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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Creatine Monohydrate
        
(Message started by: Fatcat on Nov 25^th, 2004, 8:45am)

Title: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by Fatcat on Nov 25^th, 2004, 8:45am

Hi folks,

Has anyone heard of this? It's a training supplement used by sportspeople. Does anybody know if it either increases your BP or could interfere with Verapamil? I'm having a bad time of late and, although I can find no evidence to confirm it, I'm wondering if it could be the creatine.

I could, of course, just come off the stuff, but it stays in your system for a good few weeks and I don't want to stop it unnecessarily.

fatcat

Title: Re: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by LeLimey on Nov 25^th, 2004, 11:15am

Try checking on here

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interaction/ChooseDrugs

Its very useful for checking interactions between all medications.. do you know aobut not drinking grapefruit juice or eating it while on verapamil?
Hope this helps
Helen

Title: Re: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by Fatcat on Nov 25^th, 2004, 12:21pm

Thanks for that, Helen. That's a superb website. Very useful. It didn't find an interraction between the two, but then Creatine isn't really a drug.

A friend got in touch with me this afternoon. He seems sure that creatine can increase your BP. I hadn't read this before. I'm stopping it straightaway to see if there's an improvement.

Fatcat

Title: Re: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by LeLimey on Nov 25^th, 2004, 6:07pm

I haven't got a clue what creatine is to be honest! But then I havn'et got a clue about alot of things.. [smiley=huh.gif]
Let us know how you get on
Helen

Title: Re: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by Fatcat on Nov 26^th, 2004, 3:43am

Thanks Helen,

If my theory's right on this, I'll see an improvement within about 10 days. You'll be the first to know!

Title: Re: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by floridian on Nov 29^th, 2004, 10:25am

It could interact with verapamil:

Quote:

Res Commun Chem Pathol Pharmacol. 1990 Sep;69(3):353-6.

Verapamil-induced creatine kinase loss from rat slow and fast muscles.

Glenn GM, Hayes DA, Armstrong RB.
Miami Children's Hospital, FL 33155.

The purpose of this study was to determine the dose-response relationship between verapamil HCl and creatine kinase (CK) release from isolated rat slow (soleus, S) and fast (flexor digitorum profundus, F) skeletal muscles. Total CK activity in F muscle was approximately 2x greater than in S muscle. For both S and F muscles, CK release as a function of verapamil concentration in the incubation medium was linear (r = 0.94); the slope of the line for F muscle was 4.5x that of the S muscle. S and F muscles lost up to 38-44% of their total CK activity during the 2 hr incubation. The CK activity lost to the medium was 100% of the MM isoform. The mechanism of the enzyme release is not known.

So what's it mean? Creatine kinase is an enzyme that converts creatine to its high energy form (phosphocreatine). Verapamil causes CK to leak from muscle cells. Elevated CK levels are also associated with heart attacks, muscular dystrophy, and a few other diseases.

Presumably, less CK in muscles means less phosphocreatine and more creatine or creatine-monophosphate in the muscles, although that wasn't measured in this study. What effect does a creatine supplement have on people taking verapamil? I have no idea.

Are you taking creatine for bulking up?

Title: Re: Creatine Monohydrate
Post by Fatcat on Dec 1^st, 2004, 8:37am

Hi Floridian,

Thanks for the info. Not sure what to make of it. Yes, I was taking it to add a few pounds and it was working really well. But without doubt, I was feeling iller from day to day. I wouldn't say that I'm better since stopping, but I've had better days. I can only sit and wait. In fact, my shadows are quite bad today, but that could be because I'm going on holiday next week and (anxiety perhaps????) things always get worse before I travel. I reckon it'll take a good few days yet for the effects of creatine to vanish completely.

Fatcat