Anxiety around food

Lindsay22

My mom has been in MC for about 3 months.  At home she had some anxiety around food but mostly it just involved lots of checking to make sure her favorites were on hand and telling me over and over again what to buy at the store.  Now she is getting obsessive about food, when it will come, where does she eat, will it be enough etc. She adjusted to the routine of the MC pretty quickly and gets to the dining room and eats her three meals a day but she is constantly worried about when food will come next, how she will pay for it etc, etc. 

Yesterday I was there while she was having her lunch and she was just shoveling it in.  I kept telling her to slow down but she wouldn't.  I also brought her a bag of mini almond joy candy (her favorite) on Sunday and yesterday they were already gone! That's a lot of chocolate to eat in 1.5 days! Is this just an anxiety/agitation thing? She was seeing the doctor today and likely having anxiety meds increased. I will speak with the doc tomorrow but not sure what to think about the food obsession though. 

MN Chickadee

I would consult the physician and look at anxiety meds. The anxiety can manifest in different ways, and tweaking the meds may make her more relaxed and less worried about food or anything else. It could be she needs the dose upped or a different med all together.

SherriFrotten

Hi,

I found out from my father's doctor that their taste buds change during Alzheimer's and the last remaining taste bud is the one that likes sugary items. This is probably why your loved one is using sugar on their foods because this is the only taste he/she is liking at this point.

Hope this helps

Take care, 

Sherri 

King Boo

We went through this.  The anxiety medication adjustment helped a lot.  It was still a fixation but after a few OCD questions/checks, my LO was soothed.

Jo C.

This is a challenge . . . also ask the doctor to check to confirm the diagnosis for type of dementia. In some of the FrontoTemporal Dementias, there is a dynamic of orality; and food is the big item with much overeating and it is a compulsion that seems to continue until later in the disease.  Just a good idea to know what you are dealing with; so many different causes for behaviors.

J.

sophirolr

Of course, it can be due to stress, but it is not certain

aannaa

My friend also gained a little extra weight because of the sweets. He continues to gain weight and I decided that something should be done about it. So today for dinner I will prepare chicken and salad with vegetables and olive oil. Proper nutrition is very important for me and my friend now as he want to lose weight. When I read https://betterme.world/articles/lose-5-pounds-in-a-week-meal-plan/ , we decided to start losing weight. It works well for him. We also started working out and have already lost some extra weight and it's so great!!

jfkoc

One idea that came to mind was to have her sign for her meal  so it will be charged to her room. They could just give her a post it to sign.

Re te chocolate. Yes that is lot of chocolate to eat but not difficult to do...lol

JMack88

Your situation is similar to mine in a few ways.  My mother doesn't want to eat much except sweet things.  To make sure she gets the vitamins and protein she needs we introduced her to Ensure as a snack.  She now drinks it on her own, a bottle a day broken up into two 4 oz juice cups.  We were lucky she liked it.  Some people don't.  

However, my mother's obsession with food is how many calories it has.  She yo-yo dieted all her life and has always had body image issues.  Her doctor was glad she'd gained a few pounds on our last visit because for the past 3 years her weight has been going down on every visit and she's borderline dangerously low now.  

Mom refuses to eat everything on her plate.  She always puts half in the fridge "to eat later" except later never comes because she forgets unless my sister or I reheat the one or two bites of food on the plate.  If she serves herself from a dish she only puts about 3 forkfuls on her plate and then only eats half of that.  She wants to read the package of everything we feed her because she's worried about calories.  If she thinks it's too high a calorie count she won't eat it.  Despite this, she always asks for dessert after a meal and she's always eating cereal bars for snacks.  We have bought fruit before because she asked for it "because it's healthy and low calorie" but she doesn't eat it even if we have it sitting out where she can see it.  

Our biggest problem by far is getting her to drink enough.  We're lucky if she drinks one 8 oz bottle of water a day.  She only wants to drink coffee - which is a diuretic and thus not a good choice for fluid intake.  We've been trying to add soups and juices to her daily routine, although not always successfully.  We're looking at a few different options to get fluids into her.  She's always cold so she never wants anything colder than room temperature too.

harshedbuzz

JMack88 wrote:

Our biggest problem by far is getting her to drink enough.  We're lucky if she drinks one 8 oz bottle of water a day.  She only wants to drink coffee - which is a diuretic and thus not a good choice for fluid intake.  We've been trying to add soups and juices to her daily routine, although not always successfully.  We're looking at a few different options to get fluids into her.  She's always cold so she never wants anything colder than room temperature too.

Have you considered decaf coffee? It's the caffeine that has diuretic properties.

JMack88

@Harshedbuzz  yes, we give her decaf too.  But she can't remember that it's decaf and so she keeps asking if it is because she won't drink caffeinated after about 2pm.  Also she forgets that she has it sitting right next to her and it gets cold and then she won't drink it.