What Changed in 2024?

Table of Contents

General framework

My general framework for self-experiments is still the same and usually revolves around “the cloning experiment”. If I clone myself, will my clone in an identical parallel universe have a “better” life if he takes/does X? If my intuition (a rough evaluation of the effects of X on health, longevity, looks, life enjoyment, vitality, cognition) gives a tentative yes, I try it.

Most of the time, it does not work out, and 95% of the self-experiments I do I discard quite soon (at most, after a couple of months). However, sometimes, I do find that they really make my life “better”.

Because life is hectic and multiple things happen at the same time, sometimes it is hard to tell whether something is “good” for me. However, I have been self-experimenting now for roughly a decade, I do feel that I have developed a decent intuition of things. I also keep extensive notes on each experiment and I furthermore talk things over with a couple of friends (who biohack themselves) and we exchange ideas and give each other feedback on our behavior.

I am generally biased towards trying things as the side effects of most interventions are just temporary. Furthermore, I am usually more concerned about the risks of doing nothing compared to the risks and side effects of the intervention.

My current protocol

Short version

The drugs I currently take regularly are allopurinol, a low dose of HCG + finasteride, and weekly rapamycin. On most days of the week, I also take a single low dose of yohimbine as a short-term stimulant.

This year, I wanted to gain mass. Starting in April, I made it a goal to gain 1kg per month. I went from 68kg to 75kg over the course of 7 months. I gained both fat and muscle, probably to an equal extent. I feel and function much better with greater body mass.

Occasionally, I use nicotine gum (limited to 1h per day), low doses of psychedelics (about once per month), and rarely ketamine (for anhedonic depression that happens every couple of months).

This year I have also experimented with pitolisant and NSI-189 and both molecules are promising to become a regular part of my stack. Pitolisant generally makes me more awake (without stimulating effects) and NSI-189 gives me vivid dreams, slightly stronger emotions, and a considerable libido boost.

This year, I also stopped a bunch of drugs I had been using for a long time, albeit at microdoses (i.e., considerably lower than the lowest clinically used dose). I stopped taking semaglutide half a year ago because it made gaining weight very hard. I also stopped taking metreleptin as I seem to have recovered from the after-effects of having had a very low body fat % at the beginning of my twenties. I stopped taking moclobemide because it seems to affect my cognition negatively – I tested this via Mensa IQ tests and it seems that on moclobemide my IQ is roughly 10 points lower. I stopped taking rasagiline because off the moclobemide I do not “need” it anymore as my dopamine levels are presumably quite high naturally.

I am still a big fan of microdosing pharmaceutical drugs to “fine-tune” things.

I have exchanged the Huel for Yogurt drinks (Kefir). I still like to spike my drinks with olive oil and whey protein, giving me 900kcal per drink.

I still take a load of supplements but as far as I can tell they do very little to nothing – though I have been using them for 6-8 years now and have no obvious harmful effects.

Long version

  • In February I dislocated my shoulder while ice-skating. I opted for shoulder surgery in March. After surgery, I used teriparatide and a low dose of growth hormone, which helped me to heal quite quickly. 10 weeks after surgery, I did 25 pull-ups. 3 months after surgery I was back in the gym doing my full routine and 5 months after surgery I could barely tell the difference between left and right.

  • This year, I started to go for outdoor runs. A decade ago I used to be a cross country runner and I forgot how much I loved running. Unfortunately, I always have to pace myself because if I go too hard my patellar tendons do not like that. Currently, I am recovering from an injury and I hope to get back to my regular exercise program soon.

  • My sleep has barely changed. Thanks to the HCG and weight gain, I seem to require less sleep. This year I also started night shifts, once a week on average.

  • After having been on a microdose of semaglutide for 3 years, half a year ago I came off it. I am currently trying to gain weight, which semaglutide makes impossible to do even at microdoses (0.1-0.3mg per week). Interestingly, for some reason, my appetite is now much lower than before the semaglutide, hinting at the possibility that all this time on semaglutide led to some favorable rewiring of my appetite centers. However, I also gained weight which is a huge confounder and perhaps the more likely explanation.

  • I realized that on moclobemide my IQ is roughly 10 points lower, which made me stop it. This test result aligns with how I feel about it. I still think it is a great antidepressant and I sometimes recommend it to friends as for most people, it does not seem to affect cognition. I also stopped nanodosing rasagiline because I realized that it is not particularly good for my relationships. Furthermore, rasagiline makes me more impulsive and less prudent.

  • For the past 10 months, I have been on “TRT lite”. Essentially, I take 100 IU of HCG per day. On this dose, my T levels are around 1000ng/dl, my E2 is at around 40pg/ml, and I am not even shut down (i.e., my LH and FSH are still within the low normal range). I describe my first run with TRT here. Last year I gave TRT another go and quite liked it, presumably because many other things were fixed that had not been fixed during my first try. I then switched over to my “TRT lite” protocol, which achieves the same thing but without the risk of prolonged shutdown. My energy levels are higher, I need less sleep, my libido is greater, and I just generally feel well. I will publish an in-depth article about my “TRT lite” experience soon. In order to not virilize too much from the increased androgen exposure and to age “more gracefully” I take a low dose of finasteride (0.125mg/d) along with it. Background: Individuals with hypogonadism look much younger than they are vs. people on TRT (after a couple of years) usually look much older than they are as they seem to age considerably faster than normal. Only temporary side effects from the finasteride. Article about finasteride soon as well. I discuss all of this in much more detail in my weekly observations.

  • Whenever I have a hard time falling asleep, I still take a low dose of triazolam sublingually (as I did before). I do this about once per week to once every other week or so. There has not been an increase in frequency or dosage over the past couple of years.

  • This year I purposely gained weight. I tried to gain 1kg per month, starting in March. Overall, I went from 68kg to 75kg, gaining 7kg, probably half fat and half muscle. My body fat went from 9-10% to roughly 13-14%. Since gaining weight, I have not gotten sick a single time (despite working in emergency medicine during this time). Furthermore, my energy is considerably higher, which is worth a lot to me. Also, I only got one single anhedonic episode, though it is hard to infer causality because some other things changed as well. Overall, I just feel better at slightly higher body fat levels.

  • My favorite stimulant has become yohimbine and, with very few exceptions (e.g., some modafinil during particularly brutal night shifts), the only stimulant I used over the past half a year or so. Whenever I need a push, I take 1.25mg of it. I am a homozygous CYP2D6 poor metabolizer so for me the yohimbine lasts considerably longer than for normal metabolizers. I feel stimulated by the yohimbine for roughly 4-6 hours. Just very clean energy. Yohimbine is an alpha2-antagonist and basically “disinhibits” noradrenergic tone (sympathetic nervous system activity). For me, yohimibine is the perfect caffeine replacement. It has barely any tolerance, no comedown, and does not mess with my sleep. For some reason, most people seem to dislike yohimbine – we are all different. Article about yohimbine soon.

  • In terms of recreational drugs, once a month to once every other month I take a low dose of plant medicine (0.5-1g) to have “a month’s worth of psychotherapy in one afternoon”. Occasionally, at parties, I also take a low dose of 1,4-butanediol – great replacement for ethanol, which I never to rarely (once per year) drink. No deleterious effect on sleep and no hangover. About once per month.

  • In the past year, I experimented with pharmaceutical-grade NSI-189 and pitolisant. Both are very interesting molecules. On NSI-189, which is a stimulator of neuroplasticity/neurogenesis, my dreams are very vivid and my libido is undeniably higher. I also seem to have more and deeper emotions. Pitolisant elevates central histamine levels and gives wakefulness without any stimulant effects (i.e., unlike modafinil and other stimulants). For me, both molecules have no side effects – at least none that I would have noticed. Articles about these molecules will be published once I have thoroughly tested them.

  • From time to time, I struggle with anhedonic depression. This happens about 3-5x per year lasting a couple of weeks. I had been dealing with this for years now. During these episodes, I do all the things I normally do (e.g., work, gym, friends) but I feel quite little. The weird thing is that from the outside nobody can tell. When I tell friends that during these times I actually feel quite a little, they usually do have a hard time believing me because I am laughing, making jokes, and seeming emotional just like always. I am not even acting or putting up a facade. I am also not dissociated. There is just a mismatch between what I do and what I feel. Even my psychotherapist does not believe me (“A person that feels little is not acting and talking the way you do.”). However, on the inside, there is emptiness. It is quite hard to explain. Also, these episodes seem to have very little effect on my “objective” life. I still go for walks, reading, dating, and my ambition is unaffected. However, I do all of these things without “feeling” much. Other than the anhedonia, I am also more fatigued. I am quite unsure whether the cause is mostly biological or mostly “psychological”. My intuition tells me that it is mostly biological and I hypothesize that during these times neuroplasticity is at low levels as everything that is known to have neuroplastic effects brings back my feelings. However, pathogenesis is not the same as etiology. Anyway, a single dose of ketamine has thus far always been sufficient to kick me out of it. I am always reluctant for a couple of weeks to use it because it is probably more neurotoxic than the medical community currently appreciates. If the “waiting it out” does not work, 24 hours after the ketamine self-injection, it seems as if somebody has turned my feelings back on and usually they remain on for at least a few weeks, sometimes months. I aim to not use it more often than once a quarter (ideally, less). Recently, I also found NSI-189 very valuable in terms of getting out of this state but it needs more testing. Since gaining weight (both body fat as well as muscle) and hopping on the HCG + fin I only got one (plus one minor) of these episodes. I am eager to see how this develops over the coming year.

  • On and off I use a topical 17-beta estradiol cream for facial skin care (the same product postmenopausal women use for HRT – I just use a much smaller dosage).

  • I limit my use of nicotine gum to 1 hour per day while I am reviewing notebooks from the past (e.g., science, thoughts, etc.). Nicotine is a powerful self-conditioning agent.

  • I share updates regarding my protocol in my weekly newsletter.

Disclaimer

The content available on this website is based on the author’s individual research, opinions, and personal experiences. It is intended solely for informational and entertainment purposes and does not constitute medical advice. The author does not endorse the use of supplements, pharmaceutical drugs, or hormones without the direct oversight of a qualified physician. People should never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they have read on the internet.

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