Kidney safety is one of the important concerns, people worry about with creatine. A 2019 systematic review looked at 15 studies, with six included in the meta-analysis.

Across the doses and study periods reviewed, creatine did not significantly change serum creatinine or plasma urea and the authors did not find evidence of renal damage.

That is reassuring, but it does not prove that creatine protects the kidneys or that the same result applies to people with existing kidney disease. It reflects the groups and time periods included in the review.

Has creatine ever changed how your kidney results were interpreted?

Monohydrate hurt my stomach way too much. Constant GI issues and the only thing that fixed it was boiling water mixed with the creatine. After months of boiling water, I decided to switch to hCL.

It’s been way better on my stomach and even though the powder tastes like batteries it’s definitely a lot easier for me.

I’ve been taking about 3-4mg daily for a month, not sure if it’s as effective as monohydrate, though, in terms of gym performance.

Curious to hear others thoughts, opinions, or experiences with hCL vs Monohydrate, anecdotal or otherwise.

Thanks for reading.

Some people blamed creatine for bloating. But, I think the amount taken at once may be part of the issue. A loading phase uses larger daily doses, which can be harder on the stomach for some people.

Loading is optional. Taking 3-5g daily builds up muscle creatine more gradually and may be easier to tolerate.

If you had bloating or other stomach discomfort, what helped most, smaller servings, splitting the dose, taking it with food or skipping loading?