My 96 year old mum is living in nursing home. She had her dementia diagnosis (probably alzheimers) in early 2013. In 2015 she broke her hip and had two bouts of pneumonia - it took her a long time to recover from each but she did eventually get better. She has now had another chest infection and has had two lots of antibiotics to clear it up. However she has now taken to her bed and is unable to eat. The nurse there has said she is refusing food which is not unusual in dementia patients. I stayed with her today at lunchtime and I found that she did want her dinner and her pudding but when I put small mouthfuls in her mouth she appeared unable to swallow and had to spit everything out. She said it was hard to swallow but I'm wondering whether she is in fact forgetting how to eat. I'm also worried that it Might just be that she is taking a long time to recover again. Does anyone have any suggestions. Also for how long can she carry on without eating. She is managing to drink through straw, energy drinks prescribed by her GP. Thanks,
My mum not able to eat
- Thread starter Peegee
- Start date
You should get someone from the SALT team to visit her. They deal with difficulties in eating, drinking and swallowing and could advise what kind of liquid diet she might be able to eat. It's not ok for the nurse to simply shrug and say she refuses food.
