Fasting has changed me

I mean that kind of literally. I was born with a somatic genetic defect that causes a localized venous malformation. It's what it sounds like, a giant collection of abnormal veins in one particular area of your body, usually. You're born with it, and they arise due to a defect in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway that causes a positive feedback loop in the mTOR complexes which causes runaway growth of veins. When you're young, the malformation grows slowly with you until about your mid twenties when the growth slows. Also FYI, mTOR stands for the mammalian target of rapamycin (named after Rapa Nui a.k.a Easter Island where it was discovered).

The only way to truly get rid of the defect, is to remove the veins. Or is it? Generally, people undergo sclerotherapy by an interventional radiologist where they introduce a sclerosant like ethanol into the veins using image guided instruments. It sometimes work well, and sometimes not. That's starting to change now because scientists are finally realizing how the genetic defects in mTOR relate to overgrowth diseases, which includes malformations and cancers.

This is where fasting comes in. As some of you may know, when you fast you inhibit some protein and hormone signaling pathways, like insulin and turn on pathways like AMPK. There are a number of different compounds located in your cells that act as nutrient sensors, mTOR being one of them. mTOR is a nutrient sensor (essentially) that waits for proteins like IGF-1 in order to initialize and start the process of cellular growth and associated functions. When it's inhibited (like during fasting), then the process of autophagy occurs. Rapamycin, also known as sirolimus, inhibits this pathway. A number of studies have shown recently that sirolimus decreases the size, volume and symptoms of venous malformations. Sometimes the before and after reductions in size are pretty incredible, even after only a few months.

After learning all of this, that's when I started fasting. I haven't been doing it for long, intermittent fasting for a year, but recently I've been doing extended fasts to start the process of autophagy, and I can say for sure that it's working. I've noticed reduced symptoms, reduced inflammation, and slight reduction in size. I understand some of the science behind it, but actually experiencing it first hand is incredible. I'm also going to be taking some Rapamycin hopefully later in the year, but I'm very positive that I'll see results before then. It seems pretty clear now to me just how powerful fasting can be..

Just thought I'd share that in case people find it interesting. Thanks to this community for experimenting, and spreading the good word!