4 day insomnia – what is causing this?

[datelus]

Hey guys, i could use an advice!

I started working out, going to the gym around 2016

Been using Creatine, Zinc, Vitamin D & whey protein as supplements.

Progress has been great however i have this issue, that keeps me from going further and keeping my 4days/week gym schedule active.
However, i had to stop my routine of GYM and supliments back in 2019 when a massive insomnia kicked in - i could not sleep for 4 days, my muscles at night while falling a sleep had this strange urge to stretch all the time or to be scratched with nails, also my jaw started to twitch.

i had to cancel everything in order for everything to go back to normal.

then my workout intensity decreased, i quit all supliments and results started to fade.

Now i started to do more intense workouts again and started using supliments (in moderation) and i feel this issue to be coming back.

Muscle twitches, unable to fall asleep.

During the day i feel very energised and the "pump" is felt all day long.


its really frustraiting.
I dont want to quit, but maybe you have some ideas what is causing this?

my guesses:

- Creatine has trapped some caffeene as water in my muscles (i dont drink coffee daily, but i had some a while back)
- my body does not like creatine (i take the 2 capsuls as recomended on the packaging - it is about 4 grams)
- i overtrain (but it really is not THAT intense)

any advise or help will be appreciated and applied

the feeling when you have not slept for 4 days is awful..

I dont drink alcohol or use drugs

[SuffolkPunch]

I doubt it's anything to do with creatine. And it would be very obvious to you if you were really overtraining, not many people actually do, especially if they think it's "not that intense".

Did you change your diet at about that time? Problems digesting certain foods and a reduced calorie intake can cause stress which in term can cause insomnia.

[datelus]

I doubt it's anything to do with creatine. And it would be very obvious to you if you were really overtraining, not many people actually do, especially if they think it's "not that intense".

Did you change your diet at about that time? Problems digesting certain foods and a reduced calorie intake can cause stress which in term can cause insomnia.

Thanks for they reply!
I have cut down carbs a little, but thats it...
The insomnia is so strong that even sometimes the doctor prescribed sleep medicine (sometimes ****** based) does not help. So strange... the only thing that helps is to stop training, stop using supliments and eventuly sleep returns. If i just go and work out (without creatine) everything is fine (well it is harder to fall asleep, but thats it)

i have researched creatine studies and none of them show any negative effects on sleep, thats why im very curious.

[datelus]

another theory im going to test out is that maybe i drink a lot of water (about 3-4 liters a day) and that might cause some salts and minerals to flush out of body, thus causing some cramp like symptoms. Gonna drink some electrolytes and see will sleep come tonight

[SuffolkPunch]

What about stopping training without stopping supplements? Or vica versa. Training could be putting you into a calorie deficit which is causing stress. So could reducing carbs.

[chrisfoxnz]

I suffered it many years ago. I went off the Creatine and my sleep went back to normal.

I recently tried a quality Thorne creatine product & experienced the same problem. I tried lowering the dose, taking creatine in morning then afternoon, and no matter what I tried, I continued to experience disturbed sleep, waking every couple of hours, feeling like I never slept properly.

So it's definitely the Creatine affecting me. Of course, not everyone responds this way, but I definitely do.

[vanya1054]

I don't think creatine can cause sleepiness. I have been taking it for many years and have not had such problems.