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Enteral Diet buddy (buddies) wanted

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/3/2015 10:26 AM (GMT 0)
I just started an Ensure only diet 3 days ago and think it might help get through this if I could hear from others who are also doing this and we could support each other. If nothing else, I could complain to them instead of my husband.

Wantok
Posted 1/3/2015 12:42 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck with your new treatment. The great thing about enteral nutrition is the lack of side effects. I may be joining you depending on the results of my scope this week. When I tried the ensure diet I ground the stuff up in the blender with ice cubes to make a kind of milkshake. I got used to the taste pretty quickly--how are you holding up so far?
Posted 1/3/2015 5:58 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for asking. The taste of Ensure doesn't bother me. The first two days were pretty easy as I had been eating so much over the holidays I think it was nice to just back off food. But the honeymoon is over. As I said, it isn't tolerating the stuff that is the problem (I think decades of Questran served me well in that regard), but now the reality of not eating really is sinking in...just how big a role eating is and not participating in it. Also, I am only drinking 5 a day because I want to lose 10-15 pounds for my arthritic knees (I am very unsusual--I have been in remission for 38 years and can gain weight). I haven't been on a calorie restricted diet forever it seems, and feel cranky from feeling starved. And I am freaked out about what this means for my life and marriage now. I got married 8 years ago and eating and traveling has been a big part of the marriage. So I am going to see a psychologist and see how I can relax or adjust better. I am also having some side effects from another corticorisoid drug I am taking just this week for my scalp. And then finally I feel like a whiner as I know what Crohn's can be (I come from a family of Crohn's sufferers; my sister died of it) and I have been so lucky.
Posted 1/3/2015 6:59 PM (GMT 0)
Why are you doing the diet? Are you having a flare?
Posted 1/3/2015 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
After 38 years, this past year I have had stomach pain intermittently and changed from formed stools to daily diarrhea two months ago. Colonoscopy 2 weeks ago showed Crohn's returned and yes, a flare. (10 years ago I had both colonoscopy and upper GI and had no Crohn's then.) Very stressful year.
Posted 1/4/2015 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
It's surprising how much eating is a social activity is when your diet becomes restrictive in one way or another, and how stressful that can become. I think an ensure diet would be much harder if you are trying to restrict calories at the same time, because you are already doing something that requires strength to follow through on. I didn't, gain weight while on ensure even though I made an effort to drink enough of it to not be hungry, but exercise helped. Do your knees keep you from swimming or doing some other gentle exercise? I hope the ensure diet works for you and you can get back to your remission. I'm so sorry to hear about your sister.
Posted 1/4/2015 1:20 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for writing and your best wishes. I can walk (and swim, etc.) but I am plagued by knee injuries because of the arthritis, so I am trying to do what I can to minimize that. As to starving AND doing the Ensure diet, I am keeping my priorities straight. If I get too hungry or weak or whatever, I plan to keep drinking them before I go off of the diet. Took an actual 4 mile hike today and did notice it was harder than usual, but not impossible. I actually feel very motivated because I so much do not want to be on meds for many reasons. Also the diet is good for me because the quantity I normally eat is ridiculous, so I hope it will build some different habits.
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