The Elemental Diet + Anorexic Shock

I had no idea what to expect when on the Elemental Diet.

image by Lulwa Alsbat

I knew it would be challenging and exhausting, but I wasn’t prepared for the physical debilitation it would bring.

But what exactly is the Elemental Diet?

The Elemental Diet is a molecular formula designed to starve out the bacteria and fungi that inhabit the body during the growth of SIBO.

It is a broken down powder form of the nutrients we would be getting from food, composed of amino acids, fats, and simple carbohydrates.

Typically, the Elemental Diet is used as feeding tube formula, for hospital patients who can’t chew and swallow their food, while also being used as a meal supplement to treat several stomach infections and conditions that lead to colitis, IBD, and other life altering gastrointestinal issues.

Today, it is widely known as an intense treatment for SIBO.

18 Days of Treatment

After going through three rounds of treatment, consisting of diet change and supplements, my body was still clutching and hanging on to SIBO, along with a slew of other infections, including H. Pylori, C. Diff, and Candida. In November of 2018, we decided to take drastic measures, and put me on the Elemental Diet, while continuing my other treatments of supplements, homeopathic/herbal medications, and weekly IV infusions.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I said goodbye to food, replacing each meal with two glasses of the Elemental Diet formula.

Over the course of three weeks, I sipped a glass of the Elemental Diet “shake” for thirty minutes, six times a day, every two hours, along with the supplements that worked tirelessly, to kill the other infections I simultaneously had.

The shake was a pasty beige color, that tasted like play dough mixed with vanilla protein powder, and the juice water that sits at the top of a yogurt cup. The consistency was chalky and sticky, much like a protein powder, but when mixed with water, it became slimy and sweet, with a tart aftertaste. After a couple days of choking it down, we found (my boyfriend was a major part of taking care of me at this time) that when we blended it with ice, it was much easier to swallow. Something about the cold temperature and icy consistency, made the flavor less powerful and tangy.

When consuming the formula, it was important to sip it slowly, to ensure my body would absorb its nutrients. The formula also had diuretic properties, so it was crucial to make sure it didn’t pass right through my body.

Anorexic Shock

Now, I knew the Elemental Diet would be a challenge. I knew I would starve, I knew it would taste horrible, and I knew it would affect me mentally and emotionally, in some way, shape, or form. But what I didn’t expect, was the combination of symptoms I would feel. It seemed to come on slowly, then all of a sudden, it hit me all at once; back pain, muscle pain, diarrhea, nausea, headaches, drowsiness, lightheadedness, brain fog, extreme exhaustion, and bone pain, were all within my list of symptoms. Every. Single. Day.

I spent Thanksgiving and my 25th birthday like this, eighteen days to be exact. I didn’t walk much or do anything at all during this time. I went straight from my bed to the couch, I refrained from leaving the house at all, and sometimes I skipped showers. Showers made me feel even more lightheaded, weak, and often led me to nearly collapse. Each day I felt bouts of excruciating pain and illness. I spent most of my days in tears, hysterically grieving over my illness and trying my best to breathe through the pain I was in. I developed foggy, blurry vision, and slurred my words as if I was wasted on alcohol. I found it incredibly difficult to hold simple conversations, and my attention span was limited.

About two weeks into the Elemental Diet, my body began going into anorexic shock. I dropped down to 90 lbs, my hip bones jet out of my skin, I lost the color in my face, I shed handfuls of hair, several times a day, and my cheeks sank into my skull, as the circles under my eyes caved in, turning into a grey-blue. My teeth eventually became too big for my face, my clothing fell off of my body, the bones in my feet cracked beneath my weight, I lost my ability to walk for periods of time that were longer than five minutes, and I shivered in a frantic, cold, frenzy. Because I had gone into anorexic shock, we stopped treatment a few days early, and began reintroducing food back into my body. This was even more challenging than the Elemental Diet itself, because my body immediately rejected any snippets of food I gave it. I took this process one day at a time, starting with 1/4 cup of bone broth or 1/4 cup of pureed butternut squash, regurgitating anything I ate, leaving me feeling more hopeless and in pain than ever. After taking baby steps, day by day, it took me about two weeks until I was able to eat a small meal, consisting of “solid,” overcooked and/or pureed food.

Immediately following treatment, we tested for SIBO. My numbers had gone down from being in the 120 range, to now being in the 10-20 range, which was a major milestone! Although it was the most difficult treatment I’ve ever been through, I’m thankful today for the healing process that came with it.

Within these months of bed rest, came bouts of pain and a spiral of emotions. I felt as though I was good for nothing. Useless. I felt isolated, ostracized, disconnected, burdensome, angry, depressed, confused, hateful, resentful, and eventually, numb. But within this time, came a lot of growth, grace, and love. For more on my emotional journey, head on over to Getting Through the Holidays with Chronic Illness.

For additional images of my treatment, feel free to scroll below.

You can also watch raw, honest, and vulnerable, behind the scenes videos of my Elemental Diet and anorexic shock experience, in my story highlight “ElementalDiet” on Instagram.