Dear Jini and Nicole,

I would like to thank you so much for your wisdom and care.
I started the elemental diet 3 weeks ago to heal a wound that was caused by an inflamation I had a year ago in the terminal illeum of the small intestine. I was treated with steroids. The inflamation was healed quite quickly but since then I had an inner pain in my stomach that was sometimes very strong. The wound was not healed completely and was irritated by food, mood etc. It was sometimes painful even just to put my arm on the stomach (I found that physical activity really improved the pain). About a week before starting the elemental diet the pain got worse and was quite severe. It was painful even to walk. I had a virus at that time with high fever and took some herbs that my stomach had a very bad reaction to (strong pain and diarrhea) and I was very weak. Even though I had fever and diarrhea I don't think is was caused by an inflamation.
The improvement after stopping the herbs and starting the diet was very fast. After a few days I felt much stronger and the pain was a lot better.
Now after 3 weeks, physicaly I feel great. Before starting my gut said that I should do the elemental diet for 3.5-4 weeks. The only symptom that is left now is a pain when I press on my stomach in a specific place where the wound is. The pain is not so bad but still exists. I don't feel it at all unless I press on the wounded area.

I know that Jini recommends to continue the elemental diet for another week after all the symptoms are gone. So my forst question is should I wait until the pain is gone completely (even when I press hard on the stomach) or will the healing process continue after returning to food.

I'm taking the recommended suplements except of the Mucosaheal and the oregano oil. I tried the Mucosaheal but it gave me a very bad stomach ache, I think my stomach is very sensitive to herbal remedies. every time I take herbs I take a reaction. Is there anything I can take instead of the Mucosaheal?
I haven't started taking the oregano oil as I'm afraid it will be too strong for my stomach and I also wasn't sure I was supposed to take it if my intestine is not inflamated. I am taking about 1 teaspoon per day of the Bifidus powder, increasing the doze slowly to avoid reaction. should I be taking all 3 probiotic powders in full doze in order to start taking the oregano oil?

one little question - I thought of a possibility of adding to the shakes a natural flavor essence (coconut for example). there are ones that are not alcohol based. would it be appropriate?

Many thanks!

Sorry this is such a late reply. For some reason, I was seeing no new posts from the home page in this forum....it was only when I opened it up that I saw them.

In any case, at least the reply will help anyone with similar questions in future.

If the MucosaHeal bothers you, I would try just taking the aloe vera juice as instructed in both The IBD Remission Diet and LTYG.

You do not have to be taking the full dose of all three probiotics to start taking the oil of oregano, but you shouldn't be taking the full Phase One dose of oil of oregano unless you have built up to 1 tsp./daily of each of the three species. What you can do is take a proportionately smaller dose of oil of oregano and build the oil of oregano and probiotics dosages up together gradually. Just let me know if this needs clarification.

If you do a search on this forum board, you should be able to find a post where Jini describes her experimenting with natural flavor essences in the shakes. She even gave some brand recommendations.

Hope this helps!

Nicole