Creatine to cause cramp?
I was reading up on a post made by health24.com which suggests that creatine may cause cramp..
Cramp is a tight intense pain that is common in leg muscles and is caused when a muscle contracts and doesn’t relax. Cramps are usually temporary and doesn’t normally lead to serious muscle problems. Some factors that may cause cramp are; poor fitness, exercising at high work loads (overlifting), too little stretching before workouts and creatine (reported by atheletes).
If you do get cramp and it’s severe or occurs regularly or fails to improve with simple treatment, you need to see a doctor.
20061230 6:40 pm
Stretching before workouts has not been shown to reduce cramping. Some studies in fact have shown that stretching before workouts increase risks of cramps and injury.
20070126 2:22 am
Dihydration can also cause cramping. The use of creatine dihydrates, so you must drink plenty of water.
20080309 8:06 pm
I thought a lack of sodium was one of the main causes of cramp.
Maybe creatine stops the body metabolizing sodium. I don’t think so though, I don’t think creatine is the cause or even makes it more likely. I’ve never had any problem during exercise with creatine more than wothout.
20080623 10:40 am
All the scientific reports I’ve read say there is no evidence of creatine causing cramps. However, everytime I’ve used creatine I have experienced an increase in cramps (some extremely painful). This occurs a lot more with monohydrate than other kinds. Also I have a number of friends and family members who have had the same experience. I guess you can’t say for sure that it was the creatine causing it as I may have been dehydrated and was exercising intensely, but it does seem like a huge coincidence. I read that creatine draws water to it in the body and has a poor absorption rate. I was wondering whether the creatine that doesn’t get into the muscle draws water away from the muscle thus dehydrating it and causing cramps. Just a thought.
20081205 3:41 am
complex thought
20090611 4:27 pm
I took creatine and got bad charley horses. I can’t contribute this to anything but the creatine as I hardly ever get them except when taking the creatine. I have heard you need to drink a lot of water to prevent the cramps.
20100114 10:57 pm
Count me down as someone who gets serious, disabling cramps from creatine. Increasing water intake does nothing. The cramps do not require physical exercise to occur – the occur during every day life.
Anyone who says the cramps don’t exist can stuff it. They are there, at least for me, are unmistakeable and have occur every time I have tried it – at least 10 times, over the years. I keep thinking that maybe the cramps are a reaction to creatine insufficiency.
I have yet to see a study that included ‘normal’ people, as opposed to members of collegiate athletic teams or other high fitness groups and creatine. It may be that there is a difference there. But, for whatever reason, don’t doubt the cramps if you have them: plenty of other people experience them too, and they are unmistakeably due to the creatine.
20100330 6:10 pm
i lov creatine
20100422 2:57 pm
My husband took creatine til 2 days ago. He was cramping bad and I work for a doctor so we had him come in and get blood test done ….. one being CK (creatine kenisis) it checks muscles and also a liver test. Well the CK levels were 1770 and normal levels are suppose to be under 200. Doctor told him if he didn’t rest his muscles and stop taking that creatine powder drink mix he would go into renal failure at any time. Also his liver enzymes are elevated too. So I am telling you from experience, stop taking it! And if you are cramping that much, get to a doctor!
20100422 3:02 pm
Oh and this is what the doctor told me to google to find out what my husbands condition is: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Rhabdomyolysis
you might want to check it out.
20100530 8:45 pm
Well, creatine in take deffo causes cramp.
I have been training for a 10k run along with doing muscle work as well to build up, that’s why I started taking creatine monohydrate.
Since I started taking creatine, everytime I run now, around the 4k mark my muscles start cramping.
It’s no coincidence this has only started happening since I’ve been taken creatine.
I drink plenty of water as well, I drink that much water that I am constantly pissing basically
20100706 7:01 pm
I’ve been on creatine for about 6 months. I don’t take as much as the container says, but I’ve stated to cramp and I think it’s the creatine.
20100902 1:04 am
Thanks for such a great post and the review, I am totally impressed! Keep stuff like this coming.