#43

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Here are some recent labs fwiw. I’m following up with my doctor this afternoon. It seems like there are some definite areas for improvement.

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#44

I’m going to give a brief update since I will be off line for the next 49 days. I’ll be back though.
I’ve worked up to 4.5mg as of my last dose on Thursday and I’m tolerating it well. I’ll probably stay at that dose since my weight is around 46 kg.

I don’t have much to report yet having only been on rapamycin since 1/9/23. My oral health seems improved (although it didn’t seem horrible tbh) and I had an excellent dentist check up last week. It was my first one in 10 years so I was expecting bad news but everything looked good besides some coffee stains.

My husband and I both feel subtly better although it could be placebo at this early stage. I’m sure I’ll have more to report by the time I’m back!

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#45

I’m trying to stay offline until mid April but wanted to mention that in the last couple of weeks 4 people I have interacted with through work have thought I was in my 40’s. I know it’s not much but in light of the fact that I’ll be 54 this year and have only been on rapamycin 2 months I’m pretty pleased.

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#46

As you can see I didn’t quite make my goal of staying offline until mid April so I figured I’d give a small update. :slight_smile:
The only somewhat scientific data I have is from my Fitbit. It seems my resting HR might be trending down a bit. It was high 70’s in mid December (the month before starting rapa) and is now closer to the low 70’s fwiw. My heart rate variability might also be improving slightly. I’ll keep an eye on it though. I had one really poor night recently where I accidentally ingested gluten which really messes me up as a celiac. My numbers aren’t stellar but I’m happy to see some slight improvements at the 3 month mark nonetheless. My weight is up 6 pounds (leveled off in the last month) but I’m not too freaked out about it-yet. Another female member reported this as well and her weight started going back down in month 4 so I guess it could be related to female hormonal changes but that’s pure speculation on my part. My doctor is happy since he wanted me to gain a little for some reason. It does seem I’ve definitely put on some muscle though mainly in my legs. My clothes fit the same. I’ll keep this monitored too. My bmi is currently 20.8.
I switched my chihuahua to 1 whole pill per week after learning that he probably wasn’t getting the full benefits when I was cutting the pills. He’s retained his initial improvements although they are certainly anecdotal and possibly “wishful thinking.” He walks on all of his legs now and can walk up steps again so that is a definite observable difference. We were mainly carrying him around and he was holding up his right hind leg all the time due to a CCL tear when we started him on rapamycin. The vet never called us back about an ortho referral for him so I guess it’s time to find a new vet. I’m grateful the rapamycin arrived in time to help him. Our doxie is about to turn 3 at the end of the month so I’ve ordered a doggie fitness tracker to get some data before we start her on rapa.
My husband worked up to 8mg/weekly (he’s a big guy) but I think we are going to lower it because he’s had his second bout of bronchitis since starting. He is doing his internship in a long term care facility and so that puts him at higher risk. He skipped last weeks dose. He loves it though but I don’t have any hard data for him. He’s generally a skeptic on all things health related besides exercise so the fact that he feels a benefit and actually takes it means a lot. I’m also grateful to have my spouse on board with me. Here are the comparison screenshots from my Fitbit.

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#47

My chihuahua Eddie is back to jumping up on the couch again after 4 months on rapamycin. He’s also walking up stairs. I’m really pleased with his progress. He’s 14 pounds and on 1mg per week. When we started him on it we had to lift him up on the couch and carry him up the stairs.

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#48

I think we are seeing enough anecdotal evidence to say Rapamycin is definitely beneficial for dogs. Now, is it good for humans with our much longer lifespans? Probably.

But there are always doubts…

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#49

I had my 4 month blood work done a little late at about 4 months and 3 weeks due to starting back at my old job and having some repeated gluten exposures. It was completely my fault for not being vigilant enough and eating their free lunch! I wanted to give my body a little bit of time to resolve any lingering inflammation though before testing.
The main areas of change compared to February were a decrease in fasting glucose from 89 to 80, decrease in WBC from 7.06 to 4.4, decrease in total cholesterol from 246 to 222, decrease in LDL from 143 to 135. In spite of how abysmal my cholesterol is I’m glad it’s moving in a better direction. I’m still contemplating my next steps. My doctor thinks I’m fine because of my low triglycerides of 71 and high HDL of 74 but I’m unsure and continuing to explore possibly treating this issue.
I calculated my Homa-IR as Dr. Green recommends for his patients and it came out to 0.3 which seems good. Hs-crp was 0.8.
My Levine Phenotypic Age calculation showed about 1 year improvement compared to February fwiw.
All in all I’m pleased considering pre-rapa my glucose was 106 and my total cholesterol was 295. My plan for now is to get labs every 3 months.
I haven’t noticed anything major yet. I don’t wake up each day feeling like I’m rapidly aging anymore. I feel more like I’m holding steady rather than struggling to fight a decline which I seemed to be losing. I realize this is all subjective and could be wishful thinking but I do think this feeling has improved my quality of life and to me it seems related to rapa since nothing else has really changed with my lifestyle, diet ect.
My weight is staying about 3 pounds higher than pre-rapa which I’m fine with tbh. It is a mix of lean and fat according to my home bio impedance scale. My bmi is 20. My goal is to work on increasing muscle now that I’m settled into my job and life is becoming a bit more predictable and manageable again. My fitness was pretty good before covid but I had one of the worst possible jobs during the pandemic-as a respiratory therapist so that’s my excuse.
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#50

Glad that things move into the right direction!

Do you know your nonHDL-C? You did not measure apoB? Your hs-CPR seems not really elevated, but I would want this number lower myself as it shows some inflammation processes that with elevated lipids may be showing also processes connected to ASCVD… How is you BP? What are you doing in the way of lowering lipids? I just added psyllium (about 12g of husk to my breakfast oatmeal), will retest lipids in three months to see where I am. I am not shooting for a really low TC and LDL, but would want my apoB around 60 which is completely doable with your results without medications too.

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#51

@scta123, thank you for all the helpful information! I am pretty ignorant when it comes to lipids unfortunately. I’ll definitely check APOB moving forward. It would be nice to get this kind of input from my doctor.:slight_smile:
Here’s what I have on my non-hdlc from February. My test from May 31 didn’t seem to measure this for some reason. My bp is generally 100-110/70-75.
I currently use sunfiber but I do have some psyllium on hand so I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the tip!
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#52

I just figured out how to calculate non-hdlc from my current labs and it’s 147.

#53

Depends on the units for hs-CRP

@blsm what units was hs-CRP?

My personal view is that the minimum level of hs-CRP (measured when you have not had a recent infection) gives a good guide as to the aggregate senescent cell burden (because it comes from IL-6). It is kicked up temporarily by infection, but as IMO senescent cells are a key driver of aging (actually through IL-10 (IMO) not IL-6. You want to do what you can sensibly do to get down the senescent cell burden.

I think it is the SASP (IL-10) in older people’s blood that makes plasma interventions effective. However, as the body of senescent cells continues to produce SASP it will be hard to have a major impact through the plasma.

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#54

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It’s in mg/L. Thanks for your reply sir.

#55

I did find a good paper which studied the range of CRP for different age groups. 0.8mg/L is something I would say which is reasonably good, but is a target for improvement for the reasons I gave in my previous post.

I think labcorp can only go as low as 0.3.

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#56

I have a similar story and Sirolimus is the one thing that has dramatically helped my chronic fatigue.

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#57

Here’s my most recent labs from 5/3 that I discussed a bit but failed to post. I did some research and I think the low insulin might be from the highish dose melatonin I’m taking. The labs aren’t perfect but they are generally moving in the right direction and I feel pretty good-definitely better than when I started rapamycin.
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According to my Fitbit report my sleep is improving as well.
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Sleep has been my Achilles heel from working nights/shift work off and on for over 20 years so that’s a really welcome change.
I’ve been learning a lot here and made some lifestyle changes because of that information so thanks so much to everyone who freely shares on this site. All in all I’m about 3-4 pounds heavier than when I started rapamycin but I’m not in the least concerned. I finally have the energy to focus more on my fitness for the first time since the pandemic and I’m starting to get into a good solid workout routine beyond my normal walking in my weighted vest.
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#58

Its a good idea to get CRP. (hs)

#59

I’m not an endocrinologist but low insulin in the setting of a normal glucose level seems like a good thing to me. That makes you insulin sensitive (what we are all trying to achieve) as opposed to insulin resistant.

I can’t say that I’ve ever measured my insulin level but if I did I’d be looking for high levels that might indicate my degree of insulin resistance. In other words if high i’d need to make more insulin to get my cells to respond and bring my serum glucose lower.

Are there other reasons to measure insulin outside of perhaps an initial presentation of Type I diabetes?

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#60

@59vw, I got the fasting insulin test because it’s needed to calculate HOMA-IR. When I learned that Dr. Allen Green does that test for his patients I just figured I’d include it in my labs.

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#61

It’s supposed to be a good predictor of the onset of type 2 diabetes.

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#62

I just realized yesterday was our 6 month anniversary on rapamycin!
It may slow aging but it doesn’t slow the perception of the passage of time. :slight_smile:

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