Appetite fell over a cliff

[Kazzy2016]

hi

I am just putting this out there.
My mum, who I looked after for years is now in an excellent care home and settled.

However despite everyone’s best efforts, in the last week or so her appetite has dramatically shrinked. Otherwise apart from the severe Alzheimers and occasional headache she seems as ‘OK’ as she gets.

I should add that communication has slipped a little as well as she gets frustrated when words do not come out right.

Should I be worried? Care home staff are trying their best but you cannot force someone to eat. They are a tad concerned. Is it mums way of saying ‘enough’?

 

[Distressed55]

Maybe a uti? Get the care home staff to do a dip test if they haven't already. Or it may just be she's feeling a bit rundown and can't explain well. It's v difficult with PWD, they generally don't have the verbal skills to tell us what is wrong.

 

[Whooz]

hi

I am just putting this out there.
My mum, who I looked after for years is now in an excellent care home and settled.

However despite everyone’s best efforts, in the last week or so her appetite has dramatically shrinked. Otherwise apart from the severe Alzheimers and occasional headache she seems as ‘OK’ as she gets.

I should add that communication has slipped a little as well as she gets frustrated when words do not come out right.

Should I be worried? Care home staff are trying their best but you cannot force someone to eat. They are a tad concerned. Is it mums way of saying ‘enough’?

H

 

[Whooz]

Hi,
My mum is also in a care home (10 months) and despite the nice looking meals and having 4 fortified shots( prescribed by dietician) per day her weight is now down to 5st 5lb. She has just completed a course of antibiotics, incase of a UTI ,which I don't think she had as she suffered two previous ones and her behaviour was 'off the wall' with both. Anyway the only thing i can really get her to eat is sweet things like fudge and soft cake. Doc thinks it could possibly be next stage of her disease as she's also taken to sleeping much more. I suppose I've just got to accept this....just wanted to comment as it's comforting to know i'm not alone with concerns.

 

[Jale]

Is your Mum physically able to eat or does she have difficulty swallowing? Mum wasn't eating and that resulted in a long hospital stay with UTI/Chest infection, low potassium levels. After 5 weeks she did finally start to eat again. Has a doctor seen your Mum or (and I think this is right) someone from the SALT team who will assess her needs.

 

[frmarcus]

Kazzy et al: My dad - 80 - has been in a nursing home just on two years with Alz. The last several or so months he's had dramatic weight-loss and is on pureed food. My sense is that increasingly poor appetite is a feature of the disease - but that with some there are step-changes, so that they can appear (and are) suddenly eating less.

In dad's case the home consulted a dietician: result that he's on high-nutrition intake of the amount he'll take. He can swallow, but I don't think it'll be much longer before that goes. He's now in hospital with a chest infection, so things are touch and go...

Weight-loss IS serious, but I think it's an inevitable part of the disease's progress and can only be managed to a point.

I wish you well.