Not eating

[Maggiemol]

My OH has been diagnosed with moderate to severe alzheimer's and is on a low dose of resperidone, which has reduced his agitation. His appetite has declined significantly over the last few days and today he has not eaten at all. I offer him little bits of food all the time but he just says no, not now. I know people in the late stages do not eat but my husband is not at that stage yet, I presume.
I spoke to the GP last week when my husband was eating small amounts and he wasn't unduly concerned as he said the elderly could live on very small amounts of food. However sonce yesterday morning my husband has not eaten. He is still drinking liquids.
Any thoughts or advice?

 

[Merrymaid]

Hi there you could check if there was any physical reason for him not wanting to eat eg mouth ulcers, toothache, dentures rubbing, sore throat, possible infections. If none of these are obvious it might be back to the doctor to investigate. Hope this helps xx

 

[technotronic]

My OH has been diagnosed with moderate to severe alzheimer's and is on a low dose of resperidone, which has reduced his agitation. His appetite has declined significantly over the last few days and today he has not eaten at all. I offer him little bits of food all the time but he just says no, not now. I know people in the late stages do not eat but my husband is not at that stage yet, I presume.
I spoke to the GP last week when my husband was eating small amounts and he wasn't unduly concerned as he said the elderly could live on very small amounts of food. However sonce yesterday morning my husband has not eaten. He is still drinking liquids.
Any thoughts or advice?

Hi Maggiemol

My wife who has Early Onset Dementia has recently not eaten many 'proper meals', even though i still buy them n at times cook her some, but it just sits there wasted now on the table after i give it to her.
She does however eat a breakfast each day, a bowl of Special K cereal (Red Berries) that she likes, did put Carnation Squeezy condensed milk on top as she liked it, but now she doesn't want the condensed milk on top anymore, just the cereal as it is n milk, with it all warmed up in the microwave.
Rest of the day she snacks, crisps, chocolate bars, jam tarts etc n reads magazines i buy for her. She does have drinks, tea that i make for her (as she's lost ability to remember how to make a drink) n cold fruit drinks, she did have coffee but i stopped her having that, think i read something about effects of coffee not too good but cant remember to much of what i read. She has seemed a lot better for it though.
I think that i read somewhere that so long as they eat a little something now n then they should be okay.
Having snacks around of things OH likes will help n ensure they at least are eating something,n ease your worries about OH not eating.
Hopefully this will be of help to you.
John

 

[LadyA]

You could also try different foods, maybe sweet things? Tastes can change as dementia progresses. I wouldn't worry about a balanced diet at this stage. It's about getting calories in. Things like mousse type desserts, cheesecake, etc. and of course ice cream were a godsend for my husband.

 

[Maggiemol]

Thanks to all of you for your sensible advice. He has had a dessert for breakfast so that is a positive. As you say it is not the time to worry about a balanced diet. I will try leaving the odd snack around to see if he eats them and also check to make sure there is no problem with his teeth. Thanks again it is so reassuring to be able to ask questions of people who really know what it's like.

 

[stanleypj]

Glad to hear that. I think you are right to be concerned. It's very important that PWD don't start to lose weight as it can spiral down dramatically & can be hard to deal with.