Many experts recommend cycling creatine. They recommend that you load up with 20 or 30 grams per day for five days, take a maintenance dosage of five to 20 grams for two or three months and then discontinue it for a month or two. Many athletes believe this is the only way to take creatine. This is a fairly closed-minded approach. There may have been a few reasons for getting off of creatine that were justified years ago but they are not justified now. Many years ago, there was some legitimate question concerning the safety of creatine. Some people with various muscular diseases had used creatine for years without any apparent side effects but at that time, there had been no specific, organized study of potential side effects over the long haul (over six months).
Because of this situation, it may have been prudent advice to take some time off creatine. That way, if it did have any negative effects on the body, there would be time between cycles for the body to readjust. Now however, according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s roundtable meeting, there isn’t any definitive scientific evidence that creatine is harmful. One study even found creatine to be safe when subjects took it for up to five years and as much as 80 grams per day!