Thanks for the info. This is the first time I hear someone mention melatonin mega doses as a potentially lowering blood glucose.
zazim
#42
I finally got my blood work done after a year on rapamycin. My A1c was 5.3 before starting and 5.2 now. So basically the same.
1 Like
I had an experimental result when I was using time release melatonin (of my own manufacture in the sense of making it time release) and wearing a CGM and I saw a drop in blood sugar.
However, it is a known effect of melatonin.
I only take Melatonin during sleep periods. It appears that if you take it during the day (or more so with food) it undermines the glucose processing systems. I tend to take it between 3am and 6am.
2 Likes
Nice. What dose were you taking when you notice that effect?
Its a while ago, but it was probably only a 10mg dose as I cannot stuff more pills into a type 2 capsule (It could have been 5mg, but that is unlikely). I use a type 2 in a type 1 in a type 00 in a type 00 in a type 000 to give a reasonable delay before the capsule(s) is(are) destroyed by stomach acid. I do have the records, but it would take a small amount of work to put this together and the principle is the thing.
The glucose lowering effects of melatonin and alcohol are both reasonably well know. Various people freak out about using melatonin and alcohol at the same time and I have not actually done this directly although I have taken melatonin during the night when some alcohol may have remained in my system. I find melatonin clears up the residual effects of hangovers when pantethine has not cleared everything.
2 Likes
Am curious about biting nails when blood sugar goes up. Is that a common phenomena? Can you recommend a blood sugar monitor? I wasn’t sure I could trust the one I had briefly used. Thanks for any info. Greg
I have used Dexcom G6 and G7 as well as Freestyle Libre 2. The Libre 2 is a nuisance because if you forget to get a reading you lose data. They are all allowed to be slightly inaccurate and I cannot say much about how accurate they are. Some people say G6 is more reliable than G7, but G7 is smaller and perhaps easier to keep in situ.
When my blood sugar fluctuates I can’t stop biting my nails. I assume it’s because fluctuating blood sugar triggers stress hormones.
Thank you both for the information. I bite the inside of my mouth and have wondered if blood chemistry was at play. I will ask my doctor to prescribe a monitor and maybe I’ll learn something. Thanks.
zazim
#50
Ezetimibe has raised my average glucose by 10 points in the 2 weeks I have been taking it. If I had started rapamycin at the same time, I would have blamed rapamycin.
3 Likes
You must be an outlier. Ezetimibe does not normally raise glucose levels or insulin resistance.
Personally, I would tend to blame rapamycin. There is certainly more evidence that rapamycin, especially in higher doses, raises fasting glucose levels.
4 Likes
zazim
#53
Not necessarily an outlier. This is RCT cited by scat above where it significantly increased glucose levels.
I have tracked my glucose for a year on rapamycin with a CGM. No increases in glucose that I can discern. And my A1c went down slightly after taking rapamycin. 5.3 to 5.2. If this is any indication, I will jump to 5.6 or 5.7. Hopefully it will stabilize.
I am not saying zazim’s blood glucose was not raised by Ezetimibe, I couldn’t possibly know, but he is n=1.
The study that you reference was with 80 patients of which 32 had Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. (NAFLD) is a condition in which excess fat builds up in your liver.)
“increased hepatic long-chain fatty acids and HbA1c in patients with NAFLD. These findings shed light on previously unrecognised actions of ezetimibe that should be examined further in future studies.”
They didn’t define what a significant increase was.
I used the search term “Effect of Ezetimibe on Glucose”
The most common theme in the results is that “Ezetimibe decreases blood glucose and reduces insulin resistance”
Statins tend to increase fasting blood glucose and there is much evidence that rapamycin does.
I will just post the meta-analysis.
"Conclusions
Compared with high-dose statin therapy, ezetimibe with low-dose statin for more than 3 months may have a beneficial tendency of effects on glycemic control."
1 Like
zazim
#55
If you are talking about combination treatments, then statins can have a decidedly negative affect on glucose. That’s not a reason not to take statins, but that is a risk. I think there’s a risk for ezetimibe. It doesn’t matter what the study says when we can actually see the effect on our own body. I’m not going to stop taking ezetimibe, but I am going to monitor my glucose closely.
Here is a typical day, but a bad one (with a large spike) before ezetimibe. Here is today.
1 Like
