alt Hacker NewsCurious if anyone has had hair issues while taking it. I’m aware that there’s no positive evidence for an effect, but there is an at least plausible mechanism. I’ve gone through two periods where I took it and liked the effects, but felt like I shed way more hair and stopped due to that.
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My personal experience has been dramatic:
5/6g a day.
Very demanding job with lots of ‘thinking’
3 times a week gym
Pre creatine I would struggle to maintain ability to do the hard thinking around 3pm. Just like, fog or I could feel my brain didn’t have capacity.
Now, I am capable till the end of the day. Feels like a well trained athlete at the end of a game being able to deliver rather than just holding on.
There's evidence creatine may raise DHT levels, and DHT causes hair thinning: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19741313/
I bumped mine from 5g daily to 15 and noticed way less anxiety. It's a must have for me now. Besides that is the regular benefit of being able to squeeze out a few more reps during my kettlebell workouts
I tried getting on it several times, I would feel energized at first but after a two or three days it would do the opposite and I would get very lethargic.
My body has a strange reaction to comonly used substances, though. For instance, even a single soda's worth of caffeine causes me to have an extreme 18-24 hour mania phase and then a two day crash afterwards. So, your mileage will definitely vary.
I take 10g a day, have for a couple years now. Started mostly because of training but it does wonders in sleep deprived states.
5g would probably be fine without a lot of training ( I train about 10hrs a week). Seems like I need 10g to both get the physical and mental benefits, especially during peak training blocks (running 50-60 mpw with strength training).
No but every time I try to take creatine supplements I get heart palpitations. Everyone says I am crazy and that it’s impossible but I have proof from my Apple Watch, one time it was so bad it said I had atrial fibrillation. I went to a cardiologist and he acknowledged it is a possibility but he hasn’t seen it before.
n=1 here, I noticed considerable shedding and thinning when taking creatine. I've taken it alone for 3 months and noticed thinning and shedding. I took it with Minoxidil and Finasteride for six months and noticed reduced shedding. At one point I stopped Mino and Fin, but kept the creatine and the shedding increased rapidly.
I am now on Minoxidil and Finasteride, with no creatine, and no longer have shedding.
I take 10 g a day and have maybe noticed muscles seem to bulk more after a hard strength workout. But other than that I feel about the same.
There was one study that has never been replicated that showed it increased DHT levels in Rugby players. Higher DHT levels are associate with hair loss and enlarged prostate. Creatine has always come with too many side effects for me as well, I don't get how people take that stuff every day.
Interesting, I also noticed thinning
The plausible mechanism is for male pattern baldness, but increased shedding is not MPB. MPB shrinks the size of the hairs on the top of your head over time. It isn't really affected by shedding which is normal and happens to everyone.
Same. Not clumps, but a definite uptick in hair shed. Stopped taking it.
Do you work out?
If so creatine is supposed to help people push themselves harder and thus build more muscle. As a side-effect of intense exercises you'll create more testosterone. Increased testosterone leads to balding.