I recently got an order of At Large's Nitrean protein, and the Creatine 500 supplements on Friday, and have had roughly 3 shakes since (last was on Sunday).

On Friday I noticed slight stomach issues, but I figured that was somewhat normal. At first I had thought it was ab muscle soreness from doing crunches. Though, by Sunday I came to realize that my body really doesn't like something that is going into it.

Reaching up my arms causes pain in my mid stomach, pressing on my stomach causes pain, and even pushing out my stomach (though, minor) though definitely has the feeling of being bloated.

I tried to do some push ups/leg raises last night to "relieve" some of the pressure, and my stomach muscles feel like they do after a hard ab/core session, but I haven't done anything to them since at least Thursday. During the push ups something in my stomach made a very odd sound (a "blaguk" type sound...), and for about 10 minutes after -- the pain was completely gone.

I've cut off all supplements, and have been drinking water. I also went out and got that Gas-X stuff...but, that doesn't seem to help. Its really quite annoying, and somewhat painful. I'm hoping it will clear up by tomorrow...but I don't know.

Has anyone ever had this type of issue? I'm thinking the main culprit is dairy related (2 shakes were with just water, and the other was with milk). I've staved off "direct" dairy (milk) for months now primarily due to minor annoying issues with lactose. But, I also read that creatine can cause stomach cramps (don't know about the bloating though).

Would a Soy based protein drink be better? I'm tempted to give Nitrean another try after this current issue clears up. Primarily to test if Nitrean or Creatine is the culprit.

Any advice would be great.

Reading up on Creatine some more...various complications talk a lot about stomach cramps (one mentions bloating...at least that I came across).

Has anyone had stomach issues with Creatine?

Reading up on Creatine some more...various complications talk a lot about stomach cramps (one mentions bloating...at least that I came across).

Has anyone had stomach issues with Creatine?


i'd defniitely try just taking the nitrean and see if u get cramping/bloating. i think a number of people have similar issues with creatine.

I had stomach cramps for the first couple of days starting out on creatine. I did the possibly pointless loading phase the first week which probably didn't help matters

-Mike

If the creatine is indeed the problem with your GI distress, simply divide it into 1gram, taken 3-5x per day, with your highest carb meal. The cramps/bloat should be alleviated.

Further, all it takes is 2.5 gr of creatine per day to reach saturation point within 30 days or so.

Good luck.

The first day or two I had some abdominal pain w/ cre

Its calmed down slightly today. Still if I lean back -- it hurts. And, tried sucking in my stomach for whatever reason...and wow -- that gave a nice sharp stabbing pain.

I'm still waiting till I'm back to baseline to try to see which was the cause. I'll probably end up drinking Muscle Milk from the gas station after my workout. Simply, because I know those haven't given me problems the few times I've snagged one.

Those are symptoms of acute gastritis. Have you ever had stomach issues or heartburn before? Are you drinking water before you take the Creatine?

Those are symptoms of acute gastritis. Have you ever had stomach issues or heartburn before? Are you drinking water before you take the Creatine?

Apart from heartburn/acid reflux -- I haven't had any stomach issues.

I've cut out chili, and energy drinks for months now simply because they almost instantly give me reflux. I was also prescribed medication for GERD.

I was drinking water, but maybe not enough at that point. I still have stomach pains, but they seem to go away when working out (most likely what happened when I did pushups, internal air simply shifts - as the pain comes back within an hour.)

Granted, the pain isn't nearly as bad as a couple days ago...but I am now starting to lean towards visiting a doctor. To rule out phlegmonous gastritis...which has a relatively high mortality rate even with treatment (nothing like reading information on medical conditions to only be scared by the worst).

Hopefully I can wait till Saturday...and if there's still pain head to the hospital/VA.

Thanks for all the replies.

Apart from heartburn/acid reflux -- I haven't had any stomach issues.

I've cut out chili, and energy drinks for months now simply because they almost instantly give me reflux. I was also prescribed medication for GERD.



If you have a history of GERD, you could certainly be a candidate for gastritis. There's a strong correlation between the two. It's most likely an acute case but I would cut out anything that is a catalyst. I wouldn't worry about a phlegmonous case. That sounds rare.

Are you taking your prescription? Was is a proton pump inhibitor?