Need a subsitute for creatine

[exit 81]

I'm looking for a substitute for creatine (cell-tech). I used it for almost 3 months and then quit using it because i was experiencing some adverse side effects. It worked well for me and I was able to add about 10 lbs during the time I was taking it. I'm 5'9, 180.
I'd like to try something else that works differently but still gets comparable results. Any suggestions?

[dave]

Creatine has always been fine for me, so haven't taken anything else, just usual protein shakes.Have a look at the prohormones.A mate of mine took 19-Nor and found it pretty good, but haven't taken it myself I so couldnt tell you.

[The_Hulk]

How long have you been working out for? how old are you? and whats your experience with supplements?.....You would have to answer me these questions before i could tell you to take Pro-Hormones or anything else that has an effect like Creatine, for most of the other "stuff" that has an effect on your body like cratine is a prohormone or a steroid of some sort, and i can not tell you to take anything like that unless i know who you are. What side effects did your Creatine have? bloat? dehidration? dry-mouth? because all of these side effects can be prevented through simple precautions. For one, Make sure you are drinking enough water. You dont need a full gallon really, but somewhere extremely close to that. Otherwise dry mouth and dehidration will occur, and your muscles wont grow much. If you are experiencing bloat, then your creatine might not be pure, and there is nothing you can do about it but buy a different one then. Creatine is awesome, and it is the best source for gaining muscle because it doesnt really have any searious side effects as research shoes. My advice to you is continue on taking creatine, and if you are looking for even more mass or harder muscles then you can turn to pro hormones, but u should never turn to them in an alternative.

[exit 81]

I'm 24 years old. 5'9, 180. I'm in good health. I work out for 2 hours every other day. I've been working out steady for the past 2 years and in stints for the past maybe 5 years. I started using creatine because I was starting to plateau in the amount I was lifting.

I've been away on vacation for the last 3 months and got away from working out. I'm just getting back into it now and was looking for a new supplement. I used creatine last about 6 months ago. The reason I quit using was because I honestly wasn't able "to get it on" with my girlfriend. After being off it for about 3 weeks everything had returned to normal. Besides this I had no other side effects at all when using it. I drank plenty of water. I know another guy who had the same problem using the exact same product (Cell Tech creatine monohydrate). Also another person had the glands in his neck swell up quite a bit and was generally lethargic all the time so he quit it.
This kind of puzzles me since I've heard so much good about creatine.
I'd love to use it again because it worked great but obviously am a little tenative.

Could it have been Cell Tech's product? Maybe some additive that isn't present in other brands? Doesn't make sense to me. I'm fairly new to supplements and there's really no need for me to take a prohormone. I think that's going too far for me. Plus I don't know much about it.

[Cort]

Heh, hope I don't have that problem. Cell-tech does contain other things besides just creatine, you may want to check the container for that as I'm not entirely sure on everything it has. I'm just using GNC's creatine monohydrate w/ smarties instead since it is a lot cheaper and basically same thing.

[abear]

have you tried just plain creatine?

there are issues being made about muscletech products having "other" ingredients not listed on the label.

[faction]

i had a similar problem with creatine. who's never had this problem with creatine and what brand are they using?

[theback26]

Never had a problem getting it on w/ my gf, but GNC Creatine Monohydrate did make me feel like ****. After 3 days of dizziness, nasuea, etc, I went on cell-tech. Cell-tech worked fine but because of the price I'm taking prolab now and it works just as good as celltech. Maybe lower your dosage to 5g/day or even 2.5?

[The_Hulk]

Cell tech should be fine to use just like any other muscle tech products. Studies have shown though that Creatine can cause sore joints and muscle weakness if water is not drank at the required minimum which is close to a gallon a day while taking it. Your water intake must have been too low, and since your penis is a muscle it might not have been responding as well as it should be, because of creatine making your body feel dehidrated through the lack of water. Now, you say you get enough water while on creatine, but are you really? many people actually dont drink the minimum amount needed. I am not an expert, but my guess is that it has something to do with ether your water intake or the way you are taking the product. How many grams did you use per day? what did you mix it with? If you answer me these questions then i will have a better idea. Impotence can also be caused through the use of other products combined with one another. Make sure the products you are using together can be stacked. Hopefully this was some help to you. By the way, I used Creatine ES6000 by Muscle Tech and never experienced any problems. I never tried cell tech because it seemed like a too complicated product, it has all these different ingredients combined and i just wasnt sure if they are safe. Just remember that all studies have been done on CREATINE and not creatine mixed with other products, this indeed could have a side effect. But as i said, I am not an expert on this issue.

[exit 81]

I looked into it and figured out that the recommended dosage MuscleTech tells you to take on the container is actually 40 g a day during the loading phase and 10g a day during the maintainence stage.

This is double the amount I think I should be taking for my body weight.
Since I was taking double the amount of creatine I think I should have probably been drinking double the amount of water which I wasn't.

This could have been the problem.