Note that creatine should be avoided if you're bipolar, according to a study or two and a lot of anecdotes.

Kidneys: https://examine.com/nutrition/does-creatine-cause-kidney-pro...

Overall, it's a very safe and moderately effective supplement, particularly if you don't eat a lot of red meat. Just make sure to drink enough water.

I wouldn't say I've been depressed (a psychiatrist might disagree, I've been dx'ed with it in the past), but daily 5mg creatine and 2k IU vitamin D have made a remarkable difference in mood/energy for me this year.

I wouldn't recommend taking creatine if you don't work out or get cardio. Without that, creatine can cause weight gain due to water retention. If you do exercise, creatine should an essential be part of your stack.

I strongly disagree. You can be an extremely good athlete without any supplement "stack" whatsoever. Maybe creatine helps eke out slightly better performance in certain activities, but like with most supplements it's really not worth the risk to your kidneys and other internal organs. If you exercise, eating well and sleeping enough is sufficient.

Dunno. I take significantly less than the recommended amount, and still find that I have significantly more mental and physical energy for everything. I recently tested this when I stopped taking it while on a certain medicine.

Got any links to the "risk to your kidneys"?

Why would you be worried about weight gain if you know it's just water?

Why is water weight gain an issue?

You don't want to take a group of people with notoriously low self esteem and make them fat.

Creatine weight gain doesn't make you fat: it plumps up muscles, making you look more muscular, which, in turn, makes you look like you've lost weight.