Creatine long term side effects

[SimpleMind]

Would like to hear your comments on the stuff below:
I used Creatine (Krea Alkalyn) for just 4 days about 2 years ago and had "major" effect after just that short periode of usage. Began to do a little research and found the following article which made me stop using it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19741313

I am submission wrestling and began to take Creatine again for about 3 weeks ago.
I can honestly say that Krea Alkalyn has some major positive effects on my health/ well being. Really a long time since i felt that good. Nonetheless i am sceptical. So i will go and check out my DHT levels.
Especially interesting are the comments below the following article.

http://www.exercisebiology.com/index...r_your_health/

Any experience/ knowledge about the topic on your side?
One guy mentioned that Creatine has possible irreversible side effects on Insulin production? Did not find too much about that , but...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12624482
:icon_sad:

 

[Pathogenic]

Creatine actually increases your ability to use insulin, so, if anything, it has a positive impact in that regard.

As for DHT, while this may sound concerning, it's really not so bad. There hasn't been a study that I know of linking creatine to premature hair loss or anything, anyway, and a small bump in DHT isn't likely to hurt your body in any meaningful way.

I think my only major grief with this study is that they reported that DHT levels were 56% higher after 7 days, and then 40% higher than baseline after 21 days on creatine. But the baseline level of DHT in the placebo phase (i.e. the mean level of DHT in the SAME subjects on day 0 of the placebo phase) was 1.26 (SD 0.52). When compared statistically, the DHT level at day 7 was only 21% higher than this baseline, and not statistically significant; which then begs the question as to whether the variability of DHT (either as normal variance in the assay itself, or as normal physiological variance in 18-19 year old rugby players) is high enough that the increased level of 1.53 is meaningful.

http://evidencebasedfitness.net/what-price-would-you-pay-for-muscles/

 

[SimpleMind]

Creatine actually increases your ability to use insulin, so, if anything, it has a positive impact in that regard.

As for DHT, while this may sound concerning, it's really not so bad. There hasn't been a study that I know of linking creatine to premature hair loss or anything, anyway, and a small bump in DHT isn't likely to hurt your body in any meaningful way.


http://evidencebasedfitness.net/what-price-would-you-pay-for-muscles/

Thanks for ome really good points in your answer!

 

[DerekShields]

There are NO creatine side effects, just make sure you drink plenty of water.

 

[KILL KILL]

Creatine side effects include:
1. Getting JACKED
2. Looking sexy as fuck naked

 

[Grrrr]

Creatine side effects include:
1. Getting JACKED
2. Looking sexy as fuck naked

Pimp ass av....and stopping in front of a mirror while naked to admire ones jacked sexy as fuckness could be considered a side effect i guess.

 

[Diablo Ryu**]

Creatine has never worked for me

 

[SummerStriker]

I used to train with a guy who claimed that after 3 years of non-stop supplementing with this stuff, he developed DM. The chemicals that help your body use insulin tricked his body into practically not producing any. He got DKA and was surprised to find out why.

 

[KILL KILL]

Creatine has never worked for me

what do you mean it has never "worked" for you?

 

[Grrrr]

what do you mean it has never "worked" for you?

I'm not sure about the guy asking the question but it seems that some people believe that creatine is supposed to have the same or similar effect as an anabolic steroid. They expect way too much from it. Not to mention many people that I have talked to about it don't consume nearly enough water while taking it. If used properly it is a great supp.

 

[Modern Warrior1]

I believe there are non responders, are there not?

 

[hardheart]

I'm not sure about the guy asking the question but it seems that some people believe that creatine is supposed to have the same or similar effect as an anabolic steroid. They expect way too much from it. Not to mention many people that I have talked to about it don't consume nearly enough water while taking it. If used properly it is a great supp.

A 10% gain in strength is better than many steroids, and it has none of the side effects.

Most non-responders are doing it wrong.

 

[KILL KILL]

It's similar to saying "protein didn't work for me, so I stopped eating it"

 

[Diablo Ryu**]

I've never noticed anything positive about using creatine. I've tried it on and off since 1999 and I just don't care to waste more money on it.

 

[spannered]

Can someone care to explain to me what the benefits of creatine are on muscular endurance activities; ie, wrestling and other forms of grappling?

I understand that creatine helps the muscles retain water, which in turn helps send nutrients and such to the muscles easier for repair and growth, but can anyone verify if studies have proven that there are benefits outside of hyperatrophy?

I've been getting some pretty serious aching/tendonitis/trauma in my elbow/bicep area after heavy grappling sessions. I'm out for 24-28 hours before I can train again. I know it's a conditioning issue, however I can't train and improve the muscular conditioning if I'm forced to recover so often.

I'm thinking of taking glutamine and creatine to see if they help, but would like to hear advice from persons smarter than I.

 

[KILL KILL]

Can someone care to explain to me what the benefits of creatine are on muscular endurance activities; ie, wrestling and other forms of grappling?

I understand that creatine helps the muscles retain water, which in turn helps send nutrients and such to the muscles easier for repair and growth, but can anyone verify if studies have proven that there are benefits outside of hyperatrophy?

I've been getting some pretty serious aching/tendonitis/trauma in my elbow/bicep area after heavy grappling sessions. I'm out for 24-28 hours before I can train again. I know it's a conditioning issue, however I can't train and improve the muscular conditioning if I'm forced to recover so often.

I'm thinking of taking glutamine and creatine to see if they help, but would like to hear advice from persons smarter than I.

dude are you serious? Aside from protein, creatine is the most well documented supplement for anaerobic strength (not endurance).

 

[The Eleventh]

i took creatine for about two months back in 2003 so i assume it has been refined since then, but it made me shoot water from my butt. i would get terrible tightness in my stomach and then would shoot steady streams of orange (same color as my creatine powder) water out my ass. so i had to give it up.

BUT i did feel amazing during my workouts when i was on it.

 

[spannered]

dude are you serious? Aside from protein, creatine is the most well documented supplement for anaerobic strength (not endurance).

Documented for anaerobic strength how? Again, I'm talking about a completely different setting to pure strength training. Muscular endurance is a massive element to grappling, seeing as the ability to rid lactic acid from the muscles is paramount, which (I think) isn't something body builders and power lifters need to worry about as much given the low rep nature of their training. Both are anaerobic exercises, but grappling is very much endurance based, where lifting is not.

I don't know the technical terms to it all (hence why I'm asking), but the muscular trauma and repair from lifting weights and grappling are night and day different. Just interested to hear from those in the know who can verify if the benefits carry over to both.

 

[awymore]

Can someone care to explain to me what the benefits of creatine are on muscular endurance activities; ie, wrestling and other forms of grappling?

I understand that creatine helps the muscles retain water, which in turn helps send nutrients and such to the muscles easier for repair and growth, but can anyone verify if studies have proven that there are benefits outside of hyperatrophy?

I've been getting some pretty serious aching/tendonitis/trauma in my elbow/bicep area after heavy grappling sessions. I'm out for 24-28 hours before I can train again. I know it's a conditioning issue, however I can't train and improve the muscular conditioning if I'm forced to recover so often.

I'm thinking of taking glutamine and creatine to see if they help, but would like to hear advice from persons smarter than I.

Creatine is not going to help with the elbow pain, at least it hasn't for me. I take creatine regularly, and I still get the elbow/bicep pain you mention from time to time. Tendonitis results from overuse, so I've been able to reduce the pain by doing less sets with more rest time in between sets when at the gym. I was able to increase the weight I was lifting, so the pain seems to result more from too many reps and not enough rest and not the intensity itself. I also read that vitamin C can help, so I started eating an orange before going to the gym.

 

[Pathogenic]

Documented for anaerobic strength how? Again, I'm talking about a completely different setting to pure strength training. Muscular endurance is a massive element to grappling, seeing as the ability to rid lactic acid from the muscles is paramount, which (I think) isn't something body builders and power lifters need to worry about as much given the low rep nature of their training. Both are anaerobic exercises, but grappling is very much endurance based, where lifting is not.

I don't know the technical terms to it all (hence why I'm asking), but the muscular trauma and repair from lifting weights and grappling are night and day different. Just interested to hear from those in the know who can verify if the benefits carry over to both.

I think you should read the S&C's FAQ. You have some misconceptions about what grappling conditioning actually entails (muscular endurance is just one piece of the overall conditioning puzzle). "Grappling", by which I assume you mean either nogi or BJJ, is primarily an aerobic-alactic sport, meaning that the aerobic system is heavily taxed throughout a given roll (methodically working your way through positions, etc), and so is the anaerobic alactic system, i.e. the system responsible for explosiveness (submissions, sweeps, etc.). Creatine impacts the anaerobic alactic system by providing your body with more building blocks to fuel that system. In other words, creatine allows you to be more explosive, more often. This is a crucial aspect of grappling conditioning because if you don't have enough energy to explode repeatedly from bell to bell then you're not going to last very long in a competition, especially in a nogi environment where explosiveness matters much more.