@Dan_USAAZ - thanks for your detailed reply!
Can you tell me what benefits you get from creatine?
- Greater ability to exercise (weight bearing). Supports muscle contraction.
- I believe it helps in post exercise recovery and PEM reduction, but this is a bit of a catch 22. I say this because the PEM that creatine may be reducing is also caused by the creatine allowing me to not only exercise, but exercise at a higher level. I think it is the lessor of two evils and ultimately I am healthier (not deconditioned) for it. We'll see....
- Brain support. A couple years ago a paper was published which described how the brain uses and benefits from creatine. I can't remember the specifics or where to find the paper, but I guess it would turn up in a Google search. I can't say for sure if I notice a difference in cognitive functioning when taking creatine.
- I also suspect that creatine helps with low intensity, standard activities. Anything that would involve muscle contraction (which would be any movement). These activities might include walking, light housework or gardening. The few times I went off creatine, summoning the muscle strength for these activities was challenging.
With regard to exercise, I have to be careful to stay within my "threshold". Doing so still results in in PEM (48 hours), but it is very predictable. The PEM starts the next morning and continues to get worse for a period of 12 - 24 hours. Then it plateaus and I can start the cycle all over again. If I exceed my threshold, the PEM can be much more severe and the gut is severely impacted. This can result in a longer term crash, but still just 5 - 10 days.
So in my case, I believe a set of supplements (creatine, d-ribose, inosine, vasodilators, etc) have made it possible to continue to get some level of exercise. At the same time they create a risk and an opportunity to initiate a crash.
One other caution with creatine. Some people (especially women) report getting water retention from it. Some severe. I never have. I might recommend starting at a low dose (maybe 1/2 gm) and titrate up every few days after you see how it affects you. I may do a similar titration if I trial the creatine hydrochloride. I will start with maybe 2gm and gradually increase it if I see a perceived benefit at the higher dose and am not experiencing additional gut problems.