Elimination diet-how long till it works?

[chrisnsteph1022]

I'm impatient. I will admit that. But I'm on day 3 of no gluten, dairy, soy, egg or sugar and I'm miserable. I'm nauseous, having the same number of bathroom trips (6-8/day) and in pain all day. Shouldn't I see SOME improvement by now? All the bad foods have moved out. This is torture and going to be very hard to stick to for 3 weeks unless I start seeing some improvement. How long does it take?

 

[Beach]

That's no fun! Sounds like you might have wheat withdrawal systems with the nausea. It's fairly common from what I've read. It can take one to two weeks to over come.

I did an elimination diet, somewhat similar to yours with many foods avoided, that worked to make me well to the gut completely a number of years ago. (All I ate was turkey, rice, rice milk, and pineapple, along with some fish oil and vitamin D. Jokingly called it the turkey diet.) I wasn't recovered. My energy levels were low. But the defective gut was working the way it should. I believe it look a couple months for that to happen. And it was difficult to eat so few foods the whole time. I tried walking the diet backwards, adding new foods slowly, but never could figure out what food(s) caused the troubles for me. Kind of a bummer to say the least.

Right now I'm being more specific in what I avoid. Along with eating a paleo diet, I'm personally on a spice free elimination diet, minus cinnamon. Very bland eating. But feeling better after 10 days - I think - hard to say for sure, and figure I probably should stick with 3 months of eating this way. At least my weight is up 5lbs since doing this, which I take as a good sign. I keep notes in a journal of positive and negative things noticed. If my troubles are mainly caused by a spice, hopfully I can narrow down the trouble maker quickly.

Good luck! Hope you find what works best for you.

 

[Snickerdoodle]

Wow! You are so brave to be on this diet...I couldn't ever do it! I hope it works well for you!

 

[chrisnsteph1022]

Wow! You are so brave to be on this diet...I couldn't ever do it! I hope it works well for you!

You sound like me a few months ago. I said I'd rather enjoy my food and just deal with the flares. But being on a combination of drugs that can cause a fatal form of lymphoma and STILL flaring put things into perspective for me. Hearing my GI say I'm out of options with him and will have to go to an IBD Clinic in another city for more specialized treatment scared me. And let me tell you, this diet SUCKS. I have found a few things I really like, though. Unfortunately, I'm still not seeing improvement. I'm only 5 days in, though.

Here are my go-to foods:
beans and rice
chili with rice chips
veggie chips
steak and roasted veggies

 

[chrisnsteph1022]

I was also hoping to lose a bit of weight with this, but the scale hasn't budged. I never lose weight with the Crohn's. I've been in a flare for over a year and haven't lost a single pound. But mine is all in my colon, so nutrient absorption isn't affected. I have 10-20 pounds I'd like to lose!

 

[Snickerdoodle]

What do you eat for like, breakfast? I would love to get rid of this 4 years and counting flare, but somethings are liveable and somethings aren't. Speaking of losing weight, when my relationship woes drove me to only survive on salad and water, that combined with a serious amount of d helped me lose 40 pounds. After my spouse still wanted me to lose more after that, I realized that being thinner (you can't call me skinny by any stretch of the imagination) was not worth being housebound, depressed, and scared for my health (my CD wasn't diagnosed at the time). So weightloss is not at all on my mind, even though I'm now very overweight (5 3, 180ish). Maybe one day when I'm in remission ill have the strengh and willpower to diet again, but now all my food choices revolve around if it is good or not for the Crohns, exclusively. I'm very curious to know if this really works for you...I've had many (uneducated) friends suggest this diet for weightloss and increased energy. Good luck to you!

 

[Chuck2008]

Unfortunately I've read it can take a long time for the elmiination diet to show any effect. Case in point, going on a complete liquid diet and having no food whatsoever (a common treatment in Japan in the hospital) takes around 3 weeks to put you into remission. And drinking nothing but ensure can take 4 to 6 weeks. I wouldn't expect to see any relief in the short term.

Why not increase your prednisone a little? Always works for me..

 

[chrisnsteph1022]

I can't take prednisone.

For breakfast, I have a green smoothie (fruits like bananas, apples, mangos, and a leafy green like spinach, romaine). For lunches and dinners, I've been eating rice and beans, chili with rice chips (yum), steak and roasted veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers), fish and rice, spinach salad, turkey burger. Drinking only water or aloe juice with papaya juice. I'm on day 7 and still seeing no improvement, but not worsening, either.

It is getting easier. The first 3-4 days were the hardest, coming off all the caffeine and wheat and sugar.