1) creatine is perfectly safe....If you buy the right kind. Make sure that you know and trust the brand that you buy from. It is worth the few extra bucks to go for a popular brand. This ensures the quality of the product.
Usually, when you must "load" on a creatine, that means it must make your stomach acid adapt to the change in ph coming from the pills (or powder). These kind are not really the best for you, because they mess with your digestion and urine outtake. I have found that the best brands on the market are *cellucor m5* and *ce2 platinum (from gnc)*.
Because the fda does not have any requirements or standards for the companies to hold to while producing creatine, some companies will cut corners and cheap out on raw materials and compromise quality to save $$.
When quality is compromised, much of the time the potency (absorption ability of the creatine to the muscles) is lowered, and the creatine that is not absorbed is turned into a harmful toxin called creatinine. While the long term side affects are not fully understood, they do know that it can have non-reversable damage done to the liver.
So, if you didn't catch it the first time.... Go for brands that you have heard of to ensure quality. One brand that I strongly recommend is *cellucor m5* (great stuff) or if you do not agree, try
www.Bodybuilding.Com or other reputable sources.
2) do not take the creatine after the workout!!! All creatine is good for is boosting performance during a workout, it does not help with muscle building (that much). All it will do, if taken after workout, is convert to creatinine after reacting with the solute if not used (like I was talking about earlier) and be harmful to your body.
3) Creatine monohydrate is the safest, and most clinically proven creatine out there... but that is the whimpy stuff. The brands I mentioned earlier are not as clinically proven, but work much better. They are under the "Kre-alkalyn" creatine category, which is by far the best type of creatine on the market. This is mainly because the creatinine is released while being processed (back at the processing plant) rather than in your body. Therefore it is much healthier for you, with little or no side affects. Both have a potency of 100% because they both bond to lipids (fats) instead of carbohydrates (sugars and starches). This means that they digest in a very short period of time (like 5-8 minutes) and start working right away.
Hope I helped, I tried to make it as simple as possible. Good luck with your lifting
