i dunno if anyone out there taking creatine also experiences shredding?

ur help is most appreciated!

Yes it causes me to shed too, which is unfortunate because i love the bodybuilding effects of it .

glaxom.. do u still use it? also if u stop would the shedding stop too?

both can be used (along with cardio) to help you get shredded

"In most guys loosing hair comes along with an increase in the hormone Di Hydro Testosterone, the swollen prostate, prostate cancer and hair loss hormone. And, sorry to tell you guys, DHT is not really testosterone despite its name and being classified as an androgen (male hormone)! In vivo (in live people not in a test tube or on paper), DHT is mostly made from estrogen. And, estrogen levels in the body have to increase before DHT levels get critical enough to cost you your hair. It is estrogen that causes muscle loss, fat gain, cranky moods, depression, swollen prostates and lack of mental drive.:

In addition to raising testosterone, MACA also regulates the estrogen in the body...decreasing it to acceptable levels if your estrogen level is high.

so to me, it would make sense to avoid creatine and to focus on MACA instead, which is what I do. It helps build lean muscle and it decreases estrogen.

Anything that increases Testosterone in your body, in the absence of taking something to block conversioon of T to DHT, will INCREASE hair loss. I think it's fine to take Maca if you are taking something else to block DHT, but if you don't you are asking for hair loss. Don't say you weren't warned. Hairloss doesn't happen over night. Just because you haven't lost hair yet doesn't mean you won't.

this was taken from another quick search on google...different website as before.

Study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12525260?dopt=Citation Report: http://www.med.nyu.edu/patientcare/library/article.html?ChunkIID=104590

From my own experience with both Creatine and Maca--

My Creatine use coinincided with my time period of rapid hair loss (but I was doing nothing to combat hair loss at that time.) Taking Creatine and drinking red bull type drinks is a recipe for rapid hair loss, imo.

I have been using Maca for almost year now and I have not experience any hair loss (Of course now I combatting like hell my hair loss.) So at least Maca from my experience does not lead to hair loss. My dose is about 4 x 500 mg pills a day.

My opinion is that Maca is safe and perhaps beneficial to hair loss sufferers at reasonable dose levels.

I would pop a few if you're about to hook up, but not on a daily basis. Just my opinion.

I would trust scientific studies over your intuition. There are other pathways for increasing your libido besides your hormones. So don't be quick to jump to your uneducated opinions. Please do your homework first!

how exactly do you cycle your Maca intake?

Thanks.

But beware, when you start, you need to ease into a full dose. too much too soon is not good for you. I use the powder in my protein shakes so I began with a full tablespoon twice a day and it was too much for me. I broke out in pimples and became a much more aggressive person, easily lost my temper. When I learned how to cycle, I cut my dosage down and slowly starting adding to it. In about a week my pimples cleared up and my temper went back closer to normal although I still feel more aggressive than I was before.

I'm not going to say that maca powder is a miracle supplement, But I do think that its an important component to an overall health plan. (and i agree with the rock hard .... comment above. there's definitely something to that)

It is even worse than that. There is a school of thought that MPB is a degenerative disease and therefore the longer you are exposed to androgens the worse you get. So lower levels ot T will result in lower levels of dht, however this will make you go bald too, just at a slower rate.

Bottom line you can't win. You might as well enjoy being man and do other things than castrate yourself to slow down and possibly stop MPB. Work out and enjoy looking at women. I do. Just don't do artificial stuff to raise your T, that is asking for rapid hair loss.

There is another school thought that says if you can maintain a healthy young man's ratio of T to estrogen you won't go bald. Hopefully this one is true.

Here you are. The truth is not often pretty.

Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine Issue: Volume 19(5), September 2009, pg. 399-404

Three Weeks of Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation Affects Dihydrotestosterone to Testosterone Ratio in College-Aged Rugby Players

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated resting concentrations of selected androgens after 3 weeks of creatine supplementation in male rugby players. It was hypothesized that the ratio of dihydrotestosterone (DHT, a biologically more active androgen) to testosterone (T) would change with creatine supplementation.

Design: Double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study with a 6-week washout period.

Setting: Rugby Institute in South Africa.

Participants: College-aged rugby players (n = 20) volunteered for the study, which took place during the competitive season.

Interventions: Subjects loaded with creatine (25 g/day creatine with 25 g/day glucose) or placebo (50 g/day glucose) for 7 days followed by 14 days of maintenance (5 g/day creatine with 25 g/day glucose or 30 g/day glucose placebo).

Main Outcome Measures: Serum T and DHT were measured and ratio calculated at baseline and after 7 days and 21 days of creatine supplementation (or placebo). Body composition measurements were taken at each time point.

Results: After 7 days of creatine loading, or a further 14 days of creatine maintenance dose, serum T levels did not change. However, levels of DHT increased by 56% after 7 days of creatine loading and remained 40% above baseline after 14 days maintenance (P < 0.001). The ratio of DHT:T also increased by 36% after 7 days creatine supplementation and remained elevated by 22% after the maintenance dose (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: Creatine supplementation may, in part, act through an increased rate of conversion of T to DHT. Further investigation is warranted as a result of the high frequency of individuals using creatine supplementation and the long-term safety of alterations in circulating androgen composition.

Statement of Clinical Relevance: Although creatine is a widely used ergogenic aid, the mechanisms of action are incompletely understood, particularly in relation to dihydrotestosterone, and therefore the long-term clinical safety cannot be guaranteed.

What would be great is if science could identify different genetic causes for hairloss....I really don't think anyone is looking. The testosterone DHT link was suddenly the final word. What if 80% of us were predisposed because of testorone levels, and others were predisposed because of estrogen levels or something else? Looking at hairloss as a symptom rather than a disease makes more sense to me. .