My Enteral Nutriton (Ensure fast) experience

Just started week 5 on EEN, essentially I have no symptoms, except for a little constipation and a tiny bit of pain occasionally, hardly worth mentioning. My GI ordered an MRI two weeks from now, I'll check back then to let anyone who is interested know how it went. The dr doesn't know what it will be able to show, but I've never had a small bowel study so it will be good to know the extent of the scar tissue in there, etc. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Hi again,
Just had my MRE and found out...that the ensure diet did not get rid of the active disease. I did the diet for six weeks and had no solid food but did have an occasional cup of weak herbal tea toward the end. While I was on the diet I had no D and no significant pain or nausea, so it did help with symptoms. It was pretty challenging to stick with the diet, but would have been worth the experience had it stopped the inflammation, so I would still recommend that people try enteral nutrition under the right circumstances. It worked for Octobergirl, which is fantastic. My disease is pretty long standing, so maybe that made it harder for the EEN to work. I did find out that the inflammation in my TI is only a few inches long and there is no disease evident in the rest of my guts. I am very happy to have learned this, so the MRE was worthwhile, even though drinking 3 big gulp size bottles of slime was not pleasant.
Thanks for the support everyone!

Gumby, my GI suggested "watchful waiting" and said it could be months or years before I need surgery, so sounds better than his comments immediately following the last scope. I am grateful to have some time to consider and learn about surgery before it is absolutely necessary. They compared the MRI to a CT scan I had when being diagnosed five years ago and the disease has not spread, so this is all good.
What were your symptoms like before you decided to have your surgery? Did they worsen all of the sudden?

Thanks Gumby, Glad to hear you are feeling much better now : )

Dorri, I was surprised that I could tolerate Ensure, it must be lactose not milk or soy protein that gets me. Thanks for the kind words, I wish the diet had worked for me. Not much seems to help, but at 53 years old I am grateful to not be worse off than I am. My diet is pretty limited and if I don't follow it I'm completely miserable. Sorry to hear of your struggle to gain a little weight. Have you tried Vivonex or Absorb plus? Don't know what Absorb plus is like, but I still remember the smell of Vivonex from when my poor mother had to take it years ago. The proteins are broken down in Vivonex so they are less likely to cause a problem. Hope you find something yummy that agrees with you.