Yesterday I wrote a detailed explanation about the condition I suffer from called SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). That post was the result of over 3 years of research and if you want to learn more please do check out part one of this two part series:
My SIBO Story (part 1) - What is SIBO & How it has Effected Me
Today I want to comprehensively cover the treatment that I am currently three days into called the physicians elemental diet. This is not a traditional diet that anyone would recognize, it's a medically formulated powdered diet of predigested food. I covered what it entails in brief in the previous post.
The elemental diet - this is a diet that consists of macronutrients broken down into their elemental state requiring little to no digestive functionality which allows time for the gut to rest and starves the bacteria. The nutritional make up of most elemental formulas are 14-18% of calories from protein (in the form of amino acids), 42-76% calories from carbohydrate (in the form of monosaccharaides), 6-43% of calories from fat (in the form of fatty acids) and a full spectrum of vitamins/minerals.
I will expand further on this with my understanding of how it works and why it has 80% success rates with a two week course and 88% success rates with a three week course (which I am undertaking). Also, I will cover the side effects that you might experience while on the diet and my plans/thoughts about transitioning off this extreme (no solid food) diet to try and balance/acclimatize the digestive system back to a healthy, functional state.
What is an elemental diet and how does it work?
A temporary diet (usually for 2-3 weeks), during which no food is consumed, and only pre-digested nutrients are consumed in the form of a drink. The mixture can be a medically formulated elemental powder or made at home using special ingredients purchased on the internet.
When used properly it has an 80-84% success rate eradicating SIBO. Gas levels should reduce within 2-3 weeks, which can help reduce or eliminate the need to use prescription or herbal antibiotics.
- The goal of the elemental diet is to provide the body with pre-digested nutrients so that the digestive tract has to do very little work.
- When the nutrients reach the small intestine, they are already in a form that is absorbed easily, so they can be quickly taken up by the gut and into the bloodstream to nourish the body.
- The idea is that when the pre-digested nutrients reach the small intestine, they get absorbed so quickly that any bacteria in the small intestine (as is the case with SIBO) won't have a chance to feed.
- This should quickly reduce any symptoms of bloating if SIBO is the cause, as there will be nothing for the bacteria to ferment which is why hydrogen/methane is created.
So basically, the elemental diet starves the bacteria in the small intestine, while providing a rest for inflamed or injured bowels as the food needs little to no digestion.
Side effects on the elemental diet?
Mental:
I've been on the diet for two and a half days now and I can attest to the fact it is hard to adjust to not eating. I'm feeling a bit overly emotional and irritable. Also, general background cravings for proper food and last night I dreamed about coffee 😂
From what I've read the solution is to try to stay active with friends and family during this time to keep your mind occupied. This is a little difficult as I've also been experiencing severe fatigue before and during this diet.
Physical:
As the formula is concentrated, it can cause cramping if consumed too quickly in large doses. I haven't really felt this effect but I am actively trying to drink the solution slowly and take a full 60 minutes to consume it.
As no fiber is being consumed, constipation is likely. If this becomes a problem, a prokinetic supplement can be taken (ginger is a natural prokinetic and ginger tea is an option if constipation causes an issue).
Temporary die-off reactions occur when bacteria or yeast are eradicated as the bacteria throws out toxins into the system as they die. This can cause flu-like symptoms, but should resolve within 10 days. I've definitely started to experience this with phlegm, headaches and overall sluggishness above and beyond the fatigue I was already experiencing. A good rule of thumb here, is to sip water throughout the day as the die-off is happening as this will help process the toxins quicker through frequent urination.
You can pass strange smelling diarrhea as the system purges foods that have been fermenting in the guts for a long time as well as toxins that have bound themselves to fungal and bacterial colonies. Trapped food can be a problem with long term cases of SIBO and this also adds to this rather unpleasant symptom. Yeah, I've been experiencing this... say no more!
Transitioning safely off the elemental diet!
There is a lot of conflicting information out there about this but one thing that seems to be universally agreed upon is to start slow. A lot of people suggest drinking only bone broth for the first day supplemented with some of the elemental diet formula before adding in various low-FODMAP foods from day two, over the course of a week.
I've been a vegetarian since the age of six so bone broth is a bad idea. Instead I will follow the same methodology but with organic veg broth on the first day. Saving the vegetables from the mix to add to soups over the next 6 days of food reintroduction. I have decided to create my own systematic path for food reintroduction based on research and intuition.
As the fodmap diet and other exclusion diets I tried in the past had little effect, I'm not convinced that I have food sensitivities, but there are food types that are harder to digest and it makes sense to add them carefully, one by one to check for reactions. I will start with easily digestible low-FODMAP foods, while carefully reintroducing five common (hard for unbalanced digestive systems to process) trigger foods.
These are the five trigger foods:
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Gluten (wheat based products)
- Soy
- Corn (including corn syrup, corn starch etc)
I am planning on introducing these trigger foods one by one, slowly over the course of 5-6 weeks. For example, eating a small amount of dairy on week 2 or 3 after the elemental diet on a Monday and then reverting back to the low fodmap for the rest of the week and monitoring my system's reaction. Then repeating this process 7-8 days after with another trigger food group. Possibly if there is a reaction I will leave it longer for the symptoms to die down if needed.
I will be eating only organic vegetables and no processed food during this whole reintroduction process and may experiment with probiotic supplements (or natural sources of good bacteria) once my system is used to solid food again.
This is what I have to look forward to for the next 2-3 months 😅
Wish me luck, and I hope those people who follow my content will understand if I disapear for periods over the next few months.
Thank you for reading.
▶️ DTube
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I just want to tag a few long term friends into this post to let them know that this is why I might disappear from steem and discord periodically over the next month or two.
nathanmars, check out the video. I know you prefer visual content m8. This is why I didn't actively compete or even ask for delegation this round, as I won't be able to put it to effective use over the next 6 weeks. Also, my twitter hustle will decrease during this time but I'm going to continue with the #seven77 challenge, even if I miss the odd day or two 👍
f3nix, you know all about my health shiz already but just letting you know this is why I'm unlikely to join Finish the Story much over the next 6 weeks. Also, unable to work on the secret project under management in the bananafish realms 😉
Thanks for reading/watching this post, you can check out similar work on my homepage @raj808.
This sort of reminds me of the gaps diet. I was diagnosed in 2016 with fibromyalgia. I used the gaps diet to do a lot of initial healing. The gaps diet has stages, with the first being almost completely a liquid diet. This diet too has the idea of destabilizing the gut flora and re-establishing a healthy Flora. I used it successfully a couple years ago, but ran into some issues with preparing my food and fell off the track. However, my symptoms have not gotten nearly as bad as they were before the diet. I was quite amazed to see the amount of healing that took place. I definitely need to get back to it. This diet seems very interesting and I’m going to do more research into it. Thanks!
I hope you find relief ! I know a bit what it’s like to have a chronically imbalanced gut.
Hi @alchemage
That is rough that you have/had fibromyalgia. I have a friend who suffers that and one of my biggest concerns with my case of SIBO is that I exhibit some of the symptoms of fibromyalgia (although in a less extreme way); chronic fatigue and muscle aches being the main ones. But I also get long recovery periods after exercise (it's rare I do exercise these days because of the fatigue), it's like my body isn't in balance.
I'm hopeful about this elemental diet, as it's day 5 and this is the first day I've not felt really dodgy. I even went for a short walk to a place called Cathedral Gardens in the city where I live (gonna put a short photography post up about it later), meditated and wrote some poetry.
I've also been partially following the Win Hof method over the last 2 days (only breathing and cold shower) and this seems to have had some effect. Mainly in my mentality and mindfulness. The stress of what is happening to my body is a big factor and the breathing in the Win Hof seems to have negated a big portion of that stress. Ha ha, every time I drink the elemental formula, I blow up like a balloon, but that's to be expected in these early days.
Anyway, I'm rambling. I've heard of the GAPs diet and I'm glad it helped you. Take care and thanks for your support and telling me your story :)
I do not have your problem, but we have talked about it before and I really feel for you. I went into some fb groups for this condition after seeing your story before and this is a nightmare for many.
I wish you luck on this new protocol. When you complete it, I would not reintroduce any of the triggers foods with the exception of eggs - from a trusted free range organic source only. The other 4 foods are on all the "bad" lists I know of and not well tolerated by many. It's fairly easy to have a good diet without the other 4. Maybe gluten would be ok in a limited manner, but I would probably avoid it.
Best of luck and I sure hope this works for you.
Thanks for the luck Sharon, I'll need it 😉 I'll keep in mind what you've said here. Soy, corn and gluten were always going to be my final reintroductions. But, I am pretty sure this is not about any single food, rather a large imbalance (SIBO is 100% my diagnosis in more than one test & I've done many exclusion diets b4 with no improvement s). However I could be wrong, and it's important to provide my guts the right foods to heal all the damage that's been done by the imbalance once the bacterial overgrowth is gone from where it shouldn't be - the small intestine.
P.s. yeah, I had to ban myself from the Facebook groups as it's not a great place for logical research when you have the condition. I found a lot of strange tribalism between people who thought one treatment was better than another etc.
None of that jazz matters. As it's a condition that medical sciences don't fully understand yet, the only sensible option is to try all treatments that seem logical one by one. Like ticking off a list.
Hope it will bring you to perfect health. I have fasted for a month before and it gets much easier after the first week. Just stay away from the things that socially are connected with eating for a bit... But after a while, that didn't bother me at all.
Here is a little something for you
https://steemit.com/dtube/@freewritehouse/4gu8a7fs
Hi @freewritehouse
This ain't gonna get easier after the first week. The bacterial die-back occurs between day 8-11 for most people. That's when I'm going to get real sick if it works as it should. But I know where you're coming from in what you're saying. In the case of the food cravings, I'm sure they'll disappear within a week :)
Ha ha, I got that covered. I've no commitments for the whole 3 weeks and am planning on getting back into my computer gaming..... when I'm not too sick I shall be hitting Skyrim pretty hard I think.
Thanks for your kind words, the SBI in the freeread and your insights into the fasting process. Much love :)
Hope this one will work for you. It sounds like a condition that makes life difficult, to say the least.
Wow that is hardcore, but necessary I guess. I hope it works out in the long run and you find a balance!
Sounds pretty gruesome with the pending sickness, hopefully it won't be too bad though....hopefully!
How is it actually made and what does it taste like?
Do try and drop in once in a while, I'll miss you here on steem for two months!
Hi m8.
Yeah, it's starting to get a little gruesome already with some nasty symptoms manifesting that I won't go into lol
This treatment is completely needed though, I've been functioning at around 30% capacity both mentally and physically for nearly 6 years. There's fluctuations in energy levels and mental acuity etc from month to month, but it's progressively been getting worse and worse.
Hmnnn, interesting question... I'm not sure how it's made. But I can answer the second question. You'll understand this explanation being from the UK. It tastes like slightly chalky, moldy Kia-ora. Like a thick chalky orange squash, but there is an odd after taste that I can't place.... that would be the amino acids 🤣
Thanks man, I appreciate that. This post was almost a disclaimer/explainer just in case I drop off the map completely. I'd have to get really sick for that to happen tbh. I'm gonna try and get on steem once every 3-4 days at least to put up some content and plan on maybe doing a shorter travel/photography series from my trip to Mexico 4 years ago which I've never blogged about. I've never shit posted in my life, and i don't intend to start now lol, but I need to tone down the time/effort that I put into my posts just while this treatment lasts. Plus I'm gonna get autovotes set up during those down times so my VP doesn't go to waste.
Thanks for stopping by mate. I'm gonna go check out you, and a few other people's, blogs today before taking at least a few days off from all things steem/blogging 🙂
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Hello @raj808 wow this is absolutely detailing, I mean these terms are strange to me, but it's really satisfying that you took time to explain all about your diet, treatment and all. Please you'd need to really reduce on the stress and well @nathanmars will understand really, we need you back and healthy and since you said it's a span of six weeks do take the needed time and I wish you a speedy recovery
It may take longer than 6 weeks to sort this all out but the real hard part is now, with this liquid ele'mental' diet lol
Ha ha, yes I was sure Nathan would understand but I thought he might be wondering why I didn't make a video saying why I should get a SP gift lol
Regardless it is nice to tell people why you're absent when you've made connections. Speaking of which, you have become a very good steem friend Jose so I'm glad you saw this and know why I might be away for times over the next two months.
Cheers for checking out the post @josediccus. If the terminology in the writing was a little crazy, I tried to make the @dtube video a simpler explanation :)
Yeah you're right, it's important to state why you're absent for sure really and erhm no matter how long it takes I know you'll beat the illness and come back better, you know last year I was out for a whole full month really and well do take care again and I'll be sure to see re-watch the video too
This is fascinating. Im curious why you would choose this elemental diet over a fast? So many more people experiencing major bowel issues, it's really good to see SIBO talked about.
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A fast probably wouldn't work and might cause more damage than it could solve. Bear in mind I've a 4+ year history of SIBO with successive treatments of antibiotics, herbal antimicrobials and trying to address the overgrowth with every specific food exclusion diet known to man lol None, of this has worked. I've also tried pretty much every angle supplement-wise. Probiotics were the worst. They made me blow up like a balloon. Very painful bloating and excessive gas.
This is the last resort. I have tried fasts before, the longest one (water fast) I managed was 7 days. I suspect that the overgrowth is so entrenched that I would have to fast for 2-3 weeks to see any effect, but as I'm suffering chronic fatigue, most probably due to nutrient malabsorption because the bacteria have caused a really bad mess in my guts, full on fasting is a bad idea. Also, three weeks without food is coming close to starvation. Tbh, an elemental diet is as close as you can come to fasting while still taking on nutrients.
Yeah, it's so sad that so many more people are having serious gut conditions and I'm pretty sure the culprit is processed food. In fact I'm sure of it. Once I've found the solution to my condition I'm eating 100% natural and organic. If I have bread etc, I'm going to make it all myself, which I did a lot of anyway over the last few years but organic is hard to afford where I live on a low income. It's catch 22.
Thanks for checking out my post artemis. I hope my answer to your question made sense, I'm at the far extreme of SIBO symptom-wise, hence the extreme diet/treatment :)
Man. This is awesome and inspiring 🙌
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Cheers, thanks for the encouragement 🙂
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I wonder how long it takes till your intestines are empty and how to keep busy with friends and family eating/snacking around you.
So it is 2.5 days now and you will undertake this for the next 2-3 months?
Somehow I find it hard to believe eggs are a trigger. As I understand they are the most complete food there is.
Wheat, soy I understand why.
I hope this diet will help you.
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Hi wakeupkitty 👋
I'm half way through the third day and it's 21 days (3 weeks in total) on this elemental diet... then the transition period back to solid food that I describe at the end might take 4-6 weeks in total if I stick to my plans.
To respond to this I'll just say, eggs & dairy are believed to be the worst feeders of streptococcus (a pervasive and damaging bacteria). There is a theory that strep might be the main player in the bad bacteria gang that fck over a SIBO sufferer. I'm not saying the theory is right, but I'm covering all bases with my methodology in how I reintroduce foods. Basically, it can't harm to exclude them until a certain point and then see how my system reacts.
P.s. I really hope that theory is wrong, as I love eggs 😂
But seriously, I need to stop talking about food lol. My alarm has just gone off to tell me it's time for another pint of the wonderful elemental formula drink.
Enjoy your drink! Lucky you fewer dishes to wash!
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😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Yes, you're right and every time I start getting cravings this is what I've been telling myself. Hardly any washing up to do.
Ha ha, Thais for making me laugh. I've nearly finished this round of the lovely elemental juice 😉
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You are welcome, hope it works out for you and others as well.
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Thank you for sharing something so personal, and well done for making the decision to follow through with this - changing your body's fuel source is a serious decision and must be done with the utmost care and consideration.
Years ago I suffered from a multitude of health problems, including annorexia...as a last ditch effort to improve my health I bought a copy of Dr Peter J. D'Adamo's book "Eat Right for Your Type" and commenced the Blood Type Diet.
Not a lot happened during the first 2 weeks, but then I woke up one morning and I was STARVING. It was like all the pain and suffering of my condition had been saved up and dumped on me all at once - I could feel that I had been starving for years.....so I threw the mother of all tantrums and continued to do so every time I felt hungry, I don't remember how long it took for me to level out, I just remember the intensity that I felt everything at....long story short, I understand the difficulties you'll be facing over the next few months and I wish you all the best and hope you succeed in achieving your health goals :)
Hi @moz333
Thank you for telling me your story, it really helps when someone understands what you're going through and the sharing helps exorcise some of the pain for sure.
That sounds super intense. I've not really hit the point where the bacteria is dying yet I don't think. Things have not been that bad so far, emotionally at least and I've just got a headache and bad swollen belly. But this just means the process hasn't started properly yet.
I agree and I've absolutely no commitments over the next 3 weeks just in case it's a really severe reaction. This partly why I wrote these long detailed posts now. I may be away, or sporadic on steem over the next month or two.
Anyway, thanks again for your support and insights :)
My pleasure :) I believe sharing our experiences to help others is a valuable use of our time...what's the point in learning if we can't share that knowledge? Glad to be of any help to yourself or anyone else going through something similar. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need a sounding board. Good luck :)
I admire your confidence
I respect your honesty
I’ll be sending some liquid STEEM as a donation soon and so do whatever you want with it mate :)
Thanks Nathan.
I appreciate your understanding and, hopefully, I'll be back double strength after this healing process. Thanks for the gift as well. That was a lovely surprise to see pop up in my wallet. I'm still gonna be doing the #Seven77 activities, so I'll see you on twitter :-)
We are SO proud to have you as a member of our
FANTABULOUS Power House Creatives family!
uvoted and/or resteemed!
❤ MWAH!!! ❤
#powerhousecreatives
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I advise you to take good bacteria too as it might help your guts with its bacterial overgrowth problem.
Best regards and I hope it will be good for you.Oh man I think I need to be in that kind of diet too but it might contain phosphates that is bad for me. I also believe that my body doesn't absorb much nutrients too @raj808
Hi @cryptopie
This diet could possibly help you, I've just checked the ingredient list and nutritional info and couldn't tell if it contained phosphates tbh m8. You'd have to ask your doctor.
Probiotics (good bacteria) is a decent suggestion in a lot of circumstances but not with SIBO. As the overgrowth is basically about location rather than the type of bacteria. My stomach is so bloated that I can feel each length of small intestine with my thumb pushing up against the skin.
So, the big issue with SIBO is that there is to much bacteria in a place it shouldn't be in such large amounts, the small intestine. I've tried good bacteria, they make it worse. But if you kill all of the bacteria in the small intestine by starving them, which is what the elemental diet does, then afterwards you can try taking good bacteria so that the gut is repopulated with the good stuff which helps regulate the whole system. This is the standard protocol for treating SIBO, but unfortunately doctors know so little about this condition that it doesn't work for many people, or they find relief and then it comes back 6 months later.
Anyway, all this pales in comparison to what you have to deal with my friend! As I've said before, I find how you push on through inspirational.
I hope that one day you find lasting relief from your illness Cryptopie.
Thanks for your comment buddy :)
May God heal you.Yes it makes sense to starve the bad bacteria in your gut, it might work. I also hope that you can discover the magic bullet for your condition @raj808
I had never heard of SIBO, nor this type of dietetic therapy. I hope it works for you and you are on-the-mend soon! Please keep us updated! 🙌
Thank you for the well wishes @thekittygirl
I will definetly keep everyone updated and in fact today (day 5 of the three weeks treatment) I have felt a little better than the other days :)
I even went out for a walk and took some photography which I'm going to post later. I'm strong and stubborn, I will never give up until this condition is solved :)
I think staying busy is a great way to stay positive and keep your mind off the not so fun stuff as long as you've got the energy to do it! Sounds like you have really done some great research, and I think it is especially smart that you are already planning out a well thought out re-introduction when you are done with the 3 weeks. Continuing to send good thoughts your way and hope the die off symptoms don't get you too badly!
Hi @plantstoplanks
I'm trying to keep busy. Yesterday was a good day as I felt like something might be changing in my digestive system and had reasonable energy levels.... but it was just an anomaly, today was pretty bad. Nausea, headaches and other symptoms I won't go into.
I pushed on through and edited a video together for dtube but I kinda wish I hadn't now as it's knocked me.... but boredom is a big factor with this treatment. Psychologically, the eating regime, the lack of energy to do much, the headaches; all mean I just can't do anything much and it's soooo boring lol
I think I need to bury myself in a good book 😉
Thanks for your comment
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Sounds like you need a really long series of books to keep you entertained. ;)