My mom is 84 and my siblings and I have been dealing with her advanced dementia for over a year now, although these past few months have been the worst. There are four of us, well 6, if you count the support of our spouses. Until about a month ago mom has lived in her home with her spouse of 20+ years. His mild dementia became increaseingly worse and his wandering made it that much more worse but we put up with it until he started threatening to divorce her, so we asked his family to keep him so that we could give my mom the full time care she needs. At the point in time, my sis is with mom 24/7 on weekdays and because we work, my eldest siblings share weekend duty with me and my brothers spouse. She has virtually no short term memory, very confused, extremely agitated and mean, incontinent, but overall physically healthy. The only meds she has is for the incontinence and zprexal for dementia. She was taking haloperidol in the beginning but it made her like a zombie, so we switched. She's taking the maximum dose, so we are not sure where we'll go from here if it gets much worse. There are so many things to mention that we are dealing with, but the most recent has been the excessive overeating. She eats and or snacks constantly. If she isn't wandering around the house she's eating something. We try to keep healthy snacks around, but she eats all day long saying that she's hungry because she hasn't eaten. Has anyone experienced this? Is it dementia, medication or something else we aren't aware of.
I Never Thought
- Thread starter PattieL
- Start date
Hello PattieL
There is a resident at my husband`s home who is late 80s. She is very thin and a good eater. She is always complaining the home is starving her even though I have seen what she eats, a full sized dinner followed by a pudding.
When I get ready to leave she asks me to go to the shops for her `because they starve us here`. Or she asks me to get fish and chips.
When my husband lived at home with me he would ask what was for dinner the minute he sat down after eating. He had forgotten he had eaten.
Then he got to the stage when he would only eat a couple of spoonsful before saying he was full.
There are so many different habits, foodwise and they can change as the illness progresses. My husband is now a really good eater and enjoys his food.
However medication can affect appetite and I suggest you ask your mother`s doctor if the medication he is taking could cause her to eat.
There is a resident at my husband`s home who is late 80s. She is very thin and a good eater. She is always complaining the home is starving her even though I have seen what she eats, a full sized dinner followed by a pudding.
When I get ready to leave she asks me to go to the shops for her `because they starve us here`. Or she asks me to get fish and chips.
When my husband lived at home with me he would ask what was for dinner the minute he sat down after eating. He had forgotten he had eaten.
Then he got to the stage when he would only eat a couple of spoonsful before saying he was full.
There are so many different habits, foodwise and they can change as the illness progresses. My husband is now a really good eater and enjoys his food.
However medication can affect appetite and I suggest you ask your mother`s doctor if the medication he is taking could cause her to eat.
The overeating is a common problem which comes up on talking point..As I have written on previous threads my husband behaves in the same way.I don't think it's due to his medication,but it's because within 10mins he can forget he has eaten! He is 84yrs.this month and has vascular dementia and heart failure.Because he is limited in what he 's able to do,one of few things he looks forward to is eating 'something tasty'I wish I knew the answer. I just hope this is a phase and you manage to see it through,you must be exhausted with all your problems.Take care of yourself.
Hello. Is that medication zyprexa? If so it is olanzapine, zyprexa is a brand name. This is a schizophrenia medication that causes excessive appetite and real weight gain. Let me know is it zyprexa ..and good luck....
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Yes medicine is zyprexa. We told her doctors about the excessive overeating but they blame it on an over active thyroid which tests have shown is NOT the problem. The time devoted by my sis is taking its toll so we will be starting her in adult day care next week, twice a week. It's expensive but we have to give my sis a break. I hope Mom gets along okay and doesn't cause too many problems that they kick her out!
My mum is also constantly eating - I think that she forgets she's eaten but also she's not able to make a proper meal any more, she opens the fridge and just eats what she sees. Before I really realised what was going on, I hadn't changed what shopping I got but when I realised she'd eaten two pork pies for breakfast one morning, I thought I'd better do something! I try and keep healthy stuff in the fridge for her for when I am at work and she has to fend for herself. I've also ordered dinners from Wiltshire Farm Foods - I had hoped that she would eat a proper meal in the evening as you only need to put them in the micowave. Unfortunately she thinks they are 'huge' meals and won't eat a whole one. I suspect that all the snacking has meant that her stomach has shrunk - so she eats small portions but she is eating them all day. She's put on about 2 stone in the past year. I can't really think what else to do - at least with the microwave dinners, they are a balanced meal - and I think that's better than constant pork pies and lumps of cheese - even if she does eat them in two sessions! I spoke to the doctor about it but she said, unless she was losing weight I shouldn't worry about what she is eating. All the extra weight has meant her arthritic knees are getting worse though.
2nd fridge -In-the-garage time! Only put her lunch, and breakfast In the kitchen fridge, plus a container of milk. Most fruit keep well In the fridge .... Huge plug In chiller box!
Iceland ready meals are not bad, prob smaller ( but adequate) and much less expensive than W farms
hi
i have recently noticed that my mum eats to the max. she will eat a whole block of chocolate and numerous biscuits. i will have to monitor it better. just like having a child!!
i have recently noticed that my mum eats to the max. she will eat a whole block of chocolate and numerous biscuits. i will have to monitor it better. just like having a child!!
It's a wonderful feeling when you hear of others that experience the same things! Think you for responding. A second frig isn't a bad idea but her utility bill would increase and we are barely making ends meet as it is. We just came back from a big breakfast out, and a walk thru Costco where there are samples at every corner and I don't think she missed one. Came home and after a few potty mishaps she went straight to frig to eat a couple of ears of corn, and she's still back in the frig looking for more. If I try to stop her she gets angry. I hope she does well in adult day care tomorrow, I doubt they will provide snacks all day long.
The latest - last Sunday during my shift taking care of mom, after a long day, I gave my mom her nightly meds before bedtime. The next morning was her first day at day care and amazingly she did quite well, better than expected. Later that evening and after an unusually peaceful day with my mom, my sis was preparing to give her evening meds (that include zyprexa) and noticed that the nighttime meds were not in place, but the am pills were. So to accommodate, she gave her am pills. The next morning mom woke up peacefully and remained in a pleasant mood all day. She even sat thru her favorite game show, read newspaper, and actually communicated peacefully! As a result we"ve decided to keep it this way. We are on now day 4 and she remains in good spirits. Although she is still extremely forgetful and eats constantly, she is no longer walking around with an angry face, mumbling to herself. We believe this change in her occurred because we switched her zyprexa to daytime. The doctors told us to give zyprexa at night because it made her sleepy and he was afraid of falls, but drowsiness was never the case. In fact quite the opposite. Almost every night was constant interruption and pacing. But since the switch, she sleeps through the night with the exception of potty breaks, but goes right back to sleep. Whatever the dynamics are, it works. So as long as she remains comfortable, we have happily rearranged her meds!
Good to hear something positive and I hope it continues to work well for you all.
Might be a good idea to update the GP as then they can adjust her medication record and, if the info needs to be given to anyone - at least it would be the right info!
Take care
Celia
Might be a good idea to update the GP as then they can adjust her medication record and, if the info needs to be given to anyone - at least it would be the right info!
Take care
Celia
It is actually not uncommon for the timings of meds to be switched around. We've done switching with my mother, but in our case, we switched from morning to night. I agree that you should update the doctor on the timing of the meds.
Has your mother been diagnosed with a specific illness? There are medications specifically for Alzheimer's which could be considered.
Has your mother been diagnosed with a specific illness? There are medications specifically for Alzheimer's which could be considered.
How soon we forget ... It's my holiday but its my day to take care of mom, and I wanted some quality time with my grandchildren. Big mistake. She's been doing so good I thought she could handle a day at the zoo and may actually enjoy it. Again, big mistake. She did not do well with the dense forest scenes, didn't even care about the animals, and yelled at my Grandson constantly. The stressful day ended with mom getting lost after going out the exit after a restroom break. Luckily I spotted her from the inside walking around confused in the middle of the road outside the zoo. I had to run for the nearest exit to catchup to her and take her to the car. Then had to go back to assist my daughter who I left behind inside the zoo. When we got back to the car mom gets out to try and help reload the car with kids and strollers, car seats, etc. but by then I was at my limit, so I asked her to get back in the car and wait. She began to pitch a fit screaming that she doesn't know me holding onto the spoiler of my car with all her might and wouldn't let go. My daughter who was struggling with folding up the stroller was also at her limit, so she broke the stroller just to get it in the car and go. She gets in the car so claiming that we had left a boy and girl behind. Huh? When we finally get home she gets out of car pulling on my strapped in grandson trying to get him out of carseat, so I tell her to back up so that I could get him and she again started screaming to let her do it and called me a ***** right in front of my grandchildren. My daughter scolded her, but I don't think it did any good. By the time we got to the porch, she had already forgotten where she had been.
I then began cooking dinner, and she ended up going directly to guest room and crashing until the next morning, which helped so that I could unwind, have my glass of wine and relax with my family.
Bottom line to this day, we've learned that mom can no longer be in a large public setting like the zoo, malls, retail stores, etc. all of which where she's experienced similar behavior. Hard lesson since we try to include her in our family events but her behavior no longer allows it. Its hard to think my mom can no longer be present for my growing families milestone events. I miss her and who she used to be.
I then began cooking dinner, and she ended up going directly to guest room and crashing until the next morning, which helped so that I could unwind, have my glass of wine and relax with my family.
Bottom line to this day, we've learned that mom can no longer be in a large public setting like the zoo, malls, retail stores, etc. all of which where she's experienced similar behavior. Hard lesson since we try to include her in our family events but her behavior no longer allows it. Its hard to think my mom can no longer be present for my growing families milestone events. I miss her and who she used to be.
