As someone who got COVID March last year, still experiences heart palpitations, and is often fatigued now - should I try the creatine thing you're doing? If it doesn't work, I could just stop, right?
Are there side effects I should watch out for?
\n\n\nThere is one specific symptom it is useful for: difficulties in processing blood sugar into ATP energy, where it helps by replacing with energy derived from breaking down stored fat. Over my (9 now, I think) cases I’ve encountered other fatigue symptoms, including one that was really an iron deficiency and one I suspect was “post-exertional malaise”, the creatine did nothing for them.
Creatine is pretty safe though, your body makes some naturally all the time, if you took a bucketload on the reg it might gratuitously let you burn too much fat doing exercise and then starve in a famine.
I would say it’s worth trying once \u2013 take say 4 scoops, it’ll take effect within 20 minutes, if that clears it up yay, take it every day and it’ll burn fat to keep you on until the symptom clears, if it makes you feel a bit better but not totally try some more until you find your level, if that’s not it sorry but maybe suggest it to other people with fatigue.
Honestly when I first read about you using creatine for fatigue I was like “such a dude bro solution, doubt it will work” but then I read some articles on long covid and CFS that showed the energy limitations are heavily tied to a lack of anaerobic energy production and was like “weird”
But it’s one of the most studied supplements on the market and a proven safety record even in really high doses, and long-term high dose usage over years hasn’t shown any negative impacts.
So I decided to try it. I’ve got Fibro and (likely) long covid, and started off w really low doses (like 1/3 the ‘recommended’ dose on the package) and started upping weekly and had great results.
I don’t need my lunchtime nap anymore, and I’ve still got energy at the end of the workday for little chores around the house. I haven’t had a bad brain fog day for nearly 3 months. I usually spend weekends working for 20-30 mins on chores and resting for about the same time. Now I can work for a few hours before a short 20-30min rest, and I don’t suffer the rebound (PEM) in the following day.
I’m still only taking ~4 scoops per day so I’m not seeing any weight loss or gain, but i was pre-diabetic when I started (managing w diet and exercise) and now my blood sugar is way more stable with no food or exercise changes, just a slight increase in baseline activity. I have noticed some reduction in my largest fat deposits, but I think I’m probably losing fat/gaining muscle equally.
I ran out on Tuesday this week and didn’t have time to go to the store, and the difference in fatigue and reduction in endurance was immediate, but no other difference. I haven’t noticed any side effects or w/d symptoms, so I’d rate it safe for self experimentation, fwiw. (Obviously, I am NOT a Dr and YMMV)
Mostly, I’m a little peeved you solved chronic fatigue with bodybuilders powder.
The one thing I’m concerned about is that insofar as it DOES give you more energy that DOES come from breaking down fat, and it took a while for me to first notice my reserves being depleted but that is a finite resource.
In my case this one Covid symptom is receding at a rate such that if I keep this treatment up I expect to end up stylishly slim, but for a chronic, permanent thing I couldn’t maintain it indefinitely, I’d become emaciated.
(I’m also not sure I can store new fat until it fully clears, scheduled a year or so on, I suspect my blood sugar’s just getting converted to nonsense molecules and pissed out, if that’s different for you maybe it’s more sustainable? This seems like exactly the thing a nutritionist might be helpful for.)
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