Elevated Creatine levels

[pablopicasso]

Hi all, 

I'm new to this forum and I'm currently enrolled for a PPD screening in Austin for next Wednesday. Thanks Paul for the helpful information in the study tips section, however it left me feeling a little concerned. I've been lifting weights regularly for the past 2.5 yrs and I would say I've got a good bit of muscle on me. If I were to stop consuming animal protein and stop working out until the screening, do you think I could drop my creatine levels so I'd be able to qualify? 

Thanks in advance

[Deleted]

It's my uneducated understanding that if you have been consistently working out, you don't have to stop as your creatine levels will have dropped from their initial spike when you started working out.

Hopefully, others here who do work out regularly will be able to give a better answer.

[idoitforthepong]

I'd have to second what Jones said above. I do cardio and weights regularly and haven't had a problem after about a dozen studies...except for one time and they fell after repeating labs. Of Course i try to follow all restrictions and urge you to as well but the no working out one really annoys me. I mean they do want HEALTHY subjects right? and we have to maintain height weight proportionate...which is really hard to do living in America while Not working out.

What you don't want to do is go from hardly working out to pounding the weights, running a marathon or whatever then going to screen or check in the next day...then your levels will mostly likely be out of whack. So if you work out do it consistently...i usually to the day before check ins/screening (may even help blood draw flow) and don't have a problem...but again i do fairly easy/consistent amount of weights and cardio.

So to answer OPs question i'd say no reason to stop the weights...that may even cause more lab problems.

[pablopicasso]

Thanks for the input guys. So I got a call back from the clinic and I'm scheduled for the 2nd screening which is the physical. However, I stopped working out about a week before the study and hardly ate any protein so I don't know if it was for this reason that I passed. Who knows if my creatinine levels would have measured high had I not stopped. I'm still a little paranoid for future studies though.

Just to get more of an accurate idea idoitforthpong, can you give me more info about your workout regimen and stats ie body weight, height, body fat % and strength ie max on major lifts as this will give me an idea of how much muscle your carrying because I'm sure creatinine levels between muscular individuals will vary depending upon their muscle mass. Or an even better indicator of a higher creatinine level might be the amount of protein a person ingests. Do you eat lots of animal protein idoitforthepong? 

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks

[pablopicasso]

And I agree about the no working out thing, it doesn't make much sense. To be healthy, working out regularly is absolutely necessary regardless of the type -- sports, weights, cardio. Also, the whole BMI thing is frustrating too, i tinker on the higher end of healthy since the muscle mass well outweighs the body fat -- think 6 ft 195 lbs 10% body fat.

[idoitforthepong]

Hey Pablo, i would venture to guess your not working out wasn't the reason you got past the first round, it's pretty easy to make that first cut if your healthy and fufill all their med history requirements etc. I don't keep stats of my work out, i just lift about 2/3 times a week and it's pretty minimal...done in 20 minutes or less. so i'm sure my muscle mass isn't as high as it could be but a lot of ripped guys get into these studies. From what i've heard (no scientific confirmation on this of course) is that if you keep your work outs steady and consistent then your levels should be normal. You might want to ask your clinics for lab results and keep track of your levels to see if workouts really have had an effect. I've seen my labs and they have always been middle to middle high (CPK) with work out. Have fun at PPD...the physical is quick and easy...why they can't do it the same day as the other screening procedures is beyond me.

[pablopicasso]

Well reason I was worried was because if you go to study tips on the home page, the moderator talks about how if you work out regularly you won't be able to get into most studies because of elevated creatine levels which I then started doing research on. I read multiple scientific articles which said that people who work out/bodybuild and ingest lots of protein tend to have higher creatinine levels which is a byproduct of creatine. I also found people on bodybuilding.com who said that they had their blood work done and their doctors said they were higher than the normal range and these guys are about the same size maybe smaller than me judging from their profile.

It sounds like you're more of the working out to stay healthy type, where I lift heavy 5-6 times a week for approx. 1.5 hrs each workout and eat about 180 grams of protein a day.

[pablopicasso]

And I know they ask you basically the same questions they asked you during the phone screening during the physical, but are they trying to basically catch you in a lie where if you don't give them the same exact answer they'll use that against you?

[idoitforthepong]

Well i'd say if your trying to work out 5/6 times a week and keep up with this doing studies long term probably wont work out the best for you. you'll likely have to sacrifice your work out regimen a bit, since you obviously can't hit weights in the study plus the daily calorie counts will be well lower than your used to which will throw off your body too. Shoot for short multi visit studies where you can still lift...but it will likely have to be toned down still.

I wouldn't sweat the docs questions, just be as honest and consistent as you can. That being said, if you admit to lifting the day before a check in they will likely not accept you...if that's one of the restrictions anyway...and all the studies i've done it is.