If you can't take Whey protein use Soy protein, it is almost as absorbable and effective.
Use creatine and glutamine. I have used them off and on for about two years.
If you plateau, take a week off, and change your routine, your body can't get used to what you are doing...
I recommend AST's Micronized creatine, it is what i use.
First week is a loading period, you take 5 doses a day for a week. Take it with purple grape juice, it absorbs better from everything i read. Plus purple grape juice just kicks ass.
Make SURE you are lifting hard when you take it. Also, almost all side effects from creatine come from the user not drinking enough water. For every milligram( a dose is 5mg) you need to drink 8 oz more water then you normally do. Get one of those cool nalgene bottles, you should be drinking a LOT more than normal, or else you WILL get dehydrated, i promise.
Take the glutamine(it is simply a safe amino acid, no side effects) before the workout, and the creatine after the workout.
Check out the forums and the store at www.bodybuilding.com.
There are tons of threads regarding this topic over there, and the store is the cheapest. They will pretty much tell you what i told you, but hit them up anyway.
GL.
[EDIT]
You will probably gain about 10 LBS in the first month of using it, most of that is water wieght.