Elemental diet

[Mitchy]

Am being started on the Elemental diet tomorrow, meet with dietitian who will start me of and give me cartons etc. Does anyone have any tips etc that may help me, as I am new to both this and Crohn's, as only dx in June of this year.

 

[Psychic_Lemon]

I'm assuming this is Modullin or at least something like it and one thing i'll say is make sure they give you some sort of flavouring for the stuff, when I was first on it they didnt tell me I could have any sort of flavour added (I ended up using some milkshake stuff in the end).

I'd also see if they'll let you have chewing gum/bubble gum as I found being able to chew things kept me relatively sane when i was on it.

 

[soupdragon69]

Hi Mitchy,

I did elemental drinks from Xmas 06 to the summer this year. Long story...

Work out which flavours you like best. The elemental is made by a company called SHS and it is all your nutrition in amino acid and partially broken down format. It is NOT modullin. They come in sachets (100g powder) which you can mix with still mineral water. I preferred the citrus, lemon and lime, orange and unflavoured (which you could get blackcurrant in tubs to flavour). The cartons come in forest/summer fruits, grapefruit, pineapple and orange flavours. Will never look at grapefruit again! lol Some places will tell you you can drink tea and coffee etc but the company themselves recommend only hot and cold mineral or spring water. I know its really tough and I did it through winter too so understand you will have some very tough days ok?

Try to stay away from chewing gum it fills you with wind. You will feel hungry intially, a bit light headed too (due to drop in fluid volume as you take alot of your fluids from solid food) and perhaps a bit nauseous? Am just going by how I was. Found though within about 4 days I started to feel tons better and it gave me the incentive to keep going. Also helped me to cope with the tougher days when I felt so much better and just wanted to eat all round me! The thought of undoing all my hard work was my incentive then.

You need to increase the volume gradually as it can cause diahorrea initially too be warned. But you may have a general "clearout" with starting it and stopping solids totally. Make sure you drink plenty of water to compensate. Your body will settle down over the first few days and you must rest and listen to it.

I have a workmate who can only drink her cartons at room temp. I just couldnt go there! They have to be cold in the fridge. If I didnt have any I would use a sachet instead with cold water and ice!

You poo may turn green and be in very small amounts - preferably none they told me but I always had some! The aim is to rest your gut as much as possible as its designed to be absorbed in the first metre of your small bowel once it leaves your stomach.

Does this help??

Feel free to ask anything else you can think of - will help where I can. I still have cartons and sachets at home for my "off" days.

Just take it one day at a time. Thinking of you.

 

[vickyoddsocks]

Im a bit of a veteran of the old elemental too! I was on it for 7 1/2 months at one point (out of choice) and been on it alot since then!
For me, i call it a miracle, i was days away from the dreaded bag, being very ill and within say a month i was a complete new pearson, and have managed to avoid it ever since! My dietician let me have 'foxes glacier mints' - which were a god send! Cant stand them now tho, ive eaten way too many in my life!
Good luck, it is difficult at first, and then later on too, but once you notice a difference, that for me was by far enough insentive to carry on!
If you can do it, it REALLY is worth it!
XXXX