Low creatine levels

Moij02024
Moij02024 Posts: 14 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
For the past 18 months my blood tests have shown quite low creatine levels.

I have noticed muscle loss on my left calf and upper arms thighs now going too.. is there anything I can do about this any supplements?

I have seen a doctor and had several tests there’s no medical reasoning. Possible that it could be early menopause?

Answers

  • Moij02024
    Moij02024 Posts: 14 Member
    Nothing to add then?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,148 Member
    Creatine or creatinine? It's creatinine that shows up in my blood test results, not creatine. If so, creatinine levels can be affected by a lot of factors, including things as simple as hydration levels before the blood tests, if it's blood test you're talking about. Some medications lower creatinine as a side effect. Of course, low creatinine can be a symptom of some health conditions, but there would usually IMU be other indications in a blood test panel if that were so.

    I've read that post-menopausal women IMU tend to have higher blood creatinine levels than pre-menopausal women. But also IMU, reduced estrogen levels (as in menopause) can contribute to post-menopausal muscle/bone loss, so there may be relevance of menopause onset even if creatinine is a red herring.

    Some context would be helpful: Do you strength train progressively? (I'd assume yes, given this is in the Bodybuilding section, but that's an assumption.) Get ample protein? Get other good nutrition? Are you vegan or vegetarian? If so, are you focusing on getting well-rounded essential amino acids, from relatively bioavailable sources?

    FWIW: I'm 68F, menopausal, been in menopause for around 24 years. My creatinine level has been at 0.9 mg/dL in my last few blood tests, with a reference range of 0.6 mg/dL - 1.5 mg/dL. Vegetarians statistically tend to have lower creatinine levels than non-vegetarians. I'm vegetarian. For those and other reasons, I supplement creatine. I don't know whether you do, or whether it might be helpful.

    There's a sort of research-survey article here that may have some useful information or links concerning creatine supplementation for women, which seems not to have been as well-researched among women as among men:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998865/

    Note: I'm just some random idiot on the internet, interested in things like this for my own health reasons. I'm not any kind of medical professional or expert. You shouldn't listen to me. ;)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,920 Member
    I'm not sure whether there's an actual creatine bloodtest. There's creatine kinease, which shows kind of regular workouts, but also muscle damage if high. There aren't many reasons for bottom range CK. One thing i found looking into this is autoimmune disease with muscle wasting, like Lupus. This somehow seems to suppress serum CK activity (not cellular). Have not found anything on other autoimmune disorders with that.
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 315 Member
    What tests did you have done? EMG? MRI? muscle biopsy? or just blood. Are you eating enough calories? Doing weights? If all of these are good, supplements to check out include leucine, HMB, and testosterone. Of course, the latter would require a doctor.

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