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Comment by 01100011 | Hacker News Reader

44 yo male. DHEA is amazing. In times of stress, it restores my libido and ends my depressive cycle. I don't take it every day, but I definitely keep it close by.

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"Studies have shown quality control of this supplement to often be low." [1] -- which one are you using?

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-dhea/art-203641...

That Mayo Clinic link has a giant red light "avoid" rating.

Natrol. No particular reason, just got it off Amazon.

36 year old male here. Using metformin to artificially lower my blood sugar level to help keep weight off and for life extension purposes (asked my doctor for a prescription at my annual physical, said "sure, go for it"). Highly recommend it.

Metformin is great. A doc even recommended it to my friend while he was fighting a glioblastoma(brain cancer).

I'd love to take it but I tried berberine, which is supposedly similar in effect, and got major low blood sugar.

The only issues with Metformin are occasional digestive issues(diarrhea) and the slight chance of lactic acidosis.

Sorry about your friend. How is Metformin helpful for glioblastoma ? My sister has this. How is your friend doing? Any lessons?

There is a theory that still needs more evidence that cancers consumer sugar, and reducing your blood sugar (and sugar consumption in general) will slow tumor growth. There was another thread on HN within the last week that fasting 24-60 hours at a time during chemotherapy protects healthy cells while allowing chemotherapy to be more effective against the cancer. Things to discuss with an oncologist. Best wishes for your sister, I hope she pulls through.

My sister passed away from a gliobastoma. We didn’t try metformin but we did try thc. Any effects were too late.

I think the metformin was part of a shotgun approach used by the docs at UCSD. My friend's brothers were aggressively pushing treatment when it was clearly inoperable so that may have had something to do with it. My friend lasted a single, horrible year and passed away a few years ago.

How much are you taking? Do you use it to stay in ketosis, along with Intermittent Fasting, or something else? Is there any good literature for using this outside of it's intended use for diabetes? Thanks!

500mg once daily, one meal a day intermittent fasting (dinner). Only coffee, Coke Zero, and water outside of dinner.

Have you had low energy with it?

I bought a 6 month supply of 850mg Metformin when I went to Mexico because I intended to take it long term for anti-aging benefits, and although the GI issues were almost non existent, my energy levels after waking up plummeted. I felt physically tired after waking up, and the only thing I wanted was to go back to bed.

I then tried 425mg and had the same problem. I wonder if it's a symptom of low blood sugar? I didn't feel much hunger in the morning. It was a weird experience and I'm a bit sad I had to discontinue it.

I have not, but I consume about 200-400mg of caffeine a day. It could be low blood sugar; check with your GP/PCP if able to.

"Sure, go for it" sure sounds like the next Opioid epidemic.

Metformin is fairly safe as far as pharma goes; it requires a high dosage to be toxic, and the primary side effect is gastrointestinal distress. It's also a cheap generic (~5 cents/pill, costs me $2/month). It would be unfair to lump it in with the opioid epidemic, considering the differences.

Would you not at least try to live a bit longer for only $25/year and a once a day pill?

Oh, I already have IBS, so that's a hard pass for me.

Doesn't happen to everyone, and if does occur, it usually subsides after a week, but I would not recommend to someone who has IBS.

Berberine is OTC. Not sure what relative risk profiles are. But yes, it's absolutely not comparable to opioids.

It seems Berberine and Metformin have different activation paths (Berberine might not lead to AMPK activation) and don't necessarily have exactly the same effects. Is there any research on the two being comparable for longevity purposes (other than lowering tumor risk)?

https://lifespanbook.com/metformin-pill/

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