Elemental Diets and Juicing for Crohn's
Peter Lunn
back in on Monday.
I have had a CT scan which showed that a fistula I already had between my
bowel and bladder is now tracking up towards my skin in the lower left side
of my abdomen. I have been in discomfort for about 4 weeks and last weekend
my abdomen was quite swollen and inflamed and was then admitted to hospital
on Wednesday. I am actually quite a bit better with no change to my
medication (although some friends have been praying for me).
From a medical perspective, due to 26 years of Crohn's Disease which has
included 2 operations, the matting of my bowel means that surgery is not
really an option because of the high risks involved. Today, the medics
discussed with me about going on an elemental diet.
I had never heard of this, but through what they told me and a little bit of
research since, I think I now understand that it will be special fluids only
for at least 6-8 weeks to see if there is an improvement. I have agreed to
do this, and am in no doubt that it will be hard to do, but since have had
some concerns about how this will affect my family.
I have a wife and 3 children, aged 11, 8 and 5. If I was on my own this type
of diet would I think be easier from a practical point of view. However,
with my family, I am concerned with what will happen for my birthday (in 10
days time) and at Christmas which are obviously social times typically
celebrated with a family meal.
So I would be interested to hear from anyone (positively or negatively) with
experience of elemental diets, i.e. has it been successful for you or not,
how have you coped with it, and how has the rest of your family coped with
it? Or any other thoughts you may have that may help me.
One last thing: two good friends of mine have recommended juicing but
because I have been able to afford a juicer I haven't yet tried it. Their
experiences (although neither have Crohn's) are very positive and they
testify to the positive benefit they have received from juicing. They do
also have a normal diet, so this is of course different from a full
elemental diet, but I wondered if anyone with Crohn's has experience of
juicing and what you can say about it.
Sorry this is a long post with lots of questions, but any help with this
would be much appreciated.
Peter
Dick
and I take a powdered dietary supplement called Reliv (Reliv.com) My
wife and I have had excellent results. If you are not familiar with
this product I would ask you to go to the web site and become familiar
with it. It is a powder mixed with water (shake) and you take it twice
a day. Taste is not a problem, it is easy to take. I would then ask
your doctor on Monday if he is familiar with it, and, if not, ask him
to look it up also. Or you could print up a copy of the labels and
ask his opinion. This could be an option before going to the elemental
diet??? You can find the labels with all the ingedients on the web
site and also health stories of people that have gotten good results.
It is a network marketing company. Focus on the health benefits and not
the business aspect. I only pass this along as a possible option to
look into with your doctor. You do not have to buy it from me. Whatever
you decide, I wish you well!!!
Lobster Man
I've had Crohn's for nearly 30 years. I bought a top-of-the-line juicer
a couple summers ago when I was going through a rough patch. It was
great for being able to partake of some of my favorite fruits in juice
form when I couldn't stand to eat them in their natural form.
Cutting up the fruit and cleaning the juicer turned out to be some major
chores. I didn't subsist on just the juice, but was eating a bland soft
diet as well.
I've done short term stints with Tolerex and Vivonex (no more than a
couple days with these as the sole source of nutrition). The major
problem I had was taste fatigue. They only make a couple favors of
flavoring for the elemental diet (other manufacturers might make more),
so you tended to get tired of the same old thing all the time. And this
particular formulation doesn't seem to provide enough sodium and
cloride, so I tended to crave salty stuff. Fixed that by adding just a
bit of potassium cloride and regular salt to my mineral water. Just
enough to give the water a very very slight saltiness. And once again, I
supplimented the elemental diet with other clear liquids, broths, teas,
flavored mineral water, etc.
Good luck with your therapy. I've seen studies that say an extended
elemental diet can be as effective as surgery for Crohn's. Others on
this group have seen other studies that point to bowel atrophy on
elemental diets that go on too long.
Musashi
completely and nothing else, apart from water and you're allowed black
coffee and black tea. I could also eat boiled sweet or Foxes Glacier
Mints. The Elemental Diet is pre-digested so your gut will not be
needed to do any work. It gives you bowel the time to be able to rest,
relax and heal.
Be under no ilusions, it's difficult. For you and for your family and
does get in the way of normal social life. Firstly, the hardest thing
is psychologically and physically. Eating is a natural thing for our
body, and the wanting to eat (from your head, I did not feel physicaly
hungery) is very hard to deal with. I would liken it to withdrawel from
heroine addiction or something, but the difference being heroine is an
unnatural body urge, whereas eating is natural. I often felt the need
to thrash around as the body gets aggitated. Do it though, makes you
feel better! The family might find it and you hard to deal with. My
family (apart from my Mum) could not deal with eating non-smelly foods,
not cook with sent smells through the house, not be eating when I
walked through the kitchen etc. It was too hard for them to understand.
But, my father and brother are horrible people so I did think a lot of
it was on purpose. Including my brother saying in front of me to my Mum
"I'm starving, what's there to eat in this house?" He should really try
being starving like I was at that time! It does take a lot of
understanding and patience from family. And it takes a lot of strength
from you. I did not have to deal wit birthdays or Xmas during my time
of the ED, but I would reckon this would take the strength from you. I
don't think you can expect you family to not cook on these occassions
etc. You'll just have to be strong.
In the meantime I found the ED extremely helpful in helping my Crohn's
Disease. It was the best I'd felt in a long time, I was even able to do
some painting and decorating while I was on it. You must know though
that after you finish the diet, it's not all over and you can't go
straight back to enjoying you favourite foods. You have to do something
called an introduction diet which is pretty much the same as an
elimination diet. You introduce one food group at a time and keep a
diary of symptoms, if any, from that food group. You start off with the
easiest foods to digest, the more difficult ones come in later. It'll
be a long journey, but one that might prove beneficial. It's not fun or
easy, but it really helped me. Saying that though, after a while back
on all normal foods again, I was back to where I was.
The taste is hard to get used to. I preferred the powder mix which you
make up yourself. I only had a choice of these between banana and
orange. Banana was my favourite, but it is a bit bitter at first to get
used to. I got so used to it though that I missed it when I had
finished! The cartons aren't too bad, you get more selection of
flavours with them. I found them stronger tasting though. The powder
mixes you can, for instance, have two banana saches mixed with one
plain, so the 'power' of taste is done to your taste.
Anyway, I hope I have helped. I don't want to frighten you off this
because I really do believe it's an excellent thing to do when you're
that ill. I didn't want to lie to you though that it's easy.
Please ask any more questions if you need to.
Musashi
Blaffetuur
"Peter Lunn" <pe...@nospamlunnlimited.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:WsO2h.791$GX2...@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net...
Pleaese read this one :
http://www.scdiet.org/1about/default.html
http://www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/169
Regards.
Mark
Musashi I have a question. My CD seems to have flared greatly the past
week. Is the elemental diet appropriate to do for a few days until I
can get with my doc and formulate a plan or does it have to be a long
term thing? I mean is it something I could do for just a few days at a
time if I felt the need? Do you think that might be a worthwhile
strategy, to do the elemental diet for 2-3 days maybe once or twice a
month for example?
Also, are you saying that the elemental diet does not satisfy your
hunger at all, and leaves you hungry all the time?
Thanks,
Mark
Doc
$JA2.2...@phobos.telenet-ops.be:
> Pleaese read this one :
>
> http://www.scdiet.org/1about/default.html
>
> http://www.drhoffman.com/page.cfm/169
>
> Regards.
Try this one instead. Those are of little use in this context.
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/diet_and_nutrition_in_crohn_disease/artic
le_em.htm
-=========-
What is an elemental diet?
Elemental diets are liquid diets that contain all the nutrients your
body needs. The nutrients are usually in digested form so they put no
stress on the digestive system. Elemental diets supply all your
nutritional needs while giving your digestive system a rest.
-========-
The SCD and other diets/powders/etc are not the same as an elemental
diet. If the doctor is wanting to put you on an elemental diet, then he
is probably wanting your intestines to rest.
The SCD will not give you any intestinal rest. I don't know about the
supplement powder that was mentioned, but since you will be on the
elemental diet and it will have everything you need, the powder would be
unnescessary.
-After- the elemental diet stage is over, and the doctors feel you can
start introducing foods again, the supplements, the SCD and the juicer
would all be worth looking into. Any may help, or may not. The juicer
should provide you with a product which would move through you easier,
being mostly liquid, and _may_ be absorbed better than the solid forms.
Only supplement your diet if you really need to. Not all supplements
will be useful with this disease, depending on the level of disease and
location of activity. Too many vitamins/minerals can be as bad as not
enough.
Also, you will want to discuss any options with your doctor. The doctor
may advise you on a specific diet or may suggest certain supplements.
The doctor is familiar with you and your case, and can inform you as to
what you need.
Jennie CD class of '84
really flared up bad, I was put on intravenous feeding. It is a lot of
trouble, hard to learn the exact process of hooking up, but when You do
it, it gives your colon a complete rest and really helped me. I have
been able to avoid colon surgeries.
I had the same problem with my juicer, the cleaning up part. So then I
just did not use it. One LATE night, haha, I saw an ad for the Jack
Lalane juicer that has parts that can be put into the dishwasher.
Wallah, Eureeka, haha, you can buy them on ebay for $50. Much easier to
use.
Jennie
Lobster Man
Mark,
I realize you addressed this Musashi, but I hope you don't mind my
contributing my own experience.
I always have a box or two of an elemental diet powder in the house,
specifically for those times when I have a flare for more than a day or
two and I want to make sure that I don't get too nutritionally
deficient. When I flare, I'll switch immediately to a clear liquid diet
for a day or two. If it goes more than two days, I'll add the ED mix as
well.
I do find that I'm more hungry when I'm on a liquid diet of any kind,
including an ED. As various people have commented, eating is a very
natural and powerful urge in everyone. So it's hard to suppress that
urge. Logically, I know I'm getting the nutrition I need when I'm on an
ED, but emotionally, I'm feeling hungry and somehow lacking in something.
Best of luck with your experiences.
Les
Lobster Man
> Hi Peter. I was on the Elemental Diet for 4 weeks. The Elemental Diet
> completely and nothing else, apart from water and you're allowed black
> coffee and black tea. I could also eat boiled sweet or Foxes Glacier
> Mints. The Elemental Diet is pre-digested so your gut will not be
> needed to do any work. It gives you bowel the time to be able to rest,
> relax and heal.
Musashi,
I'm just curious which elemental diet were you on?
I've only ever used the Novartis products: Vivonex and Tolerex. Of the
two, they are almost identical in the list of ingredents, but the
Tolerex is a far more neutral tasting mixture. The Vivonex is absolutely
vile; metallic and harsh in taste. I have to use a full flavor packet
for each package of Vivonex, but can get by with 1/3rd of flavor packet
with Tolerex. And Novartis only makes two flavors--raspberry (my
favorite) and orange. I contacted the company and they said that most
users of the product use a nasal tube feeding system, and therefore they
just don't have the demand for more flavors. I remember they used to
have a strawberry flavor (20 years ago!) and I think a tangerine/banana
version once upon a time.
I'd be interesting in knowing what your (and anyone else's) experiences
are with the other manufacturer's ED products.
This stuff is expensive (not generally covered by insurance--in the US
at least; can't say for the rest of the world), and I'm like to maximize
me benefit and relative "enjoyment" when I do have to use EDs.
Thanks in advance,
Les
Musashi
I wouldn't suggest the Elemental diet for just a few days. It's a
longer-term thing which is a whole way of adjusting your digestive
system and then reintroducing food back in again. I'd more say give
Fresubin a try for a few days. That's what I did with my previous
flare, when I couldn't eat or drink anything I was sipping at the
Fresubins. They can completely replace your food intake, but they do
require digestion, but of course it's nowhere near as harsh as foods
going past disease.
I found the Elemental diet satisfied my physical hunger. At first (I'd
say 3 days) I was kinda hungry, physically, but nothing too difficult.
The main problem was psychological hunger. You don't realise what an
addiction food is until you stop it for a while. I'm sure it's all the
additives they put in food, but also eating is a natural body urge. I
felt nutritionally satisfied as well, like I said I was able to paint
and decorate the house etc. It's just the psychological...well, for me
it was. I can only speak from my own experience. For other people it
may be different.
Oh yeah, also at first you get bad breath. It's something to do with
the change in the way you digest fats. I can't remember how my
nutritionist said it. You are allowed chewing gum or Foxes Glacier
Mints though to try to combat this.
Musashi
Brad P
"Peter Lunn" <pe...@nospamlunnlimited.co.uk> wrote in message
news:WsO2h.791$GX2...@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net...
>I am just home for the weekend after 3 days in hospital and am due to go
>back in on Monday.
>
I'm not sure if what I was on was an 'elemental diet', but back in the late
80's, early 90's, I was on tube feeds for CD. Basically, at 7pm in the
evening, I insert a tube up my nose and down to the top of my stomach. A
pump would pump 2L of a high calorie, high vitimans/minerals liquid into my
stomach over the course of 12 hours. 1ml had 1 calorie, so I got 2000
calories a day plus what food I ate. I didn't have breakfast, but had lunch
and supper although I ate somewhat lighter if I recall correctly. I gained
much needed weight, my CD settled down, and I grew like a week as I was
stuck in the growth department. I was on this for 4 years, usually 6 months
on, and a few months off. I can't recall specifically.
Peter Lunn
The news is that I began taking an elemental diet earlier this last week. By
Thursday I was up to my full quota of 10 x 250ml drinks per day which will
be for the next six weeks.
Whilst it is not easy it is a step I believed I should take. After four full
days I am not doing too badly. Diarrhoea is common as is a pasty coated
tongue and teeth. I have had no withdrawal from tea and coffee. I find
stamina in short supply as of course the drinks are not giving me any
starchy carbohydrate to store.
My family and friends are supportive which is helpful. Tomorrow (13th) is my
birthday so no family meal or cake which is disappointing, but if the diet
works for me in improving my condition then it will be worth it.
Peter