This is a fairly complex, but highly interesting paper -> Evidence suggesting creatine as a new central neurotransmitter: presence in synaptic vesicles, release upon stimulation, effects on cortical neurons and uptake into synaptosomes and synaptic vesicles
Per the title it proposes that creatine may be a new neurotransmitter
Always hard to say for sure, but I believe I felt an improvement from creatine within a few days. I had a much better recovery from activity and started putting on muscle within a few weeks. I added liposomal glutathione (empty stomach) and digestive enzymes to my stack around the same time too, probably helped as well. I believe it has a positive effect on my migraines as well, I haven't had one in several months now. I'm taking 1 tsp (about 3 grams) twice a day with meals. I lost 25kg after the miracle \/ and never had a migraine previous to it.
I believe so, when I first started taking creatine again (I stopped for years), I was in a really bad place physically and I felt improvement within 5 days. A lot of these supplements sometimes work "like magic" by the fact the body is incredibly deprived of so many nutrients, it kickstarts (positive) reactions.
You weight loss after the jab is insane. I only ever saw it in severe (as in weeks of ICU) Covid cases. Glad you recovered.
JP, a number of years ago I found I had a Homocysteine level around 15. An MTHFR SNP or two. I reduced that Hcy level bit by bit with several items, each dropping the Hcy by about an average of 1.5 units. One was L-5-MTHF. Another was exercise. Creatine HCl was another. I found I could get enough Creatine with only about 1/8 tsp of the HCl form and believe that the creatine is packaged more efficiently in the HCl form than in the monohydrate form.
Do you know anything about the HCl form of creatine and how it compares to the monohydrate form? Are they just different forms of the same thing with similar or identical effects, or does each form have its own collection of effects? With the monohydrate form, one has to take many grams a day, which has been pretty expensive. I think I can get the same amount of creatine with significantly fewer grams of the HCl form but have never really understood the difference between the two forms or if there are differences in the amount of grams needed for energy and recovery effects versus how much I need to handle an Hcy overage problem.
The most recent trial/research paper I could find, they found that 2 grams of creatine were enough to modulate and lower Hys levels, so depending on your lifestyle, diet, level of activity, age, 2 grams are more than enough, the average dosage is 3 grams (I take 3 most of the days, with sometimes 5 grams.
HCI is a form of creatine that is just "easier" for the gut and body to absorb, this is effectively the difference, how fast and how "well" the body uses the creatine, but there are places and times to use normal creatine. Is creatine expensive in the US now ? Because even though it trippled in price here, it is still "cheap" if you buy in bulk, I wrote in 2022 that the prices were increasing and wouldn't stop until 2024, but didn't expect it to be that high.
If HCI and hydro price difference isn't that big, perhaps stick to the HCI, since you have good results with it.
Sorry, in bulk the monohydrate form is about $0.15/5gms (for a kilogram), so that's not too bad. However, I recall when deciding on the form to use, that I would need to take a *lot* of the hydrate form and might have digestive issues, so I opted for the HCl form. I'll stick with that form, as it doesn't seem to cause me anything but benefit. Thanks for your input, JP. :-)
As always not good but excellent work Professor - at 4gm daily one might not suffer dehydration, cramps, purpura or the trots. However, one may elevate blood pressure. Supplementation may slow or stop your body from producing its own natural stores of Creatine in skeletal muscle (90%) & brain. As Creatine is cleared via cell, organ saturation and renal filtration, impurities in the source can cause serious problems. 2gm daily is a recommended maintenance dose, and as always it's all based on the individual.
Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, Jimenez A. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012 Jul 20;9(1):33. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-9-33. PMID: 22817979; PMCID: PMC3407788. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407788/
Well, it the "chiken or the egg" situation of health. Does normal, healthy people actively need to supplement creatine ? Well, depends on the level of activity, the diet, underlying conditions. As with most "supplements" the healthier you are, the higher the diminishing returns become.
From experience with helping a lot of people, people with gut dysbiosis, gut inflammation, many neurological conditions, quite a few immune conditions all benefit from supplementing without any of the possible downsides. Especially people who are constantly battling fatigue, they seem to really benefit from it.
I personally take 3 grams per day, sometimes I take 5, but I don't go higher than that. I suspect there is a creatine metabolization/transport failure in many people with Long Covid/ME-CFS and they don't store enough of it, but this is just another one of my crazy talks.
Professor - I'm a fan of creatine, used it in my salad days, yes diminishing returns apply, and it's all based on the individual and their routines. Your suspect is spot on. Transport failure most likely, its a matter of signal and the results can be most disturbing... https://youtu.be/Ro_QpDJX-Sk?
Thank you for writing on creatine! i use to take it months back then dont know stopped it for sometime... now it seems its not easily mixing in water,any idea if that can be used? no bad smell or anything, still a month to expire...
After sometime creatine (as a lot of other powdered supplements) will absorb humidity from the air, so it can become "harder" to mix with water. Some people just "dry scoop" it, basically "eating" creatine lol.
thats good! one more question then, i had some powdered supplements in the past, due to humidity they became hard, like ALCAR for example, it had a strong smell and hard as rock...i had to throw it as the smell was too strong, but mixing in water definitely dissolved it.. so now am not sure, i felt bad that time as ALCAR is costly and i loved it..
I don't think ALCAR itself should smell.too strong. So sadly you did the right thing, the only amino acid that gets a stronger smell and it is completely normal is NAC, all others and vitamins should maintain a neutral or slightly pleasant smell.
Dear JP, a possible safety flag from recent own experience: when you search you find a case report and some blog entry about retinal detachment timely associated with the uploading regimen. Typically some heavier „comorbidities“ involved. My case: strong myopia. Can be absolutely normal, but it was timely associated, two weeks after having terminated an uploading scheme. Just for info. It‘s plausible.
My son was deceived and coerced into two poison shots by his university. He is a powerlifter who takes creatine among other amino acid supplements. This article gave me some hope. Thank you.
A lot of people simply "bounce back" from the jab. I would suggest to him (You suggesting him) to add proteolytic enzymes for a few weeks, just as a precaution, otherwise I sincerely believe he will be fine.
If he is young/younger, a yearly visit to the cardiologist is advised just to be on the safe side. All the best.
He's been on nattokinase since I became aware of it. Also on the standard supplement set since Day-1 (VitD, VitC, since, quercetin, NAC). What a journey it's been.
If he takes some precautions (The supplements referred here and in other places), I don't think he will experience the "suddenly" event. Takes just little preventive measure to avoid these outcomes from my experience.
Not a comprehensive one, but hopefully it helps people understand and take the first step. I will write more about it in the future, but some of the paper referenced here are extensive literature review, so for the scientific literate, it has all the necessary information.
This is a fairly complex, but highly interesting paper -> Evidence suggesting creatine as a new central neurotransmitter: presence in synaptic vesicles, release upon stimulation, effects on cortical neurons and uptake into synaptosomes and synaptic vesicles
Per the title it proposes that creatine may be a new neurotransmitter
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.22.521565v4
this is a great find! many thanks..
Always hard to say for sure, but I believe I felt an improvement from creatine within a few days. I had a much better recovery from activity and started putting on muscle within a few weeks. I added liposomal glutathione (empty stomach) and digestive enzymes to my stack around the same time too, probably helped as well. I believe it has a positive effect on my migraines as well, I haven't had one in several months now. I'm taking 1 tsp (about 3 grams) twice a day with meals. I lost 25kg after the miracle \/ and never had a migraine previous to it.
I believe so, when I first started taking creatine again (I stopped for years), I was in a really bad place physically and I felt improvement within 5 days. A lot of these supplements sometimes work "like magic" by the fact the body is incredibly deprived of so many nutrients, it kickstarts (positive) reactions.
You weight loss after the jab is insane. I only ever saw it in severe (as in weeks of ICU) Covid cases. Glad you recovered.
JP, a number of years ago I found I had a Homocysteine level around 15. An MTHFR SNP or two. I reduced that Hcy level bit by bit with several items, each dropping the Hcy by about an average of 1.5 units. One was L-5-MTHF. Another was exercise. Creatine HCl was another. I found I could get enough Creatine with only about 1/8 tsp of the HCl form and believe that the creatine is packaged more efficiently in the HCl form than in the monohydrate form.
Do you know anything about the HCl form of creatine and how it compares to the monohydrate form? Are they just different forms of the same thing with similar or identical effects, or does each form have its own collection of effects? With the monohydrate form, one has to take many grams a day, which has been pretty expensive. I think I can get the same amount of creatine with significantly fewer grams of the HCl form but have never really understood the difference between the two forms or if there are differences in the amount of grams needed for energy and recovery effects versus how much I need to handle an Hcy overage problem.
Any thoughts on this? (Thanks!)
The most recent trial/research paper I could find, they found that 2 grams of creatine were enough to modulate and lower Hys levels, so depending on your lifestyle, diet, level of activity, age, 2 grams are more than enough, the average dosage is 3 grams (I take 3 most of the days, with sometimes 5 grams.
HCI is a form of creatine that is just "easier" for the gut and body to absorb, this is effectively the difference, how fast and how "well" the body uses the creatine, but there are places and times to use normal creatine. Is creatine expensive in the US now ? Because even though it trippled in price here, it is still "cheap" if you buy in bulk, I wrote in 2022 that the prices were increasing and wouldn't stop until 2024, but didn't expect it to be that high.
If HCI and hydro price difference isn't that big, perhaps stick to the HCI, since you have good results with it.
Sorry, in bulk the monohydrate form is about $0.15/5gms (for a kilogram), so that's not too bad. However, I recall when deciding on the form to use, that I would need to take a *lot* of the hydrate form and might have digestive issues, so I opted for the HCl form. I'll stick with that form, as it doesn't seem to cause me anything but benefit. Thanks for your input, JP. :-)
No problem. As I usually say, stick to what it works for you, even if it goes against "evidence" or "science". =P If it works, it works.
As always not good but excellent work Professor - at 4gm daily one might not suffer dehydration, cramps, purpura or the trots. However, one may elevate blood pressure. Supplementation may slow or stop your body from producing its own natural stores of Creatine in skeletal muscle (90%) & brain. As Creatine is cleared via cell, organ saturation and renal filtration, impurities in the source can cause serious problems. 2gm daily is a recommended maintenance dose, and as always it's all based on the individual.
Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, Jimenez A. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012 Jul 20;9(1):33. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-9-33. PMID: 22817979; PMCID: PMC3407788. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407788/
Well, it the "chiken or the egg" situation of health. Does normal, healthy people actively need to supplement creatine ? Well, depends on the level of activity, the diet, underlying conditions. As with most "supplements" the healthier you are, the higher the diminishing returns become.
From experience with helping a lot of people, people with gut dysbiosis, gut inflammation, many neurological conditions, quite a few immune conditions all benefit from supplementing without any of the possible downsides. Especially people who are constantly battling fatigue, they seem to really benefit from it.
I personally take 3 grams per day, sometimes I take 5, but I don't go higher than that. I suspect there is a creatine metabolization/transport failure in many people with Long Covid/ME-CFS and they don't store enough of it, but this is just another one of my crazy talks.
Professor - I'm a fan of creatine, used it in my salad days, yes diminishing returns apply, and it's all based on the individual and their routines. Your suspect is spot on. Transport failure most likely, its a matter of signal and the results can be most disturbing... https://youtu.be/Ro_QpDJX-Sk?
Creatine is an osmolyte too.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1890352/
hope.
Thank you for writing on creatine! i use to take it months back then dont know stopped it for sometime... now it seems its not easily mixing in water,any idea if that can be used? no bad smell or anything, still a month to expire...
After sometime creatine (as a lot of other powdered supplements) will absorb humidity from the air, so it can become "harder" to mix with water. Some people just "dry scoop" it, basically "eating" creatine lol.
so i can just take it directly in mouth then drink some water, was about to throw it :P
You definitely can 😁. Old creatine can also solidify to the point it becomes hard as rock and you have to break it up.
😎 You feel like a drug dealer lmao
thats good! one more question then, i had some powdered supplements in the past, due to humidity they became hard, like ALCAR for example, it had a strong smell and hard as rock...i had to throw it as the smell was too strong, but mixing in water definitely dissolved it.. so now am not sure, i felt bad that time as ALCAR is costly and i loved it..
I don't think ALCAR itself should smell.too strong. So sadly you did the right thing, the only amino acid that gets a stronger smell and it is completely normal is NAC, all others and vitamins should maintain a neutral or slightly pleasant smell.
But if you put it in your mouth dry, be careful you don't inhale any by accident.
Dear JP, a possible safety flag from recent own experience: when you search you find a case report and some blog entry about retinal detachment timely associated with the uploading regimen. Typically some heavier „comorbidities“ involved. My case: strong myopia. Can be absolutely normal, but it was timely associated, two weeks after having terminated an uploading scheme. Just for info. It‘s plausible.
Any brands you favor?
No. Buy any reputable brands with good reviews if you are in the US/EU/first world
Thorne is a great supplement company that I get mine from.
My son was deceived and coerced into two poison shots by his university. He is a powerlifter who takes creatine among other amino acid supplements. This article gave me some hope. Thank you.
A lot of people simply "bounce back" from the jab. I would suggest to him (You suggesting him) to add proteolytic enzymes for a few weeks, just as a precaution, otherwise I sincerely believe he will be fine.
If he is young/younger, a yearly visit to the cardiologist is advised just to be on the safe side. All the best.
Thanks. He appears to have bounced back. My concern is delayed action morbidity.
Mine too, the reason for further suggestion. Glad he is normal now.
He's been on nattokinase since I became aware of it. Also on the standard supplement set since Day-1 (VitD, VitC, since, quercetin, NAC). What a journey it's been.
Zinc not "Since".
No kidding. My son had to take the clot shot too for law school and I pray he doesn’t drop dead one day.
If he takes some precautions (The supplements referred here and in other places), I don't think he will experience the "suddenly" event. Takes just little preventive measure to avoid these outcomes from my experience.
Finally the creatine one! Thank you!
Not a comprehensive one, but hopefully it helps people understand and take the first step. I will write more about it in the future, but some of the paper referenced here are extensive literature review, so for the scientific literate, it has all the necessary information.
Hope you found this one useful.