High Dose Creatine Consumption

Following on from a this article I read and linked to on our Facebook page about the use of creatine and how a much higher dose than is traditionally thought could be optimal I decided to give it a try as creatine is relatively cheap and I didn’t see any downsides to trying it. I always try things from an N=1 perspective before I would dream of recommending anyone else try anything.
I did all of the calculations suggested in the article and came out at requiring 30g of creatine per day. It was also suggested that post workout would be the optimal time to consume it as this would include a good chunk of high GI carbs in my PWO shake.
After discussing this with a number of people I decided to try it this way but had been warned this could cause some GI problems, however it had been ok for most with adequate fluid intake.
Plan A – following my workout I added 30g to my shake. Within about 1 hour my stomach didn’t feel great and to keep it short I had a bubbly gassy stomach all night even with drinking 2 Ltrs of water. It was nothing more than this but was far from pleasant.
Plan B – I’d been recommended trying either 3x 10g with main meals or 2x15g either side of a workout. I opted for the 3 x 10g and so had my first dose in the morning, another mistake as I had it on an empty stomach and again the unpleasantness returned although not as bad, this continued all day and for the next 2 days as I thoughts the I just needed to adjust to it.
Plan C – after taking a couple of days off to settle my stomach properly I tried the 2x 15g protocol and this was by far the best result for me so far, however, there was still a little discomfort so the following day I dropped it to 2x 10g and seem to have finally found my sweet spot for tolerance.
I have been following this protocol for around 10 days now and although it maybe a placebo effect I do feel stronger in some of my lifts and feel as though I’m better recovered the start of each workout (as though I’m fuelled ready to go).
On non-training days I simply have 10g with my midday and evening meal as I find the food keeps me settled and the carbs are there to assist with absorption.

In conclusion if you feel the need to try a similar approach I’d recommend starting from a smaller dose, say 2x 10g and working up to it until you find what’s best for you. As with all creatine consumption ensure your fluid intake is high as this helps prevent GI issues, and please let us know how you get on.