An old fashioned prescription

[sammyb]

My colleague had been talking to a long since retired nurse of people with dementia. She had worked closely, for many years, with a doctor who recognised that people with dementia often develop a sweet tooth. In order to get his patients to eat he prescribed sugar on everything - cottage pie, beef stew, fish and chips, Christmas dinner - on everything. And, for those who couldn't or wouldn't eat, he prescribed a bottle of Guiness and a melted Mars bar because all the day's goodness was to be found in those 2 things he said!

I thought they were wonderful ideas from days gone by but perhaps there may be something useful today in his old fashioned prescriptions.

from Sammyb

 

[Margarita]

She had worked closely, for many years, with a doctor who recognised that people with dementia often develop a sweet tooth.

Sounds a bit Odd .

My mother a diabetic anyway so that not be good for her , and has had a sweet tooth all her life like me also .

don't get the point in it to force someone to eat something sweet , just because they have a sweet tooth , that adding it in food would take that craving away would not work for me , just make me more fat So would also for someone with dementia.

the what about they
cholesterol level

 

[jenniferpa]

I think the idea is that by addinng sugar to things that might otherwise be unplatable people would eat things that they wouldn't normally touch. I think it's true that sweet things can be more appealing to the elderly in general, not just dementia sufferers: the taste buds and the sense of smell can deteriorate as we age so thing just don't taste as good as they used to. While you obviously have to be careful when there are other health conditions such as diabetes in the mix, I do think it is true that at a certain point the concept of a healthy diet has to go out the window and calories are the thing to concentrate on. It's surprising how difficult this can be to get over to even professionals: I had to be very firm with the catering staff and point out that if at the age of 90 my mother wanted to eat dessert first, I could see little point in waiting to bring dessert in the hope that she might finish her entree first: all that happened then was that she would go to sleep while waiting!

 

[Canadian Joanne]

I agree with Jennifer. At the beginning I was quite diligent with my mother's diet. I did allow desserts and occasional treats but wanted her weight to come down (she gained an alarming amount of weight at one point).

Now things are very different - she's in a wheelchair, can't walk, her speech is reduced to a few words and in general, is really not here with us. What difference does it make at this point to be rigorous regarding her diet? The additional time would certainly not be quality time. I don't have the worry of my mother not eating yet, her hearty piranha feeding frenzy is still quite strong. (I inherited that from her - thank you, Mum).

 

[Margarita]

Now things are very different - she's in a wheelchair, can't walk, her speech is reduced to a few words and in general, is really not here with us

Now I can see the point when they in that stage or have issue with eating , so need the calories like jennifer says . now days they give them those high protein vitamin drinks. not sure what they called , but have read about those drinks on TP before

 

[Ashburton]

Now I can see the point when they in that stage or have issue with eating , so need the calories like jennifer says . now days they give them those high protein vitamin drinks. not sure what they called , but have read about those drinks on TP before

Would it be Ensure Plus by any chance.

I am at the stage now where my mum just won't it most foods. I can still get her to eat eggs but after that it is a struggleto get her to eat to the extent that I am now giving her twix bars and crisps, she just won't eat anything else. Thakfully she will drink these Ensure drinks that do provide vitamins, but as said by Jenifer, I think we are at the stage that getting calories into my mum is more important rather than the source of these calories.

 

[nemesisis]

before mum had her fall she would eat hardly anything the care provideres did for her but when she was in hospital and they were trying to get her to eat the only thing she would eat was the puddings so they doubled the order so mum had two puddings and this has increased her appetite and she is now eating much better she is now back to proper meals so if sugar helps to get food appealing try it