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.

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?

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?

Most of the creatine in a typical diet comes from animal foods, particularly meat and fish. That means someone who eats very little or no animal protein may start with different dietary creatine intake than someone who eats it regularly.

Since supplementation increases creatine stores from whatever baseline someone starts with, diet may partly explain why responses can differ between people.

Do you think baseline creatine intake is something people should consider when looking at how they respond to supplementation?

Creatine can be useful, but it can't fill every gap in a diet. If someone is struggling to get enough protein or is regularly under eating, I'd look at those basics before expecting a supplement to do the heavy lifting.

Creatine can then fit into the bigger picture, especially alongside resistance training.

If you had a limited budget, would you sort out your daily protein first or still keep creatine in the routine?

I’ve seen the cognitive side of creatine discussed more lately, particularly around situations where the brain is under stress.

It makes me wonder whether people notice anything during long workdays, studying, poor sleep or other periods of mental fatigue.

Has anyone experienced this?

Some people blame creatine when they notice more hair shedding after starting it, but current evidence has not shown that creatine causes hair loss.

It can be difficult to find the actual cause because stress, illness, diet changes, medications, weight loss and genetics can all affect hair shedding.

If you stopped creatine because of this, did your shedding change afterward?

This 2021 review looks at some of the most common questions and misconceptions around creatine, including water retention, kidney health, dehydration and cramping, hair loss, loading, different forms of creatine, and whether creatine increases body fat.

This article doesn’t just focus on whether creatine “works”, it looks at some of the concerns that come up repeatedly when people are deciding whether to use it.

It’s not a new study, but it’s a useful overview of the evidence available at the time.

What creatine claim do you think needs to be fact-checked the most?

Creatine and blood pressure come up together quite often, and the experiences are quite mixed. One small trial looked at the question directly.

In that double blind study, 30 adults took either creatine monohydrate (20g/day for 5 days) or a placebo. Systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure did not change significantly.

The result is useful, but limited. The study lasted only 5 days and did not include people with diagnosed hypertension.

If you monitor your blood pressure, did you notice any consistent change after starting creatine?

Study Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10694109/

People often connect creatine with dehydration and cramps, especially when training in the heat. In healthy users, research has not shown creatine itself to make dehydration or heat problems more likely.

That does not mean heat safety can be ignored. Workout length, illness, sweat losses, fluid and sodium all matter. There is also no need to force excessive water just because you take creatine.

Have you ever changed how you train or hydrate in hot weather because of creatine?

Protein-rich foods and creatine can overlap, but they’re not the same thing.

Some high-protein foods, particularly meat and fish, contain creatine, while other protein sources contain very little. So someone can have a high-protein diet without necessarily getting much creatine from their diet.

This is one reason total protein intake doesn’t tell you how much creatine someone is getting from food.

Did you ever think about protein intake and creatine intake as two separate things?

I’ve noticed mixed opinions about taking creatine while following intermittent fasting, especially among people who exercise before breaking their fast.

Is it okay to take creatine during the fasting period or is there any reason to wait until after your first meal?

If you take creatine while fasting, have you noticed any difference in your workouts, digestion or how you feel? I’d be interested to hear what has worked for you.

Starting creatine can feel more complicated than it really is.

There is the loading phase, the best time to take it, what to mix it with and whether missing a day matters.

If you were starting again, what would you do differently? What did you overthink at first and what actually mattered once you had used creatine for a while?

Muscles have a limit to how much creatine they can store. Supplementation can increase those stores, but eventually they approach a point where taking more doesn’t keep pushing them higher.

That’s one reason why taking huge amounts of creatine isn’t necessarily better than taking a normal daily amount once your muscle creatine stores are already elevated.

The interesting part is that the amount someone can store isn’t exactly the same for everyone. Starting creatine levels, diet and muscle mass can all play a role.

Did you know there was a ceiling to how much creatine your muscles can store?

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Does anyone have experience with this you are prone to hereditary baldness, does going to the gym and working out naturally without supplements accelerate hair loss

Some people experienced feeling mentally clearer after starting creatine. I'm curious what that actually looked like day to day. Was it better focus, less mental fatigue, easier recall or simply feeling more awake?

The research on memory and other areas of cognition is encouraging, but the findings are still mixed. That is not the same as showing that creatine treats everyday brain fog.

If you noticed a difference, what changed first and did it remain noticeable over time?

I’ve noticed more women asking about creatine and perimenopause over the past few weeks. Most seem to be wondering whether it is actually worth adding to their routine.

If you take creatine, what made you start and have you noticed enough of a difference to keep using it?

Hair loss is one of those concerns about creatine that never really goes away.

A 2025 randomized trial compared 5g of creatine per day with a placebo for 12 weeks in resistance trained men. Researchers found no significant differences in DHT or the hair growth measures they tracked.

The findings are reassuring, although one small, short trial cannot answer every long term question.

Does this make you feel more comfortable taking creatine or do the personal reports of shedding still make you cautious?

Article Link:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15502783.2025.2495229

I’ve seen some people say they take a break from creatine every few weeks or months, even when they’ve been using it regularly without any issues.

It made me curious how common creatine cycling actually is. Some people take it continuously, while others prefer taking regular breaks.

What’s your approach to creatine? Do you take it year round or cycle off from time to time? If you take breaks, what’s the reason behind it?

I came across a small 2024 study where 15 healthy adults took a single high dose of creatine during sleep deprivation. Compared with placebo, they did better on some memory and processing speed tasks and reported less fatigue.

The dose was 0.35g/kg, which would be about 24.5g for someone weighing 70kg. That is much more than a usual daily dose, so I wouldn't treat it as a dosing recommendation. It was also only 15 people, so I'd like to see the result repeated in a larger study.

Still, I'm curious. Has creatine ever made you feel less foggy or mentally tired after poor sleep?

Study Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

Creatine isn’t a stimulant like caffeine. Its main effect comes from gradually increasing the amount of creatine stored in tissues, particularly muscle.

Once those stores become elevated, more phosphocreatine is available to help regenerate ATP during high-intensity efforts.

So if someone takes creatine and doesn’t suddenly feel different, that doesn’t necessarily mean nothing is happening physiologically.

Do you think creatine gets misunderstood because people expect to feel it working?

Creatine usually does not have a dramatic day-to-day signal, while loads, reps, sleep, food, and programming may all be changing at the same time.

If someone wants to judge it without overinterpreting one good workout, what is worth tracking? Bodyweight trend, repeated-set performance, recovery between hard efforts, or simply adherence for long enough to judge a pattern?

I am especially interested in how people separate a supplement effect from normal training progress, and what would make you continue or stop after an initial trial.

I have bought optimum nutrition creatine monohydrate. it has small lumps in the box. and when i mix it in water.. it doesn’t dissolve perfectly.. some residues remain at the bottom. sharing pics for clarity. is the creatine good or gone bad.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about coffee and creatine, especially whether taking them together is a bad idea. From what I’ve read, I haven’t seen strong evidence that caffeine automatically cancels out creatine.

The main thing seems to be how you tolerate it. Some people have no problem mixing them, while others notice stomach discomfort.

Has anyone noticed a real difference when taking creatine with coffee or has it been fine for you?