immediately accepted as a patient. However, I also requested to provide my own blood work (pre-taken a month earlier at my own expense) but I don’t know if they even reviewed it, because although I asked to upload it to my file, there was no response or acknowledgement until I repeatedly asked if they received it.
And since I get regular, extensive blood work for HRT anyway, GHS’s very limited marker tests aren’t too helpful to me except as an added check.
Not sure if you’ve ever used them yourself?
I don’t really feel medically supported as part of their fees and as far as I’m concerned, I’m only overpaying for the sirolimus.

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#23

A bunch of us have tried grapefruit and juice with our rapamycin.

Having myself gone down that route (two grapefruits, then one, then none), I found that it works, but I don’t do it any more because I need to know exactly how much rapa I’m injesting, and I don’t need to boost my rapa now that I can get it more cheaply from India.

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#24

Good to know :wink: I contacted Apple about the Biocon Sirolimus & will DM you when I hear back.
Thanks again.

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#25

I tried a grapefruit extract pill one time with only 1mg of rapa and it felt way too strong for me. Fwiw I didn’t do any blood work to check my levels. I’m a smaller female though at 5’1/95-100 pounds so it quite possibly could have amplified it too much in my case. I use Apple as well and have been very happy with them.

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#26

I ordered Rapapro from Profound products from India. A box of 50 tablets is $70.00. That’s about $1.40 per tablet, or $8.40 per week if you do 6 mg. In the USA, on goodrx.com they have sirolimus from CVS Pharmacy 30 1mg tablets for $35.83. That’s 1.19 per tablet, or $7.16 per week for a 6 mg dose. If you order 180 I mg tablets thee price is $110.17, or .61 cents per tablet. That’s $3.67 a week for a 6 mg dose! You print out the goodrx coupon and bring it to the pharmacy with your prescription. Hope this helps.

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#27

Thank you so much for the info, I appreciate it!!

#28

Always happy to help when I can! :wink:

#29

One other good option is getting it in the US is from Cost Plus Drugs. They are reputable and great service.

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#30

Hi @DLS12,

I’m Daniel, one of the founders of Healthspan. I sincerely apologize for the bad experience you had—it’s clear we fell short of providing the support and clarity you deserved.

Thank you for your candid feedback. It helps us identify areas for improvement. Our goal is to ultimately make the rapamycin protocol as accessible as possible, while also making sure we are administering the protocol safely and providing the patient with an idea if it is improving their healthspan through the lab analysis that’s part of the program. Balancing these objectives presents certain challenges, which we are actively working to address.

To provide some transparency, our cost per pill is roughly $1.80. Although compounded rapamycin is less expensive, we’ve opted not to prescribe it due to bioavailability concerns, which we’ve detailed in our analysis of the bioavailability of different forms of rapamycin. Despite being a generic, rapamycin’s price remains relatively high due to the small market size due to its indication as an immunosuppressant, but we’ve managed to reduce costs from $2.80 to lower rates by scaling our patient base.

Ultimately, the price of the protocol reflects the lab fees, what we pay our doctors and the actual cost of the medication. As we grow our goal is to continue to drive the prices down further to make the program even more accessible.

I understand your concerns with the standard lab tests included in our protocol. If you’d ever like to discuss what additional markers you’d like to see included in the standard lab testing in addition to the metabolic panel, CBC and inflammatory markers, I would really value that feedback.

In the meantime, we recently put together a panel that monitors a wide range of indicators of healthspan status—from metabolic and cardiovascular health to inflammation, hormonal balance, and cellular aging, including a special focus on iron and copper metabolism. If you are interested we would love to provide you the lab at no cost as a token of our appreciation. We’d love your feedback on the analysis and reporting that we developed, as it is something we are still refining. Here is some more information on the markers included in the panel: https://gethealthspan.com/labs/longevity-pro

Please feel free to reach out to me directly at daniel@gethealthspan.com with any other questions or concerns have, or if you’d like to be set up on the new Pro Panel.

Once again, I apologize for falling short in supporting you. As a small startup, we are constantly working to enhance our program and do better. We are deeply committed to this improvement process and sincerely value your feedback.

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#31

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your message. I’ll reach out to you at your email; I have some thoughts to share.

#32

I agree with RapAdmin. My husband uses GetHealthspan.com and I use a local doctor – two, actually, because I wanted to compare their protocols for monitoring, prescribing, etc. I’m glad I did, because they have different approaches and I wanted to be conservative.

So then we used GetHealthspan for my husband as another point of comparison. GetHealthspan’s prices include a medical assessment by a doctor and blood tests every 6-8 weeks for CRP, lipds, glucose, CBC, and CMP. They are also easy to communicate with and responsive.

When I see one of my doctors, I pay $250-$400 per visit, and I pay for my own blood tests. GetHealthspan doesn’t charge anything extra for medical review, monitoring, or blood tests. So I think it’s a decent program.

I think it’s good to start out conservative with lots of monitoring to ensure there are no complications. I did have some complications and had to stop for a while. My husband has had none.

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#33

Also I would never dream of getting a medication from another country, especially India, unless I was desperate. Local docs and programs like GetHealthspan prescribe FDA-approved generics.

#34

You might want to read the articles on here about India providers who’s medication has been lab tested by several members.

In addition, I’m not sure if you realize the FDA has never approved Rapamycin for anti-aging; the only FDA approval is for transplant patients. Much of the evidence here and online (including the effectiveness of medication from India providers) is anecdotal from users.

Cheers.

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#35

My insurance covers most of my labs (for hormone replacement) and I use a regular doctor for that who’s also covered. I haven’t asked her for Rapamycin and will wait to see what my labs show after 2 months of taking it.

May I ask what your side effects were that caused you to stop for awhile? Mine so far have been fatigue and headache, but nothing unbearable.

#36

I had inflammatory side effects, uncommon, but potentially serious. There’s a reason some doctors (including at GetHealthspan) monitor inflammatory markers like CRP.

At low inital doses of 2-4 mg/wk, I had itchy rashes, joint pains, and lip bumps. Later at doses of 4-6 mg/wk, I had a few exacerbations of what I think is an immune-mediated recurrent myocarditis, first triggered by the Covid vaccine. Ironically, the whole reason I was taking rapamycin was in the hope it could help with that condition.

So at various times I had crushing/squeezing chest pain, searing pain in my left shoulder, high CRP, carotid artery neck pain, heart palpitations, and a d-dimer level of 1,100 (indicating blood clot risk).

I didn’t initially connect the first two episodes to the rapamycin, though it was unusual that they happened when I did not recently have a virus, and within a day or a few hours of taking a 4 or 6 mg dose. I recovered within a couple of days, which is typical. Then I had the bright idea to try 1 mg every other day, thinking a more steady serum level might be helpful, but that triggered a less intense, chronic episode that lasted a solid 2.5 weeks before it dawned on me that the rapamycin was causing it. I began feeling better within a few days of stopping, but my symptoms didn’t go away completely for almost 2 weeks.

Inflammatory reactions and even allergies do happen with some people. Some have been successfully desensitized by starting at super low doses for long periods of time and slowly titrating up, but remaining at a lower-than-usual dose. I plan to try that next after a couple of months break.

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#37

I know, but I’m very cautious. I can’t rely on members of an internet news group to assure the safety of meds coming from India. And then there are articles like this one: https://wapo.st/3JySFUi

The FDA approval I was referring to is of the manufacturer’s generic product, itself, not the use of rapamycin for any particular condition.

I take it based on information from credible sources like Matt Kaeberlein, Peter Attia, and Joan Mannick, and some research that I’ve done. There are several good studies showing that rapamycin can rejuvenate the immune system and increase Tregs, not just anecdotal info.

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#38

This link doesn’t work.

#39

It looks like there was a period at the end of your link.

try this
https://gethealthspan.com/labs/longevity-pro

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#40

Hi @Daph thanks for pointing that out. Here is the correct link: https://gethealthspan.com/labs/longevity-pro

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