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Glutamine or creatine for body building for crohn's patients?

I dont know if this has been discussed earlier,but I wanted to know if Glutamine or creatine can have good and same effect on a crohn's patient's body as on normal person and if there is any side effect involved.

I was searching for glutamine supplement as its been quite some time that I have been into a gym and trying to build some muscles..but am stuck at a point after initial sucess.I saw an article which said Glutamine was helpful in Crohn's desease. But nothing more was written in brief..so can it really help me ?

I have noticed there are many members here who are into body building/weight lifting exercise...so I guess they would be taking some kind of supplement..and if anyone has tried Glutamine or creatine and seen any side effect of it.
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
Hi sid I see you requested additional support! :D Unfortunately I have no knowledge on this subject but I'll bump your thread and tag EthanPSU who might be taking supplements of this type (not sure, but its a shot). :)
 
I use L-glutamine. Not so much for working out but to heal my mucosa. For working out, I believe it is supposed to help protect muscle tissue and for quicker muscle recovery.

I don't know anything about creatine.
 

kiny

Well-known member
You'd want creatine if it's for bodybuilding over glutamine, but since you have crohn I would take glutamine. Glutamine hasn't shown much result for gaining muscle, glutamine favors use in the intestine too, muscles is one of th last things the body dedicates resources for.

Normally glutamine levels are high enough, that might be why it isn't very effective for bodybuilding, while muscles need it, they body provides ample glutamine for recovery, but if you have crohn that might be different, the small intestine uses a lot of glutamine.

I use glutamine, I have taken creatine, creatine works when you're actually working out on something, I never noticed the difference with glutamine, but I take it because it helps the small intestine, and I stopped taking creatine.
 
Thanks guys ..it was helpful. Though I am still not clear on wether they have any serious side effects, especially on people with CD.
 

kiny

Well-known member
Should be ok for glutamine. Btw, you should store glutamine somewhere a bit below room temperature, it's very unstable, leaving it in room temperature ends up denaturing it which makes it useless. (not even with hot food or hot drinks btw, use cold or colder water to drink it down, it's really unstable in free form)

And if you're worried about side effects, glutamine is nothing to worry about if you take it in normal doses, meat is full of glutamine (since you're eating muscle) and red meat has creatine. Mind you, glutamine is safter than creatine imo, I never worry about glutamine tbh, as long as you don't take too much, you'll get more glutamine than you would be getting from a normal diet, but as long as you don't overdo it most people seem to be tolerate it just fine.

Glutamine has almost no taste either.

It works on the small intestine btw, I don't think it doesn anything for the large intestine, I've never seen studies for it used for UC either. I think it's primarily small intestine, and it uses quite a bit too, a human body has a lot of glutamine running through every day.
 
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KWalker

Moderator
I'm sorry if I'm taking over the thread but just how effective is the L-Glutamine for healing mucosa? My colonoscopies showed that so if I could take this stuff to heal it that would be awesome. Can anyone buy it without a prescription and is it expensive?
 
There is a study about L-Glutamine HERE. You don't need a prescription. The bottle I get is $10 for 100 tablets. It's also sold as a powder--can put that in a protein shake or smoothie.
 

KWalker

Moderator
Oh thank you. That's not too bad at all! Do you just take one a day? I guess I should just do some reading lol
 
and what should be the dosage for people like me who wanna ad some muscle through weight training ?
 
Location
Houston
Glutamine - 4g/day split in two doses for bodybuilding. Ideally one dose right after your workout. Taking it with your post workout shake (which shouldn't include only protein, need lots of carbs). Bodybuilding.com is over the top on just about everything, as a lot of their readers/writers take anabolic steroids which helps your body utilize more of everything. Creatine is controversial for crohn's, as it can give most normal people extra BM for the first couple weeks. I personally wouldn't take creatine it's something you can do without...all it really does is full your muscles with extra water, which makes them look bigger, and helps to push a couple more lbs.
 
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If you're interested in taking Creatine I'd suggest trying Kre Alkalyn pills. They're like Creatine powder but in a pill form so you don't have to go through the initial loading phase.

I generally find my strength and endurance increases while taking them. Good for the short-term when you find yourself plateauing.
 
Location
Houston
For me another problem with creatine is whenever I came off, my muscles shrank. Without the exta creatine in your muscles, it can't hold as much water.
 
For me another problem with creatine is whenever I came off, my muscles shrank. Without the exta creatine in your muscles, it can't hold as much water.
I didn't notice any fluid retention with Kre Alkalyn and got better results than taking Creatine powder.
 

kiny

Well-known member
Can take up to 5 grams of glutamine like people said, or less. In hospitals often doses of 20-30 grams are given to trauma patients (ballistic wounds / car accidents), because it helps them recover, shouldn't take those amounts though, they're given for a few days and then stopped. And take less or stop if you think you're feeling dizzy because of it. It takes a while for your body to deal with the extra glutamine.

I like the powder form because free glutamine mixes very well with water, but can take the cap form too, I just prefer to mix it, it has barely any taste.
 
Thanks guys..I think I have decided that I am going ahead with only glutamine...4gm/day sounds good. I dont want to take any risk by any overdose of anything.
 
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