Rapamycin weekly dosing, anyone actually running it and what do you notice

Posted by student748 in Longevity & Anti-Aging - 7 points, 6 comments.

Been reading heaps about rapamycin lately and the low dose weekly pulse approach seems to be the standard in longevity circles. For what it is worth i find it a bit wild that an immunosuppressant got repurposed like this, the mTOR inhibition and autophagy angle makes sense on paper but i'm keen to hear from people actually taking it.

The 3-6mg once weekly range is what keeps coming up. I guess the idea is you get the autophagy benefit without being immunosuppressed constantly. But has anyone here felt anything tangible from it? Like better recovery, skin, energy, anything? Or is it one of those things where you just trust the mechanism and hope for the best over years.

Also slightly worried about the mouth sores and lipid elevation side effects. Do those show up at the low weekly doses or is that more a transplant-level dose problem. And how do people monitor, just regular bloods?

I'm not on it myself, just weighing it up. The caloric restriction mimicry is appealing since i already do a fair bit of training and don't want to stack too many CR-mimicking things on top of each other. Any input would be sweet as.

Comments

• kenji_runs: I haven’t tried rapamycin myself so take this as just curiosity talking. The 3‑6mg once a week range does pop up a lot in the longevity threads i’ve skimmed, and the logic of getting autophagy spikes without chronic immunosuppression sounds plausible on paper. I’m wondering how folks actually track the lipid and glucose shifts – do you just rely on standard annual bloods or do you add something like a fasting lipid panel every few months? Also has anyone noticed any tangible changes in recovery
• midwest_scientist: I do a fasting lipid and glucose panel every three months alongside my usual annuals. On 4 mg once‑weekly I felt a bit less sore after heavy lifts and my skin looked a touch smoother, but it’s subtle and could just be placebo.
• labrat_vik: Yeah I’ve been on 4mg rapamycin once a week for about six months. Recovery feels a tad easier after hard lifts and my skin looks a bit less dull. I check fasting glucose and lipids every three months just to see if anything’s drifting.
• student748: Chur for that, exactly the kind of real-world feedback i was after. 4mg for six months and you're noticing recovery after lifts, that's pretty encouraging. For what it is worth that's the sort of subtle-but-real thing i was wondering about, not some dramatic transformation. Have your lipids actually shifted at all in those three-monthly checks or stayed pretty stable so far? That's the one thing making me hesitate a bit.
• student748: Cheers for that, good to hear the lipid panel is staying reasonable at 4mg. The less sore after lifts thing is interesting, for what it is worth i'd be curious if that kicked in pretty quick like first few weeks or more a slow creep over months. I'm mostly wondering about recovery in the context of long runs rather than lifting so not sure if it'd translate the same way.
• student748: Yeah nah we're in the same boat then, both just watching from the sidelines. The fasting lipid panel every few months is a, for what it is worth that's what i'd lean towards too rather than just annual bloods. Seems like you'd want to catch a lipid shift early rather than find out 12 months in. Keen to hear if anyone here is actually doing that sort of closer monitoring or if people just wing it and check once a year.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.