Overeating in mild dementia

sunshine5

I notice that my DH had been eating too many sweets, Diabetis meds had to be increased. Now I noticed icecream, nuts, cookies and more all disappearing fast! With the good prices already high, this is bad! He has never done that before. I have cut down on buying sweets and alcohol. I do not want to lock up food!

 He doesn’t like to eat sandwiches, salads or carrots.

Anyone notice this excessive eating?

Could this be FTD?

Neurologist says only way to know is pet scan! I am not sure if it’s worth getting pet scan when I already know DH has mild dementia progressing slowly!

Nowhere

Same with my husband. His love of cookies, chocolates, desserts, and triple the sugar in his coffee and tea, while eating less salads and vegetables was pronounced. It’s seemed to coincide early on along with his loss of smell. I believe his loss of smell dramatically affected his sense of taste. Also noted was that before AD he enjoyed orange juice and cranberry juice with breakfast but following he couldn’t tolerate it saying it was either too bitter or too tart. His doctors say desiring sweets is consistent with Alzheimer symptoms. He also has paranoia, delusions, advanced short term memory loss, but can dress himself, shower with prompting to wash each body part, toilet, walk, and converse in basic social situations. He’s going on fourteen years of memory loss and twenty years counting behavioral changes.

FriendinCalifornia

Hi Sunshine-
The craving for sweets seems to be a common symptom in the mid-stages of Alzheimer’s. I am not a caregiver, but two people close to me have the disease, and I read a lot to learn what I can about its progression.

The Tam Cummings scale mentions the sweets thing, starting in Level 4. If you’re not familiar with her descriptions of symptoms and typical progression, it’s worth a read. Here is the link (and sorry if the link isn’t live, I’m not sure how to do that yet).  

 https://tamcummings.com/stages-of-dementia/

sunshine5

Thanks fir the feedback.

DH goes for a morning walk daily, dresses himself. All he does all day is eat, sleep and watch Tv. I am going to arrange speech therapy for him.

DH is only in year 2-3 at the most ( diagnosed in 21) . It’s comforting to know that your husband can still do these thing in year 14

DH is 84, if he makes it to 90 and progression is slow, I can manage!

Joydean

Sunshine, my dh, who would never drink a coke or any soft drink, would not touch sweets. Stage 4 was when he began eating sweets, didn’t matter what as long as it was sweet. Started drinking  3to 4 coke’s a day. It was like he was craving sweets. Had him tested and he had lost all taste and smell abilities. Sweets was all he could still taste. He is now in stage 6 and as of this week early 7.  Sadly the desire for sweets is gone and I have to just make small meals and hope he will eat some of it.

Best of luck to you and your dh. 

Rescue mom

Eating and wanting more sweets is very common for people with dementias. My DH with Alzheimer’s never ate much sweets before, but his consumption increased as the disease progressed. I’m inclined to let them eat—until or unless it causes other health problems with painful etc. effects, like diabetes. 

I stopped buying sweets. I tried hiding, but he rummaged everywhere anyway, and would find them. I did lock some up —like I did with household cleaners and other poison/dangerous things he’d get into—but my locker wasn’t big enough for everything.  The easiest thing was just not bring them home. 

But I did lock up a lot of things that could hurt him, I see little difference in that and bad food. 

Stuck in the middle

There are only four tastes:  sweet, salt, sour, and bitter.  All the rest is smell.  When the sense of smell goes, an apple and an onion taste the same.  That's why your food tastes so blah when you have a head cold.  Unfortunately, loss of smell is very common in dementia.  

My wife thinks food seasoned with garlic etc. is bland, because she can't smell it any more.  Poor thing.

saltom

My DH has always craved sweets but would eat a decent meal. Now he wants the sweets over healthier food and regular meals.  I only make one sweet item available per day. Fortunately he is physically unable to get to any thing on a higher shelf or the back of a shelf or the refrigerator.  If something doesn't get up and walk toward him he doesn't see it.  I do have to admit that one item can be more than one cookie or piece of chocolate. And his appetite is so small that popsicles and ice cream are available in the freezer.  I figure they are better than no food at all.  A side note, since he has been on non-alcoholic red wine (awful stuff!) he has been forgetting to ask for whiskey (his term for anything alcoholic). And I don't offer even the non-alcoholic if he doesn't ask for it. He still hasn't figured out the wine doesn't have alcohol or where the bottle is hidden.

Paris20

My husband always had a sweet tooth but after his AD diagnosis, he was almost out of control. I recall one supermarket visit that took me back to my children’s early childhood. As soon as we passed an aisle or department that contained sweets (and there are many at Wegman’s) he started throwing items into the basket, often behind my back. Of course I saw what he had done and told him we could not bring home all those sweet things. He pouted like a two year old. Now that he’s in a nursing facility, they are better at controlling his intake.

sunshine5

How do u know what stage LO is at? My neurologist won’t tell me. I figured after reading in the forum that DH must be stage 4, I hope the disease progresses slowly!

How do I get him tested for lost sense of smell & taste Joydean?

DH is drinking a lot more zero coke. It’s been hard to find any zero coke bottles lately!

 I don’t allow him lot of sweets as he is diabetic!

French

It reminds me souvenirs. 2 or 3 years ago when I had to hide all sweet food. He was even eating sugar with a spoon in the pot.

Yes it seems common in stage 4 to 5. It disappeared even if my partner still have very good appetite. But now we have to feed him.

Lills

Prior to FTD, my DH's weight was a constant 145 for 30+ years. In about stage 3-4 (?), he began eating sweets nonstop.  At one point, he weighed 182.  

I suspected my DH didn't have Alzheimer's.  His memory wasn't impaired (yet); it was his lack of social skills which alerted me something was wrong.  

Joydean

Sunshine, I took dh to a ENT for testing. I was pretty sure dh couldn’t smell but wasn’t sure until he was tested. For taste they gave him like bites of different things some with very strong garlic smell and taste, he had nothing!  Best of luck to you and your dh!

Poohnuts

You are lucky it is sweets.  My DH consumes beer.  Thinks he is only having 2 when in reality he has 6.  : 0  We just got done with results of neurological testing and were told he has gone from MCI to alzheimers.  This is so different than his dad's !  We are heartbroken.

Poohnuts

Thank you for the information!