I just noticed that my T has actually improved slightly. First results in April 2019 at age 45 Pre-Rapamycin.
Versus recently with Rapamycin age 49.
Coincidence? Hmmmm.
Lifestyle-wise very similar. Eat right, exercise, sleep etc.
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That could be testing noise.
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Agreed, but is a data point regardless and worth sharing. Especially since this thread is asking if Rapa lowers T. Will keep measuring once a year and we will see. Certainly aware of confirmation bias.
One advantage of weekly blood tests is that you can see what level of changes are noise and what are trends. I do use different labs and some times you can see for some biomarkers that different labs seem to get different results. I don’t think that is the case for Testosterone.
These are my recent results for testosterone in nmol/L. (The range quoted for the last lab was 6.68-25.7)
15.6 20.8 17.35 16 19.5 18.3 18.35 17.7 17.6 16.22 15.9
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I had my blood taken for testosterone testing Friday. My 2 prior July tests (see above) had me at or above the high normal range and my doctor was concerned. So we measured again, in a low sunlight dank New England winter.
Results below. I have dipped back into normal range but I am still at the high end of the ranges, particularly given my age (69).
N=1, rapamycin did not decrease testosterone. (I doubt that it increased it but no way to tell). Perhaps it preserves levels by enhancing lean body mass, etc.
Maybe I am an anomaly, but some things I have done and don’t do over the past decade that may help prevent testosterone decline:
- 25 mg DHEA daily
- 25-50 mg Zinc daily
- Exercise - both aerobic (running every other day but only 12-15 miles per week) and strength training twice a week. Generally not a day goes by that I don’t do an activity. But a lot of that is low level stuff like yard work.
- Melatonin
- 100 mg aspirin
- Rapamycin the past 2 years. Currently doing 8mg every 10 days or so.
*Like most folks on here, I add and drop a range of supplements
Not Take:
- Statins (gave me muscle pain)
- finasteride (I started a low dose to head off prostrate growth. But quickly dropped it as I thought it might upset my hormonal balance).
Good and bad lifestyle habits
- Retired - time to devote to healthy habits
- Sleep quality declined some - but not bad
- I drink alcohol daily - 2 drinks. Rarely beyond that.
- Eat within a 10 hour window. Eat all healthy foods including carbs but make sure I eat plenty of protein. I have a bowl of ice cream an hour before bed most nights.
- I am 6’ 188 lbs. That has been my stable weight the past decade. But my belt has gone in a notch since on rapamycin (2 years)
- No family history of heart disease or diabetes
My blood tests are within normal ranges generally. But my cholesterol levels would be considered high by most people on this forum.
I measure my aging primarily by how I compare to my younger self. So by that measure I use things like 5k run time (slower but nothing like a nose dive). And I can do more proper pull-ups (15) than I could a decade ago.
By luck or design I expect my youthful activities to continue deep into my next decade. Anyone else having a similar experience? Or is a drop-off more realistic? I am counting on testosterone levels staying at a high level and not dropping off. As well as continuing rapamycin.
Results:
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I am a study of one. I’ve been researching like mad. Since taking Rapamycin for 6 months, 6 mg once a week, my T went from 855 to 187. My free T stayed high right at 20. There may be another explanation for the massive drop in T like also experimenting with [ProductZ] and [CompanyX]'s [ProductY] at the same time. Also increasing the foods containing C:15.
Petadecanoic Fatty Acid (C:15) is a very fascinating substance, and possibly better than Rapamycin. Needs further studies. C:17 is interesting as well.
Personally, I am coming to suspect we are meant to get our mTOR inhibition and AMPK increase from food. Chronic conditions and diseases that kill us started to gradually skyrocket when the government, big pharma, and big food industry, CONVINCED us beginning in the 50’s that saturated fats were bad for us.
Researchers who tried to prove that Full Fat Milk was bad for us instead ended up proving that kids and people who drank it were much healthier than those drinking skim. After trying many times they ended up calling it “The Milk Paradox.” Ice Cream is the same. People who eat it are healthier. Both are high in C:15 and C:17. The US Navy owns patents on both.
Could it be that almost anything that man alters unnaturally becomes bad for us in the long run?
Also, I wonder why we were created NEEDING mTOR to be highly active when young, but it does not turn off and ends up killing us. Perhaps butter, cream, milk, cheese is what moderates it so it does not run out of control. And yes, I know there are some things in those that supposedly are not good for us. Maybe they are. Maybe not. Who knew about C:15? They thought it was killing us.
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hamtaro
#27
I’m surprised this hasn’t been discussed/studied more. I just had my Testosterone tested… and its quite low. 248 nl/dl (used to be 450) and bio-available is very low, at 98 nl/dl.
I am contemplating starting TRT.
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Bicep
#28
It’s a complicated subject. I did very little different and after starting Rapa mine went from 4 hundred something to 9 hundred something. No idea except that my daughter in law who is an endocrinologist thought it was because my son moved back in and I’m competitive with him. Doubt it.
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amuser
#29
Started sirolimus 1/23, two months later test still 500, one year later, nearly halved. Current free below range at 2.6 pg/mL.
Seems like something happened. No idea what. DHEA was low, started supp in April, no apparent impact.
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Because I’m on TRT, I get testosterone tested by LabCorp LC/MS very frequently. Free T either via equilibrium dialysis or calculated using albumin and SHBG (
Free & Bioavailable Testosterone calculator )
I saw a >15% drop in total T and free T since starting a lower than normal dose of rapamycin. It took less than 3 months.
I’m getting another set of labs in a couple weeks to see if it was an anomaly.
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Be sure not to jump to conclusions. T is at the end of a chain of many things, and everybody is different (a wide range of “normal”). Even if your own biomarkers are down, I think the key is to focus on symptoms, as in: No symptoms of low T, no problem with low T.
When I take steps to increase my T, I can feel myself get agitated more easily. I also find I like lifting heavier weight in the gym.
Increase T: longer sleep, more time in parasympathetic states (enjoy my food, meditation, calming music after workouts), less body fat, less time in unnecessary sympathetic states (drive the speed limit, limited social media, limited news exposure), lower inflammation (gut health is key), physical adaptation stimulus (weight lifting to failure while feeling pleased with progress, sprinting, moving boldly vs being fearful of injury)
Rapamycin is certainly a stressor for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if it acutely lowers T. But I don’t take it all the time. I take it just enough (a guess) to get the Immune system rejuvenation benefits. I take a big dose (12-15mg) 2x every 5 weeks, at least 14 days apart.
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Virilius
#32
Then make sure to eat as much saturated fat as you can. Get your LDL-C to 1000mg/dL to show Big Pharma and the government that you are not falling for their tricks!
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Gosh, you are so brilliant!
