Excessive bowel movements in advanced Alzheimers

[ppm]

My father is 87 and has advanced Alzheimers. He wears incontinence pads, but recently food has been passing straight through his system and my 93-year old mother has been struggling with cleaning up an awful mess every couple of days. He's lost alot of weight, and has lost interest in eating too.
Yesterday I spoke to a carer who comes in a few times a week to wash Dad, and she said that she believed that he was entering the final stages of the disease, that his bodily functions were beginning to shut down, and that he was probably no longer able to properly digest solids. She said that the GP would be able to prescribe a liquid diet to help with this (she also recommended asking for a blood test to check for any other potential issues).
Does anyone have any experience of this sort of thing, and can offer advice on what sorts of products are available?

 

[SouWester]

Thanks for posting this, you have confirmed what I see as the next stage with my OH.
I have two comments, the first may help you, the second is my long term preparation for the problem and may help others:-
1) when my OH went through a period of not being able to digest properly the GP prescribed Loperamide which is the non-tradename for Imodium. It at least broke the cycle and eventually she came off it.
2) When we moved house six years ago the one room I could not stand was the bathroom. This year I got it refitted and included a 'paperless WC'. You sit them on it and press the button and it washes and dries them. Expensive, yes, but if it saves one year's care home fees I am quids in but more importantly my OH spends a year less in a care home. Ideally get them used to it some time before it is needed.

 

[canary]

I think the carer is probably thinking about prescribing ensure which is often given when the body can no longer process and absorb food. Speak to his GP about this.

 

[ppm]

Thanks for the replies. The paperless WC sounds like a really good idea, but I think it would freak out my Dad - he's probably run a mile. And at >£2k it's probably too much of a gamble.
I hadn't heard of Ensure - do you know if that sort of thing can be used as a sole source of nutrition?

 

[ppm]

The GP visited today, and I told him about the carer's comments. He said he didn't understand why the carer would have said this, as he's never heard of a situation where the patient loses the ability to digest solids. He said he would only recommend a liquid diet if he had a problem eating or swallowing, and that a liquid diet may create its own problems (e.g. diarrhoea). He will be arranging a blood test, and also an appointment with the continence nurse.
So it looks like there may not be a convenient explanation for what's been happening :0(