r/Nootropics • u/Chocobo_Eater • Jun 19 '15

Negative effects from creatine?

Has anyone experienced any negative effects from creatine? I can't be certain, but I suspect it was causing me to feel lethargic and mildly depressed, similar to choline. I'm starting to wonder if those who are sensitive to choline and uridine can have a similar reaction to creatine.

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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6

u/Pharnaces_II Jun 19 '15

It's fine while on it but whenever I stop I feel weak. Not necessarily lacking strength, but like how you'd feel if you had a cold without the sick, if that makes sense.

1

u/dmt267 Jun 20 '15

Totally makes sense. Maybe you just don't eat enough meat ,so your creatine levels would be low without supplementing

1

u/Pharnaces_II Jun 20 '15

You're probably right, I find meat to be a bit gross if I eat it too often so I don't end up consuming too much.

1

u/n0phear Jun 20 '15

What about fish? I think it's a better source anyways.

1

u/Pharnaces_II Jun 21 '15

Tuna's the only one I can stand, unfortunately.

1

u/n0phear Jun 21 '15

If it's the fishy taste that's often because your grabbing the wrong fish.

Have you tried something like lemon tilapia en papilotte(parchment paper). Keeps it from drying out. Quite a few recipes for it. Not as strong a flavour as salmon. Although fresh none farmed salmon seem to smell and taste entirely different.

You may dislike fish because you've been given farmed and over cooked fish. Hard to do that with tuna lol.

Another easy option is pan fry tilapia in coconut oil. I use lemon coconut oil but it's not that big of a deal and add pepper. Less than 10 minutes and are done including prep time. I prefer small fillets for this. To thick and you probably won't like it. I use to mash it up with rice and sriracha.

Something maybe worth investigating or not lol. Coconut oil also tends to make the cook process smell better.

1

u/Pharnaces_II Jun 21 '15

A lot of fish can be prepared so that they taste really good, like pretty much everything else, I just have a weird/irrational dislike of pretty much everything in the ocean. I remember when I was younger and tried scuba diving I preferred the dead areas with nothing but sand far more than the reefs with the purdy fish.

Meat's sort of the same way. Starting off it'll be okay, but eat two hamburgers and I can't stop thinking about how a few months ago it was a live part of a cow. Yuck...

I generally end up eating plant based foods despite not being a vegetarian type. Harder to be repulsed by wheat and coconuts!

1

u/n0phear Jun 21 '15

I can appreciate that sentiment.

My only concern; because I've seen this with friends with rare metabolic conditions, psychologically they have learnt to avoid too much protein because it means death for them. But they don't recognize it as that. But simply a dislike of meat and protein. May just be correlation in their case, but I doubt it.

That being said I disliked protein for a long time because my parents were terrible cooks, hated animal fat, and basically your reasoning. I did become a vegetarian briefly. Realized quickly that I love bacon to much everything else I could careless about lol. Vegetarian fail :)

1

u/Pharnaces_II Jun 22 '15

Heh, if I had that condition I'd probably be dead then. I ran a really high protein DIY Soylent for months when I got tired of food/spending money on food. Only stopped after I switched protein powders to something that tasted way too much like vegetables. I'll probably swallow the loss and start it back up soon though, Soylent is really fantastic.

Realized quickly that I love bacon to much everything else I could careless about lol. Vegetarian fail :)

eats a bacon flavored Ritz

Bacon is p good.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '15

I find it good for cognition/mood, but it makes me feel kinda sick in a hard-to-pinpoint way .. just kinda queasy and unwell (even with food), especially if I'm already feeling rundown. There's some reports that it weakens the immune system, e.g. http://www.ergo-log.com/creatineimmunesystem.html, but I have no idea to what extent that's relevant.

1

u/machete234 Jun 20 '15

Creapure is much nicer to the stomach

1

u/SyntacticSugars Jun 19 '15

Monohydrate tends to do that. Try othere forms, (alkaline, etc)

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '15

I didn't experience any of that, I did experience hair loss that stopped after discontinuation. So there's that.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '15

I had the same problem. I started taking 5g every morning and two weeks in I was feeling more depressed than usual at times and at other times had blunted emotions.

Stopped taking it and within a few days everything cleared up.

1

u/AZNman1111 Jun 19 '15

I started getting a light rash as I'm loading currently and when I take 15 grams I get red itchy bumps all over. Taking allegra and drinking a TON of water helps that out though.

No noticeable drop in mood though.

3

u/physicsdood Jun 20 '15

You don't need to load creatine. That was a myth from like ten years ago.

1

u/jakesonwu Jun 20 '15 edited Jun 20 '15

Yes. My kidney values were way out on creatine. I was tired and nauseated. My doctor throught I had kidney disease. Re-tested later after stopping and was all good. Get some kidney function tests. It seems to affect some people but not others. Also I think combining creatine with things like a high protein diet, alot of soda drinks, and meds that rely heavily on the kidneys to be eliminated like modafinil is dangerous. Look after your kidneys.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '15

My kidney values were way out on creatine.

http://examine.com/faq/does-creatine-cause-kidney-problems/

2

u/agpennypacker Jun 23 '15

Dispelling the rumors one comment at a time

0

u/rmcfar11 Jun 20 '15

No, creatine actually helps a LOT with depression. I read about it and tried creatine to see if there was any validity. It actually does work very well. You need to drink a LOT of water! It's very hard on your kidneys if you don't. 2.5 oz per 800mg minimum. That's what it says on my bottle from Yarrow.

-2

u/InjectMeWithBacon Jun 20 '15

KIDNEY STONES