eating too much

Maru

DH in ES ALZ, has lately started eating everything put in front of him. Six months ago, if I served him a large steak, he would eat his fill then save the rest of it. Lately, he eats the whole thing in addition to sides. Yesterday, I made chicken salad, enough for 3-4 lunches. He ate the whole thing for lunch, in addition to his usual large handful of carrots, a large fruit helping and endless pretzels. He is not obese, just 15 lbs overweight. Is this poor judgement? Is his brain not telling him when he is full? Is this even an ALZ thing?

M1

it can be both a disease feature, and certain drugs can also increase appetite. But yes I think they lose the feedback loop and can’t sense satiety. I think this is even more difficult to handle than loss of appetite, because you have to control their access to food.

Arrowhead

My wife is like that. I would give her the same amount, or a bit more than I gave myself, and she lost weight. In memory care she eats more than the other residents, and she gained her weight back. I think you just need to control how much he eats so that he maintains the weight he has now. That includes placing food stuff where he won't see it. Childproof locks on cabinets and the refrigerator will help.

Silverplatter

My husband has developed a sweet tooth. He will eat pie and brownies and ice cream every night if I let him.

midge333

Seroquel can cause weight gain. My wife was started on seroquel in february and has gained 10-15 pounds which is not all bad because she was down to 105 pounds when the seroquel was started.

M1

hi silverplatter. A lot of dementia folks crave sweets, your DH is not alone.

DTSbuddy

Yes, I have read that this is typical. My DH definitely went through a period of craving sweets, now less so. Still, I need to hide cookies to keep them in the house. I put out fruit, but then he leaves cores and pits around the house, or worse, puts them down drains. Just needs lots of supervising.