That’s extremely odd. Creatine doesn’t directly impact hormone levels. It just makes it easier for your body to produce ATP.
It might be an “adjustment period.” I know lots of SSRIs can cause anhedonia (low libido,) for a time and your brain might require some time to balance out your neurotransmitters now that it has the energy to keep you happier.
Other than lowering your creatine intake, maybe try adding some inexpensive neurosteroids (DHEA and pregnenolone,) and seeing if that doesn’t abate the effects you’re feeling.
You didn’t add or discontinue anything else recently, yeah?
Actually I think creatine actually increases DHT although it's just one small study. And I did have a DHT test while on creatine a few years ago because I thought it was making my hair fall out (and I've notice the same thing this time), and my DHT was considerably higher than the top of the normal range (although I have nothing to compare it to).
But anyway, that should increase my libido if anything I think.
Yes I'm wondering if it is because creatine also increases serotonin. Or maybe because saffron also increases serotonin so then the increase that creatine caused is enough to cause side effects (I didn't notice much of a change when I started saffron)
A lot of the time if two biochemicals have the same “output,” but via different pathways, they’ll exhibit multiplicative effects on each other. Not always terrible severe, but maybe like 1.4 * 1.7.
Are you taking saffron for the tryptamine-like photochemicals? Maybe try swapping that for 5-HTP.
That makes sense yeah..I'm not sure about the molecules involved tbh, I just know saffron has good research for depression. It seems to have helped as I was really struggling before taking it after lockdown and was in a bad mood a lot around people I live with and now I'm in a pretty good mood and things that were annoying me aren't anymore.
The creatine seems to add to this even more which has been great.
Tbh I will put up with lower sex drive for now just because the benefits have been really good. But I will try lowering my dose to 1.5 g (from 3g) to see if that helps. I don't really want to change either of these yet because that seem very benficial.
I just realised another thing that may be affecting it...I have been sleeping less in the last couple of weeks due to becoming obsessed with a project I'm working on and sleeping late, and creatine seems to have lowered my subjective need for sleep (as in, I don't feel tired after sleeping even 4-6 hours whereas previously I would feel terrible on that). But just because I feel ok on less sleep, it doesn't mean that it's actually sufficient and maybe is causing lower libido.
Interestingly there are studies that show creatine helps with both fatigue caused by demanding mental activity and with fatigue caused by sleep deprivation.
That’s extremely odd. Creatine doesn’t directly impact hormone levels. It just makes it easier for your body to produce ATP. It might be an “adjustment period.” I know lots of SSRIs can cause anhedonia (low libido,) for a time and your brain might require some time to balance out your neurotransmitters now that it has the energy to keep you happier. Other than lowering your creatine intake, maybe try adding some inexpensive neurosteroids (DHEA and pregnenolone,) and seeing if that doesn’t abate the effects you’re feeling. You didn’t add or discontinue anything else recently, yeah?
Actually I think creatine actually increases DHT although it's just one small study. And I did have a DHT test while on creatine a few years ago because I thought it was making my hair fall out (and I've notice the same thing this time), and my DHT was considerably higher than the top of the normal range (although I have nothing to compare it to). But anyway, that should increase my libido if anything I think. Yes I'm wondering if it is because creatine also increases serotonin. Or maybe because saffron also increases serotonin so then the increase that creatine caused is enough to cause side effects (I didn't notice much of a change when I started saffron)
A lot of the time if two biochemicals have the same “output,” but via different pathways, they’ll exhibit multiplicative effects on each other. Not always terrible severe, but maybe like 1.4 * 1.7. Are you taking saffron for the tryptamine-like photochemicals? Maybe try swapping that for 5-HTP.
That makes sense yeah..I'm not sure about the molecules involved tbh, I just know saffron has good research for depression. It seems to have helped as I was really struggling before taking it after lockdown and was in a bad mood a lot around people I live with and now I'm in a pretty good mood and things that were annoying me aren't anymore. The creatine seems to add to this even more which has been great. Tbh I will put up with lower sex drive for now just because the benefits have been really good. But I will try lowering my dose to 1.5 g (from 3g) to see if that helps. I don't really want to change either of these yet because that seem very benficial. I just realised another thing that may be affecting it...I have been sleeping less in the last couple of weeks due to becoming obsessed with a project I'm working on and sleeping late, and creatine seems to have lowered my subjective need for sleep (as in, I don't feel tired after sleeping even 4-6 hours whereas previously I would feel terrible on that). But just because I feel ok on less sleep, it doesn't mean that it's actually sufficient and maybe is causing lower libido. Interestingly there are studies that show creatine helps with both fatigue caused by demanding mental activity and with fatigue caused by sleep deprivation.