# FITNESS and NUTRITION FORUM > SUPPLEMENTS >  Creatine Mono working great... BUT... = sore joints!?

## Drummerboy

I started taking creatine mono about 2 weeks ago. I immediately put on 5lbs of water. Not bad. But, 2 weeks later my strength has gone up quite a bit. almost 20lbs on bench, up to 120lbs skull crushers... dips are at me + 120lbs on a belt. All of these are noticeable jumps. Its not in my head. I always train to failure, before 7 reps. Im definitely getting stonger fast. HOWEVER.... im getting headaches... and my elbows are badly inflamed. I have a lot of elbow soreness through the tendon and the ulnar nerve. Ive been poking around a bit and finding more people complaining about sore joints and headaches on creatine.

What im asking is : has anyone felt some joint pain after starting creatine? How about headaches? Fast increases in mass can give you BP problems and hence headaches. I guess it works well for me compared to others... perhaps a lower dose will do? Im also reading creatine somehow disrupts the balance of calcium? I dont know how this will affect joints tho... but this elbow pain came from the start of creatine for sure... any input from experience is appreciated!

~DB~

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## hldr1027

Don't know about the elbow pain, that seems a bit strange but if you dont drink lots of water while taking creatine you will get headaches, just drink more and they will go away!

I used to take mono pills, CEE and nitro & creatine combos but the best for me has been ATP Liquid Creatine with Glucosamine, you take it under the tounge with a dropper and it has glucomine in it to which is great for the joints, plus it is very fast acting!

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## Reed

I have never read any article about creatine having a negative impact on joints. Even just googled and never found studies that even mentioned the two together. Maybe i didn't look hard enough but did go through a couple of pages of hits. I do know that nausea, stomach upset,dizziness, diarrhea, and muscle cramping can be common with dosages over 5 grams a day.

Are you taking a joint supplement? The joint pain could be associated with the sudden increase in strength. IMO 20 lbs on your bench in 2 weeks is a dramatic increase!! Good for you but not so much for your joints. What about the amount of water you are drinking. Make sure to get over a gallon. I have to correct myself and be one of "those" dudes that fills up a gallon jug just to ensure that my intake is met. Don't worry I'm not one of those that take it to the gym and look like a goober  :LOL: 

If you are not taking a joint supplement I would recommend:
Glucosamine: 2000mg 2x per day
and
MSM: (for joints AND to aid in protein synthesis) 2000mg 2x per day

At least try the glucosamine out. For me it really helps out the joints. I notice the difference in my joints on squat days particularly. I'm about to go hit those squats right now in fact!
Good luck!!

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## abbot138

Yeah the Glucosmanin, Chondroitin, MSM stack is money. Takes a few weeks to build up in your system, but I cant even remember the last time I had aching joints.

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## TheJuicer

Abbot138, that is the stack I'm on and my joint pain is about gone. That is the money stack!!

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## Drummerboy

well ill increase my water intake and i got nutriflex liquid joint formula... im also gonna start using flax oil again and see... i dont think my joints can take the sudden increase in strength... its a pretty good leap... i use Google International English thats where i found a few places where people have had trouble with creatine and joints... apparently a small % of people react with sore elbows/knees, stop creatine and it goes away... no real studies tho.

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## Drummerboy

just saw a couple more testimonies to creatine causing sore joints... the way im reading into these statement tells me that the sudden increase in strength is straining connective tissue. Im going to stay out of the gym for a week and stop creatine, then go back, then start the creating a week later and report to this thread. Im also not bothering with the loading phase, and taking better care of water intake. More to come.

~DB~

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## Reed

> just saw a couple more testimonies to creatine causing sore joints... the way im reading into these statement tells me that the sudden increase in strength is straining connective tissue. Im going to stay out of the gym for a week and stop creatine, then go back, then start the creating a week later and report to this thread. Im also not bothering with the loading phase, and taking better care of water intake. More to come.
> 
> ~DB~


Yeah I saw all the testimonies on creatine causing sore joints but no actual studies. It has to be the sudden increase in strength. Its like you just started a cycle or something  :LOL: 
Get on the joint supplements and make sure the brand you bought has enough of the things you need. Do that for a couple of weeks and instead of loading tons of creatine in your system at once why not try to slowly add it in. Isn't that how they do it, take a bunch of grams for the first couple weeks and then cut it back? Its been a while since creatine mono.

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## Flex-Appeal

Glucosamine is great for your joints. Any joint supports fomula is always good to take when lifting IMO

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## Flex-Appeal

personally i never had problems like you though...can't relate

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## CanthookitLs6

The joint pain probably is due to your strength gains, (added stress from lifting heavier weights).




> Glucosamine is great for your joints.


What he said.

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## Mike83

I had to sign up just to go way back and reply to this. Yea I have done it about a week and a half only. Did the first week with 20mg dosages a day (like alot said.) Now its tapered to only 5 or less. I worked out a while back and am just restarting up in the last month or so. And yea the first few weeks with out it I had no pain. But with it I started to also go up in weight pretty fast. And my elbows and everything in that area really started to hurt. But only during pulling. Ala curls or pull down or whatever. I hate spending a tun on supplements, so I don't know about getting something to help the joints, If I stay on creatine. Its almost like tennis elbow. Which I id used to get when throwing a football in HS. But never during a workout. I wanna stay with it, because it works pretty well. No miracle worker, you still have to bust butt. But it does work, at the least when your on it.

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## Godson

how much do you guys take of creatine mono ? how many grams

also pre or post workout or both?

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## arsenal01

take some cod liver oil to very good for your joints, never had this of creatine before try coming of it for a while and see how you feel

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## hahachacha

i have been taking 5 grams creatine monohydrate for 4 weeks. For the past 1 to 2 weeks, my finger, wrist and elbow joints have been kind of sore and achy. I think this cannot be blamed on increased strength or training, because I have not been doing anything with my hands/arms more than usual. I do not really work out, except for trying to strengthen my quads after knee surgery, so that can't explain hand pain.

I am only 29 years old, so this sudden joint pain seemed strange, and I realized maybe it could be the creatine, and apparently, at least a few others have reported similar experiences in forums. Perhaps I have not been drinking enough water, which could cause joint pain if the creatine is causing my muscles to pull water, and there is not as much fluid in my joints. I will try increasing my water intake. If that does not work, I will stop creatine. I will try to remember to report back the results.

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## acema12345678rocks

> i have been taking 5 grams creatine monohydrate for 4 weeks. For the past 1 to 2 weeks, my finger, wrist and elbow joints have been kind of sore and achy. I think this cannot be blamed on increased strength or training, because I have not been doing anything with my hands/arms more than usual. I do not really work out, except for trying to strengthen my quads after knee surgery, so that can't explain hand pain.
> 
> I am only 29 years old, so this sudden joint pain seemed strange, and I realized maybe it could be the creatine, and apparently, at least a few others have reported similar experiences in forums. Perhaps I have not been drinking enough water, which could cause joint pain if the creatine is causing my muscles to pull water, and there is not as much fluid in my joints. I will try increasing my water intake. If that does not work, I will stop creatine. I will try to remember to report back the results.


I have worked out with weights for years without any pain in joints. I have been on creatine for a couple of months and have developed elbow and wrist pain. I suspected that this may be the cause. I am not going to use it and see if the pain subsides. It is a soreness like tennis elbow...soreness of the muscle, tendons, and perhaps the bone there...strange.

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## Testlolblast

> i have been taking 5 grams creatine monohydrate for 4 weeks. For the past 1 to 2 weeks, my finger, wrist and elbow joints have been kind of sore and achy. I think this cannot be blamed on increased strength or training, because I have not been doing anything with my hands/arms more than usual. I do not really work out, except for trying to strengthen my quads after knee surgery, so that can't explain hand pain.
> 
> I am only 29 years old, so this sudden joint pain seemed strange, and I realized maybe it could be the creatine, and apparently, at least a few others have reported similar experiences in forums. Perhaps I have not been drinking enough water, which could cause joint pain if the creatine is causing my muscles to pull water, and there is not as much fluid in my joints. I will try increasing my water intake. If that does not work, I will stop creatine. I will try to remember to report back the results.


It's also not worth it to take a caffeine while on a creatine, because of a potent dehydration risk. You have to drink more water. It's also proven that better gains with a creatine alone than adding a caffeine.

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