EATING

MsChristian

Need to know how to get a senior to eat again. Doctor put her on Donepezil (Aricept) and she stop eating. My mother went from a size 14 now to 8. Weight is 121 from 135. I was preparing meals daily but the food was being thrown away if she didn't want to eat anything. When my mother get up in the morning she might get her a bowl of cereal, but if not I will cook breakfast. Depending on the day, she may eat 1 meal ALL day. She is not going to eat anything unless she is hungry. Sometimes she will eat a peanut butter sandwich or bowl of cereal, apple or something small but not a meal. Doctor said get her on the shake Glucerma it has less sugar in is because she is a diabetic, but that's worst . When she drink the shakes she NEVER get hungry at. Just need some help on trying to get her back eating again. Mother has been off the medication for months. HELP

CanyonGal

My mom dropped from 109 to 85, stopped eating for 6 months. She would eat barely anything at all. Then she just started eating again and gained weight to 93 lbs. After a hospitalization, she stopped eating again, and has developed swallowing issues. We are at 78 lbs last weigh in a couple of weeks ago.

Some say the brain doesn't recognize the need to eat or know when to eat, so keep the routine of 3 meals with snacks, or frequent smaller meals. It's very stressful to see, but the person with dementia doesn't see the need for food or fluids. Fluids are the most important, to avoid dehydration. My mom refuses to drink enough fluids so she gets dehydrated often.

towhee

So sorry this is happening. You are not alone. A variable appetite is common in dementia and people often go thru cycles where they do not want to eat. Sometimes this is because their ability to taste and smell changes, making food become bland. Sometimes there are other physical problems. There is a fair amount of information on the forum, if you search for -smoothies - nutrition- appetite- Here is a link to start with - Difficulty Getting my LO to Eat — ALZConnected. Here is one about the problem in general-Food & Eating | Alzheimer's Association. The important thing to remember is that nutrition is what is important and not so much the food itself, so sometimes the nutrition shakes are fine. If your LO continues to lose weight, there are medications to increase appetite, so long as she is not in the end stages of the disease.

CatsWithHandsAreTrouble

I have heard others mention on this forum that donepezil can come with the side effect of the person losing appetite. Donepezil can be very tough on the digestive tract. My mom was on it for about half a year, it didn't affect her appetite but it gave her constant diarrhea. There's two different medications that come in the forms of patches that can bypass the digestive tract. One is Exelon patches, generic name rivastigmine. The other is newer and I'm not sure if it's available yet but it's called Adlarity.

For a while late last year mom stopped eat much as well and lost a lot of weight. One of her doctors put her on Mirtazapine to increase appetite and she was also put on pantoprazole as it was suspected that she had gastritis. We saw great improvement in her appetite with those.

Also sometimes we just have to accept that nutrition is nutrition. If your mom will only eat a handful of different things, then go ahead and let her eat it. If she responds well with the shakes, there are many kinds out there that you can get with doctor's approval, and can mix it with other things like yogurt, ice cream, teas and coffee.

SDianeL

Read the book "The 36 Hour Day" it helped me a lot. My husband is early stage vascular dementia. 1. He says he's not hungry but will eat if I fix it and put it in front of him. 2. I don't give him choices. Too overwhelming. 3. He doesn't recognize some foods. Asked me what was broccoli was and what a banana was. 4. He says he doesn't want to drink or eat because it causes him to have to go to the bathroom. 5. The foods he used to love he won't touch now. We're down to 2 breakfasts: cereal & banana or waffles and bacon or sausage. I buy the Splenda protein shakes. They are cheaper and taste better. I would give her the shake at night after dinner. He eats a late breakfast and an early dinner and then drinks a shake when he takes his evening pills.

diancald

a year ago my dad with FTD weighed 200. As of today he weighs 152. Last fall he started only eating Campbell’s tomato soup made with milk, and seasoned with Tabasco and croutons. He would eat it 2-3 x day. That’s it, nothing else.

A lot has happened with both parents health this year and as of June 15, I have them living in separate facilities…mom in AL and dad in MC. His behavior was too combative to live with her.

since then he’s refusing to eat anything. Even favorite snacks are refused. Although he’s in MC, I’ve offered to bring his favorite food or anything he desires. I even had the dietitian make him his soup meal but he says it’s awful. He just says that nothing sounds good, nothing tastes good.

They’re starting him on appetite stimulant tomorrow. If that doesn’t work, I guess it’s time for hospice.

This is the cruelest disease and I feel like I am killing my dad by moving him to MC.

Emily 123

It's a struggle to find something that appeals to my mom. And some things that she used to like she won't touch, plus the gravitation towards sweets has become persistent. I think too that there may be an issue with how food looks, like when items are mixed or they touch on the plate. And she'll sound like she's fine with something, but when it's served she looks at it like it's not what she wanted. She'll eat a few bites and then abandon it.

ButterflyWings

Ms Christian, my DH was not a candidate for Aricept due to appetite suppression. After losing weight quickly for the first time ever (10-15 lbs in less than a month), his Dr. and I agreed to discontinue that med. He went from just not being hungry, like you describe your LO's experience, to regaining his normal appetite immediately. And thank goodness his weight was back to baseline in a couple of weeks. Not worth the risk since some are not sure Donepezil (Aricept) really helps their PWD LOs much anyway. The weight loss for a thin person definitely does not, unless someone is really obese -- but they still need to eat for the daily nutrition requirements.