#68

I believe in getting natural vitamin d from the sun should I only get in the sun during the trough period of the rapamycin cycle, not at all, or anytime as long as I don’t burn

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#69

I’m pretty sure he’s said several times that he also prescribes it to patients who are metabolically compromised or prediabetic. But that wasn’t my point. I was just sharing some info about why metformin might have helped me, since you had asked. I was sort of surprised to see this finding that metformin is antiinflammatory. I hadn’t realized that or thought of it that way before. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was helping me because it does so many different things. Getting a better understanding now. Just wanted to share since you also seemed curious.

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#71

Btw, the doctor who prescribes of my off-label metformin (I am not diabetic) is with a large NYC hospital in their Post-Covid Care Clinic. She wrote the prescription after I told her I’d been taking my husband’s old supply (lower dosages which we saved, but he no longer used) and that it noticeably helped my symptoms. She said it’s a low-risk medicine and she’d be glad to prescribe it, and that I shouldn’t be taking somebody else’s old meds. Eternally grateful for that, though I would have found another source if needed. She was not so kind or accommodating when I told her about my rapamycin experiment at our last visit, in fact I think her may have head spun around a few times. But until conventional medicine has something better to offer, I’ll do what I have to.

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#72

Questions for Matt:

Q1 Does it matter if I exercise a few hours before taking rapamycin? Say I exercise at 9-10am and then take rapa at 1pm.

Q2 Is it better to do a dose every 2 weeks or every 1 week? How would one choose?

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#73

I like these questions… I concur… exercise timing and… each week verses 2 week cycle.

Although, he does weekly with periodic breaks.

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#74

What are his thoughts on the rebound / overshooting of mTOR after rapa?

Paper and discussion here for those not familiar with the topic:

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#75

This is a nice video to get a sense of Matt’s views on healthspan interventions–in this video he runs through a grab bag of practices and ranks them. Basic from the point of view of many people on this forum, but maybe nice for sharing with longevity-curious friends who aren’t ready to read thousands of posts on here.

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#76

It’s interesting that in supplements he ranks:

Vitamin D - A
Creatine - B
Rapamycin - C
NMN - D
Resveratrol - F

Rapamycin at a C? I guess this goes to show how bad a vitamin D deficiency can be!

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#77

I thought that was a bit surprising too, but it made sense in context. To be clear, he was careful to specify that his (A) grade was assigned to “testing vitamin D level and supplementing to ensure sufficiency” rather than to “taking a vitamin D supplement.” His (C) grade for rapamycin was based on his belief that it is for some but not all people and that it is not without uncertainty (unlike A-grade items like brushing and flossing, sleeping well, and exercising).

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#78

Yes. I was thoroughly surprised to find I was deficient in vitamin D. Even after taking 5000 IUs a day, I was still deficient (30… Ok. Barely sufficient). I want at least 40, so I am now taking 10000 IUs daily + Magnesium Citrate. Let’s see how my vitamin D levels are this year.

As for Rapamycin, he’s right that it isn’t for everyone. Diabetics need to be EXTREMELY careful and there are some people who just can’t tolerate Rapa at all.

If it were up to me, I’d move Rapamycin up to a B and NMN up to a C. Vitamin D and Resveratrol are where they should be. I’d also put Magnesium at an A and Omega 3 and Taurine at a B.

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#79

Wow on you not responding well to that much vit d. Do you happen to know if giving yourself b12 injections would help you absorb it better? I don’t know the answer.

#80

I take daily oral B-12. Yeah, I really don’t respond well to vitamin D supplementation. I’m hoping it was due to not enough Magnesium, so I’ve upped my dosages of that as well. I’ll be getting my D levels tested in August, so I should have a better idea as to where I stand.

#81

Whoops, I had a brain fart and confused d for b12…

Never mind… nothing to see here!!!

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#82

Hate to say it, since I have been a Matt K fan, but I disagree with a lot that was said in that video.

#83

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-vitamin-d-do-you-need-to-stay-healthy/

Please note — Vitamin D is important to monitor - BUT it isn’t fixed by supplementing it - you still have the same bad outcomes.

Measure it unsupplemented. If low, you have risks — work on getting a therapeutic D without supplementation - BECAUSE you’ll supplement, think you are all good because your numbers look great … but you’ve still not fixed what caused the low vitamin D level which is what the active ingredient is.

All of the RCTs show supplementation of people with low vitamin D don’t help one bit — but falsely will lull people into thinking they are fine when supplementing.

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#84

I know I’m low w no supplementation. What does one do other than being in the sun?

#85

This is the challenge, adequate UV exposure (without getting skin cancer - so large % of your body exposed for not too long), exercise increases vitamin D - possibly due to increased absorption. There are lists of food that have this in it - for vegans - it’ll be limited to mushrooms. The challenge is whether the food consumption of it is any different than taking a supplement? Then there are foods that simply have it added, in supplement form - so that won’t be different - but naturally occurring is it different and is there some co-factor we aren’t measuring that comes along with it when naturally occurring?
We don’t know, but it would seem like simply normalizing the number by supplements doesn’t have the beneficial effect you’d hope.

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#86

What’s the difference from getting vitamin D from sun, food, or supplements? You just skip the first two steps in this figure.
image

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#87

Thank you for your contribution here because I’ve never heard this! And argh, I don’t eat many mushrooms, but I did just get mushroom powder (I’ll look that up to see if it helps). And bigger argh, my entire life is about NOT getting any sun (to make up for going to school in Florida and thinking spf 4 was way too high and using foil blankets!!!) Thx again

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#88

Vegan D3 supplements are from lichen, anyway there is no difference from getting vitamin D from sun, supplements, etc, so I would just avoid risk for skin cancer and the certainty of skin aging and take a supplement.

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