I have not long given up work to be a carer for my mother who was diagnosed with dementia almost 2 years ago. I must admit every day is a challenge and it requires so much more than just checking she's OK, has eaten or has taken her medication. My issue today involved (amongst other things) the possibility that my mother has been suffering with an eating disorder. Let me explain, approx 6 months ago it was evident the drains in my mum's house were blocked, the house is over 100 years old so originally I wasn't concerned it was a problem relating to her directly, when I called and arranged a company to remove the blockage it appeared there was more than just normal sewerage causing the problem, however once it was cleared we put it down to the fact she may have been a bit carefree with the disposal of the loo roll, fast forward to today and my OH went to check the drains at the back of the house, once again it was blocked and overflowing, I don't wish to go into great detail but as the blockage was being removed it appeared it was possibly food or more precisely vomit that had caused the blockage. I know for a fact since she has become ill my mum can binge eat on certain foods, I could leave the house of an evening and next morning 4 packs of biscuits may have disappeared, obviously she will deny this, but could she be making herself sick afterwards? Has anyone else experienced this?
Eating Disorder?
- Thread starter jojoperry4
- Start date
Jojoperry
I would be very surprised if she had an eating disorder. I assume you are thinking of bulimia here. Is she secretive about eating? Do you think she has a compulsion to eat?
To my mind...she is more likely to enjoy eating biscuits. They are yummy and easy to eat - and more importantly not really filling. So she is probably always hungry. My mum can eat loads as she has no idea she has already eaten some.
But that doesn't explain the sickness. Do you think she has any other physical problems that would make her be sick? And rather gruesomely, can you tell if she is having trouble digesting certain foods? Has she lost weight? Maybe talk to her Dr?
I would be very surprised if she had an eating disorder. I assume you are thinking of bulimia here. Is she secretive about eating? Do you think she has a compulsion to eat?
To my mind...she is more likely to enjoy eating biscuits. They are yummy and easy to eat - and more importantly not really filling. So she is probably always hungry. My mum can eat loads as she has no idea she has already eaten some.
But that doesn't explain the sickness. Do you think she has any other physical problems that would make her be sick? And rather gruesomely, can you tell if she is having trouble digesting certain foods? Has she lost weight? Maybe talk to her Dr?
If I were to give OH two dinners in the space of 15 minutes, he would eat them both. And probably a third. Memory loss ("have I eaten already?") coupled with the loss of hunger reflex ("am I hungry or am I full?") can lead to overeating, if not controlled by an outside party. The sickness could come from that or be something else. She could have a certain food intolerance. But you won't know until you have her checked out by a doctor. And if it's overeating, you have to look into how to control that, by restricting access to certain foods and supervision of meals, possibly by carers.
I'll definitely make an appointment with my mum's doctor regarding this issue. For as long as I can remember my mum hated the idea of putting on weight, she always had a nice figure and was quite vain to be perfectly honest, she was ultra critical of anyone overweight and would make disparaging remarks when I put on weight after I had children, I'm now thinking maybe she was suffering with an eating disorder for years unbeknown to everyone and it is now more noticeable and she can't hide it the same. I do the shopping and try to give her a varied diet but more often than not she refuses a dinner or picks, yet will eat snacks in binges when I'm not there. She does not appear to have lost any weight or put anything on since her diagnosis.
