I found out that Our liver produces daily 2.5 grams of creatine and another 2.0-2.5 grams is taken from external sources. The only external source for creatine is RED MEAT and that violates a vegan's nutrition. When I used creatine pills (No loading phase but just 5 grams a day) for 2 solid weeks, at first everything was cool and alright and then suddently I begun to feel tired all the time with no good reason. I did some blood work and found out that my liver was completely out of balance. All values were either elevated or below normal I was never a drinker, neither a smoker in my entire life and I had never abused any illegal substances or drugs. Also my testosterone levels droped also to baseline normal. Not only that but I almost lose a tricept tendon . Doctor said that creatine may increase temporarily the power in muscle tissue, but doesnt do anything to prepare and strengthen the bones and tendons. This is an abrupt and fast increase in strength while the rest of my body didnt have the time to adjust accordingly. I was also running lots of miles back then and had my carbs to very very minimun levels. Also I noticed a significant increase of CPK in the blood which according to the doctor meant muscle breakdown. I managed to get ripped abs but I also lost lots of muscle. I wasnt a vegetarian back then and I was following the nutrinional advices of a book I bought from www.burnthefat.com I used to eat fish or chicken 6 times a day, along with an apple or 2-3 boiled potatoes. I was also consuming a lot of low-fat milk. I am now in recovery process and went vegetarian for a week now. Meat has too many toxins. I dont think I gonna go back to that protein source. Anyway I went out of topic. The bottomline is that you have to be really carefull with creatine if its so necessary to use it. It can easily put liver out of balance and stops it from producing it's own amount of creatine.
