What is the longest period you can take Creatine monohidrate for.I was adviced that One should load fisrt by taking 1 teaspoon 4/5 times daily with fruitjuice for 5 days and to maintain 1/2 teaspoons.For how long can I keep taking it before I need to take a rest.
 
What are the side affects if any when using creatine for long times(2/3 Months at a time )I am drinking alot of water as prescribed.
 
Will all my gains be lost when i go off the creatine,Somebody once told me that creatine is just water retention,Is this true?

To start. I don't know anyone who takes creatine mono 4-5 times a day.

Creatine allows you to do more work. When you do more than you normally would without taking it, you build more muscle. When you make gains on it, and then go off of it, you keep the muscle but the slight extra you could do will be lost. I'll try to explain it in numbers

No Creatine
100% starting point not on creatine. You gain 20% of original strength and get to 120%.
100% ==> 120%(20% From resistance training)

Creatine
100% starting point not on creatine. Take creatine and are able to do 10% more work. 110% starting point. You gain 26% of the original strength while on creatine. That puts you at 136% of your original strength. Go off creatine and you will then go back to 126% of the original strength.
100% ==> 110% (100 + 10) ==> 136%(26% From resistance training) ==> 126% (136 - 10)              (Larger difference in gains while on creatine.)

Creatine misuse
100% starting point not on creatine. Take creatine and are able to do 10% more work. 110% starting point. You gain 20% of the original strength while on creatine because you do not work harder than you would if not on creatine. That puts you at 130% of your original strength. Go off of it, and you're back to 120%, just where you were without having taken it that whole time.
100% ==> 110% (100 + 10) ==> 130% (20% From resistance training) ==> 120% (130 - 10)

This is as simple as I can make it look even though it is quite more complex. Take advantage of using it and you will gain more than you will if you don't use it. If you don't, you simply don't.

ORIGINAL: rippedchick

To start. I don't know anyone who takes creatine mono 4-5 times a day.

 
 
If you do a loading phase, u are to take 20-30gr of creatine a day for 5 days to saturate, after the load u are to take 5gr daily to mantain saturation

Rippedchick,I only take it 4/5 times daily while loading for the first 5 days,There after 1/2 times daily,Normaly before and after training

loading phases are not neccsary essientially there just a nice trick by supp companies to use their product faster and order more

ORIGINAL: triggamayn09

loading phases are not neccsary essientially there just a nice trick by supp companies to use their product faster and order more

And theoretically see the effects faster by saturating quicker. But yes other than that, you are correct. It is a marketing scam.

So what i gained is that one neednt load when on Monohidrate ?
 
What is the time frame to cycle on/off creatine.
 
Currently I was using it for 3 weeks(Including loading fase)then took a break for a week(Holiday)Can I just cont. with 5/10gr per day,And for how long before I need to go off ?