Mother has Weird Reaction To Creatine Mono, What's Going On? page

[LeJ]

My mother is 56, I recommended her to supplement with creatine monohydrate. As it is supposed to boost mental performance.

She buys the brand NOW Foods Creatine Powder

She takes 1 teaspoon and her blood pressure rises to 150, she gets a head ache and feels physically exhausted and extremely stressed. She also had symptoms of nauseousness and being hyper-active. My sister reported that my mom looked totally rattled. My mom couldn't leave the house and go to the supermarket. The effects lasted for 12 hours.

Then she takes half a teaspoon and the effects are the same but half as strong, still high blood pressure at 150 with a racing heart.

She was informed about creatine and expected to have no side effects whatsoever!


What is going on?

My mother doesn't have any illness. She's been battling with gaining weight most of her life and with fatigue and being overworked. But lately she has been able to gain weight, been more relaxed.


Any idea what could have happened? I'm really curious as well as I want to help her out. I haven't hear of this side effect to creatine.



Thanks for any input!

[destructalux]

Sounds like the manufacturer got their product mixed up with beta alanine or one of the older style pre workouts!!!! :S

P.S. never heard of creatine giving mental focus... its simply to help hydrate your muscles. Least thats what I thought

[LeJ]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...f/14561278.pdf

I doubt that the products got mixed up. My sister, 21, tried a teaspoon of the same CrM and felt good and fit all day long.

[cori93437]

Yeah... creatine is making the rounds being touted as a mental focus/clarity enhancer.
Creatine May Boost Brain Performance

And...
Creatine | The Health Fitness Project

And...
10 supplements you can take today to enhance your intelligence

It's been all over the place in the news.

Also I googled "Creatine and blood pressure" and found some stuff... as usual for this type supplement mostly on a bodybuilding type forum. It seems that creatine causes the body/muscles to hold more volume of water than normal which can create high blood pressure.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...=411792&page=1

http://www.ask.com/web?l=dis&o=10148...g%20high%20bp?

[LeJ]

Thanks cori, I've found the same websites and read them. They don't really tell me much.


Could my mother have kidney or liver problems? It the adverse reaction to the creatine a sign of poor health?

[cori93437]

It sounds like she is just one of the folks who reacts badly to it unfortunately... it seems widely know that some people get the HBP, headaches, etc. not from bad health but just from bad luck.

And if she has reacted the same 2 of 2 tries... I think it's time to call it enough IMO.

Sorry.

[destructalux]

these guys might be able to help you identify whats going on with your mum and are very quick to respond.

https://www.facebook.com/bulknutrients?ref=ts&fref=ts

[Iron Fireling]

One girl at CrossFit claims she gets a buzz after taking creatine... me, I notice nothing at all! (Hopefully it's doing something to help my workout though hard to tell as CrossFit WODs are all so different so I can't compare one day to the next...).