Creatine or BCAAs raising creatine kinase numbers?

[GrayReese]

I Recently started taking creatine and bcaas. Im also an open heart patient, so get bloodwork, etc done regularly. My latest levels of creatine kinase were 1600+, enough to have them go into a panic and then diagnose me with rhabdo. I Hadn't worked out in 3 days prior to bloodwork and never do enough volume to cause rhabdo. So now I'm headed back in and know they are going to tell me to stop taking the supplements, but I haven't found any reliable data that suggests there is any reason to do that.

Any coaches/doctors on here have some info/links that can provide insight?

Thank you

[Tom Campitelli]

As I understand it, creatine monohydrate does not meaningfully affect creatine kinase levels, but this is ultimately above my pay grade. We'll see if anyone else chimes in.

[CrouchingWayne]

One of the relatively recent Rip podcasts with Jordan talks about creatine supplementation. Might be worth digging that out.

If I recall correctly Creatine levels are much higher when on a supplement (around 1 normally, up to 3 on a supplement IIRC) but it's ok as this is excreted. Taking the creatine level in isolation (and without knowledge of supplementation) can therefore make doctors think there is a serious issue.

The above is from memory of a podcast and some online reading - I wouldn't take it as medical advice!

[Maties Hofstede]

Jordan and rip have a talk about it.

Nutrition Misinformation with Jordan Feigenbaum

[wwg]

Caveat, I'm neither a doctor nor a coach.

I had bloodwork done while being on linear novice progression and gaining weight rapidly (1 kg per week). Some values were completely off of what is considered normal, among others creatine kinase. My doctors also went into panic mode, suggested I'd might die the next few days and had me completely checked up, nothing there, everything ok. The doctor that made the ultrasonics check of my organs, liver and the like, was my age, height and weight, and he was pretty puzzled when I told him that I want to gain weight and my goal was to go to at least 220 lb while his was to go down to 165. "Everybody wants to loose weight and you want to gain, how crazy." Well, after two weeks off of lifting and going on a caloric restriction everything was back to "normal". So if you're really worried I'd recommend taking 14 days off of lifting and getting bloodwork done again. Creatine kinase levels are said to need 7 days roughly to go back to normal after a lifting session. Or you just ignore those silly lab results as I will do in the future.

[PKShah]

As I understand it, creatine monohydrate does not meaningfully affect creatine kinase levels, but this is ultimately above my pay grade. We'll see if anyone else chimes in.

This is correct. The creatine kinase blood test measures serum levels of an enzyme that is normally present within skeletal and heart muscle, and released with damage to that muscle (i.e., heart attack, rhabdo, etc). Creatine supplementation does not affect serum levels of creatine kinase.

[Dave Hahn]

We are assuming you are using creatine monohydrate. Are you?

[rmscott_75077]

Not exactly related, but my creatinine levels in my blood showed borderline after being normal. Doctor was concerned. I told him I was taking creatine monohydrate supplement. He looked at research and said the 2 were unrelated. I did some digging around on my own. I found 1 article that claimed it could be. I thought what the hell, I quit taking it and my levels have been normal every since. There are certain things that are just not known to doctors as there are tons of variables involved with each human. I would say quit taking it and after about 6 weeks get tested again.

[Tom Campitelli]

Given that creatine has a number of beneficial effects and that CK levels are probably not related to intake of creatine monohydrate, I don't know that I would cease to consume it.

[JohnKreg]

This seems pretty easily confusing (same root, three substances). There are two substances: *Creatine* and *Creatinine* that Jordan talks about in the video (somewhere around 14 min in) and that story is worth knowing about if you supplement with Creatine -- it has to do with false positives on blood tests and why you should let your doc know you are supplementing -- but serious health implications are fairly remote, there.

This third substance Creatine Kinase or Creatine Phosphokinase is a whole other beast. It's levels do indicate muscle damage and no one has -- to my knowledge -- made a connection with any supplements or talked about potential false positives for this one. So, if you've got this one elevated, you're in another bucket and not dealing with the harmless side effects of training or supplements.