SS-31: the vial I kept too long
The compound was fine. My handling of it was not. A mixed vial sat in the fridge for two and a half months.
Goal: Mitochondrial support for training and recovery.
The decision
SS-31 (elamipretide) is the rare one on this list that is an approved drug, for a rare mitochondrial disease. The label dose is 40 mg a day, for very sick patients. I am not that patient, so I set the dose off what people actually run for general use and off an aged-mouse study that dosed twice a week.
I started around 4 mg, it sat well, and in August I settled on 5 mg a shot after a full research sweep of what people report.
What happened
I mixed a vial on July 6. The shots lapsed during a stretch of bad sleep, and the vial kept sitting there. On September 21 I threw it out. Mixed peptides do not keep for months, and I was not going to inject something that had been sitting in water since early July.
I restarted on October 7 with a fresh vial: 5 mg on Tuesdays and Fridays, mixed one vial at a time and used within two weeks so nothing sits.
Why cap it at 10 mg a shot? No trial shows a benefit in healthy people at any dose, site reactions are the main side effect and they rise with dose, and I had just had two histamine-type reactions to a different peptide. The plan from here is written down with its exits. Four shots at 5 mg first. If my skin stays clean and nothing lingers, I step up to 10 mg twice a week from October 27 through December 4, then take two to four weeks off and decide from my own numbers. I step back down on a big red patch or anything lasting past two days, and I stop for good on hives away from the shot, swelling in the face, or wheezing.
Timeline
- Jul 6, 2026
Vial mixed.
- Aug 16, 2026
Dose set at 5 mg a shot after a sourced research sweep.
- Sep 21, 2026
Vial thrown out. Mixed since July 6.
- Oct 7, 2026
Restarted fresh: 5 mg, Tue and Fri, one vial mixed at a time.
- Oct 27, 2026
Planned step to 10 mg, Tue and Fri, if the first four shots are clean.
- Dec 4, 2026
Block ends. Two to four weeks off, then decide.
The graded evidence
One person's experience, from his own dosing log. It is not advice and it does not change any grade on this site. Talk to a licensed clinician before you act on anything here.