Currently experiencing a liquid diet

[morgane]

Hey everyone! A few weeks ago I was referred to a different hospital that were able to offer me a liquid diet. I started two Mondays ago having just Complan shakes. My abdominal pains subsided on Tuesday and my joints and tiredness have greatly improved in the last few days.

The dietitian at the hospital had advised me to drink it for 2 weeks, with a minimum of 10 days if my symptoms went away before then. It certainly is not long compared to other people whose stories I have read online!

Well she has not been replying to me emails the past week, I can only assume she is away from work. I had a real meltdown yesterday night as I don't really like the taste of sweet things and I am really finding it difficult (as I'm sure everyone does) and my family continue to cook with garlic, bacon etc and it's so hard to stay on track! Well my mum has the book written by the guy at Cambridge (forgive my lack of names) and it says to start on the LOFFLEX diet. We decided that I would do that today. However after reading some stories online, I decided that I was too scared of relapsing on the LOFFLEX diet, so we changed our minds and decided to go for a full elimination diet instead.

So this morning I had one potato boiled totally to a pulp, mixed with milk (the complan shakes contain milk and I clearly do fine with it) and had it slowly. I had another one about 3 hours later. In the evening I had two extremely minor pains, about an hour apart from each other. They were seriously the most minute pain I have ever experienced. But since the book says to stop completely and return to liquid if you experience any pain whatsoever, that's what I'm going to do.

Unless anyone here explains why not to, we are thinking that I will go back to Complan for 2 days, then if I have no more pains between now and then, try a small bowl of steamed rice, the sushi kind (except without the sushi vinegar).

Does anyone absolutely advise against this?

I am so sick of all this! I just want to go into remission! I have my AS exams in one week and I just have been sleeping the whole time...

Did anyone else do a liquid diet for such a short period of time? Any advice to offer? Any thoughts/etc greatly appreciated as I am a bit lost! I know I should just wait until the dietitian returns from wherever she has disappeared to... but I seriously have no willpower.

 

[SarahD]

Hi morgane,

Rice is usually a safe food for most Crohnies, so probably a good choice to try next. With the potatoes, did you remove the skins? As they contain fibre which can sometimes be an issue. Some people also react to potatoes whether the skin is removed or not. However, if you can stick it out on the Complan shakes until you can speak to your dietitian again I think this would be sensible. 2 weeks does sound like a short time to me, were you feeling better before you tried the potato? When I did the LOFFLEX diet the first time I did have an increase in pain for the first few days which I've heard is quite normal.

Sarah

 

[morgane]

Hi SarahD, thanks for your response.
Yes I did remove the skins from the potatoes. I had been on a low-fibre diet for about 4 weeks beforehand, so I have a vague idea of what foods are best to avoid for now at least.

I think if after the rice I get pains again, I will go back to the Complan until I have another consultation with the dietitian. I feel bad for dropping out a few days early but there are a lot of things getting to me namely my exams.. I find it difficult because I hardly ever get hungry anymore and am not really tempted by the Complan, so it's easy for me to not get all my required calorie intake and I start to feel weak etc. I do force myself.