I resisted the tablets too, what kept me going was the threat of having to go to hospital. So some days I would only manage some cheese and an apple. But I would try and drink water if I could.
I weighed myself so I knew how much weight I was loosing and carried a bucket around with me. Went to bed at 8pm and spent the rest of the time sideways awake on the sofa watching TV.
It was gross, I couldn't muster the energy or stop feeling vertigo type sickness to go wash my hair. Everything just stopped, it was ok when we were away as the apartment was tiny and it took a lot less effort to move. But once we got home, urgh.
The bands helped just take the edge off, I was still sick with mostly every meal and had horrible heart burn. But I found things like milkshakes helped a lot.
By the end of it I hadn't been outside for months, my DH had taken over all the food shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing.
I hear it compares to say a chemotherapy patient actually.