evening meal getting harder ,,,any body else in same boat

[caring a]

hi all,,

poor old mum loved her food,,was a women who could eat every meal and really enjoy it,,,but resently evening meals being a bad do,,,,she seems to be getting into the default setting of im full,,,,even before she starts,,she picks at it eats a bit,,then its over,,,,,passes to me,,,,,can you eat it im fiull,,,,,she still loves her cake and biscuits,,,so i cut the slice bigger and add another buiscuit,,,,but privatly im feeling so sad,,,,,if she starts eating less real meals,,evenually she gets weaker,, thus,,mobility gets worse,,, est est,,,the rottom downward spiral,,,,,,,,,
i read many say az sufferers tend to go 4 sweeet stuff,,,,this seems to be same im mums case,but without propper real meals i fear things will get worse,,

i must add as yet she does eat breakfast ok,,and i do give her quite a nice lunch,,sanwich,,,t take,,,buiscuit,,,,,so shes ok as yet but guys is the appitte thing just me getting perpahs unduly worried,,or is it the reg thing,,,appitite just fades ,,the the poor person follows,,
im wanering wiether sundowning is to blame,,as the night drawing shorter,shes defo starting the ramble earlier,,
thanks 4 reading all of you dear people,i dont expect sympathy as i know you all have the same to cope with,,but thks you so much 4 listining,,
love you all,,xxxx

 

[dumpygirl]

hi all,,

poor old mum loved her food,,was a women who could eat every meal and really enjoy it,,,but resently evening meals being a bad do,,,,she seems to be getting into the default setting of im full,,,,even before she starts,,she picks at it eats a bit,,then its over,,,,,passes to me,,,,,can you eat it im fiull,,,,,she still loves her cake and biscuits,,,so i cut the slice bigger and add another buiscuit,,,,but privatly im feeling so sad,,,,,if she starts eating less real meals,,evenually she gets weaker,, thus,,mobility gets worse,,, est est,,,the rottom downward spiral,,,,,,,,,
i read many say az sufferers tend to go 4 sweeet stuff,,,,this seems to be same im mums case,but without propper real meals i fear things will get worse,,

i must add as yet she does eat breakfast ok,,and i do give her quite a nice lunch,,sanwich,,,t take,,,buiscuit,,,,,so shes ok as yet but guys is the appitte thing just me getting perpahs unduly worried,,or is it the reg thing,,,appitite just fades ,,the the poor person follows,,
im wanering wiether sundowning is to blame,,as the night drawing shorter,shes defo starting the ramble earlier,,
thanks 4 reading all of you dear people,i dont expect sympathy as i know you all have the same to cope with,,but thks you so much 4 listining,,
love you all,,xxxx

I have the same problem with my husband. I always cook a proper meal each evening and have been plating a smallish meal out for him for several weeks but he just takes one look, screws up his face and says I can't eat this. After a while I thought this is not doing either of us any good and now I tell him what I am cooking and ask him if he wants any or if not what he would like and most of the time he will choose something simple like beans on toast, scrambled egg on toast, tomatoes on toast, or even a sandwich and a cake. I have talked to other carers about this problem and all of them seem to say that the appetite does change and the alz. sufferer will almost always eat less and will prefer sweet things to savoury. He would eat chocolate till the cows come home if I let him. However, at lunch time I give him soup and a yogurt and he will eat this and he has a good breakfast (Weetabix and toast) and he does not seem to be losing weight so I have now accepted this and stopped worrying.i always make sure he has a good mug of hot chocolate made with milk before going to bed and he enjoys this but never wants anything to eat with it.
This seems to be a very common problem with alz. patients and their carers and I do hope you can come to terms with it and not let it worry you too much.
Take care and try not to worry too much. You are not alone with this situation.

 

[caring a]

I have the same problem with my husband. I always cook a proper meal each evening and have been plating a smallish meal out for him for several weeks but he just takes one look, screws up his face and says I can't eat this. After a while I thought this is not doing either of us any good and now I tell him what I am cooking and ask him if he wants any or if not what he would like and most of the time he will choose something simple like beans on toast, scrambled egg on toast, tomatoes on toast, or even a sandwich and a cake. I have talked to other carers about this problem and all of them seem to say that the appetite does change and the alz. sufferer will almost always eat less and will prefer sweet things to savoury. He would eat chocolate till the cows come home if I let him. However, at lunch time I give him soup and a yogurt and he will eat this and he has a good breakfast (Weetabix and toast) and he does not seem to be losing weight so I have now accepted this and stopped worrying.i always make sure he has a good mug of hot chocolate made with milk before going to bed and he enjoys this but never wants anything to eat with it.
This seems to be a very common problem with alz. patients and their carers and I do hope you can come to terms with it and not let it worry you too much.
Take care and try not to worry too much. You are not alone with this situation.

thks so much dumppy 4 your advise,,,,i feel were very simular,,mum eats porrage and toast in breakfast,,and sandwich est 4 lunch,,
as your husband sweets,,well choc caramels ,shed eat all day,,no stop,,but i regulate them,,then she feels there a treat,,

thks again dummpy..hope all goes ok 4 you,,,,its as hard 4 us isnt it,as the sufferers,,

xxx

 

[LYN T]

When Pete was still at home I changed the main meal to lunch time with just a snack early evening-that worked for a while

One other thing does your Mum still know how to use a knife and fork? Would a spoon be better for all meals? I remember very clearly that Pete suddenly announced 'what do I do with these?'. He had his knife and fork in his hands and had simply forgotten overnight what to do.

From that moment on he used a spoon-so did I just because I didn't want him to feel inadequate.

Take care

Lyn T

 

[Spamar]

I do the same as Lyn T and we have main meal at lunch time. This seems to work, although complicated if we go out for coffee and cake in the morning. Dinner can be at 15:00 in that case! It's better for OH as he often wants to go to bed at 18:00 or 19:00. He always has breakfast, though only cereal.
His appetite has always been up and down. A few years ago he was down to 7 stone and, believe me, I did absolutely everything to get him to eat. He did recover eventually, back to his normal ten/ ten and a half stone. Recently his weight has been a bit up and down, but this was normal before dementia.

 

[cragmaid]

My Mum is in a CH and today her lunch was cheese omelette and salad chopped up. I cut the omelette into bite size portions and she ate it with her fingers....no to the salad of course.
Because her appetite is so poor her CH make her different meals to try to tempt her, but they are always v. small helpings.
If I were you I would try things like a jacket potato and cheese or beans or an omelette or, my mum's true favourite....a bacon sandwich, rather than offering a full meal, but I would also stop the large pieces of cake or the biscuits as it sounds like your Mum is filling up on carbohydrates, which a quick way to fill but not satisfy.
Keep on trying...that's all we can do.

 

[Lindy50]

Thanks for the ideas, Maureen, it's just as well that it'll soon be the time of year for baked potatoes, soups and stews And I fancy a bacon sandwich myself

It's hard, I know, just lately mum is inclined to count a cup of tea as a snack in itself....

Lindy xx

 

[caring a]

Thanks for the ideas, Maureen, it's just as well that it'll soon be the time of year for baked potatoes, soups and stews And I fancy a bacon sandwich myself

It's hard, I know, just lately mum is inclined to count a cup of tea as a snack in itself....

Lindy xx

thks guys for all your comments,,very helpful,,
thanks again

 

[snoggy1one]

Funny eating habits

Hi, Just wanted to join in on the subject of lost appetite.

My mum is in her fourth year of being diagnosed with alzheimer's, and has recently lost her appetite. She never seems to get hungry any more and like the others mentioned would eat chocolate or biscuits at any time if she could.

I have found it a bit of a battle getting mum to actually eat a proper square meal and she would always refuse and request toast, soup or a small sandwich and never want fruit, or vegetables or a nutritious meal.

I think it is a great idea to change the times of having a full meal to mid day and will try it for my mum as at dinner time in the evening when other residents are wanting to eat a hearty stew and roast, mum would rather starve than eat that and always requests a sandwich and gets bad tempered.

I don't like the idea of mum not having a proper dinner each day as I worry about her fibre intake and her getting the correct vitamins she needs but I do not want to get into an argument.

I took mum out for lunch this week and she was constantly trying to pile my plate up with her food and I kept trying to refuse and be persuasive trying to get her eat her own meal. It was a waste of money and a very stressful time and I wished I hadn't bothered to go out with her as it became like a pantomime and entertainment for the other diners.

Mum does not seem to be losing weight and will have the odd bit of salad but she cannot live on cake and biscuits.

 

[MrsTerryN]

Mum has lost about 20 kilos in the last few years. Also six kilos in the last six weeks. The nursing home has organized for her to have forsip drinks but she hates them.
The last couple of days I have fed her some food to try and encourage her to eat.
She isn't even eating much of her sweet treats

 

[pamwe chete]

Meal time nightmare

Since my wife has DLB I expected from advice and from reading most of that described in this thread.

Not so for us,,, my wife has become a junk food addict, veg-don't like that! fruit-this tastes funny is it off, Mashed potatoes- why have we got porridge with gravy, etc etc yet chips with half a cellar of salt- are there any more, crisps as many bags as you like, sweets of all kinds any time

All the above from a lady who was a health food fanatic prior to the illness, its a good job we have two very large dogs that positively love table scraps

 

[JayGun]

My mother in law only wants sweet things most of the time too.

I can get fruit into her in the form of puddings and if I give her some arranged prettily on a plate. She'll eat yogurts and fromage frais because they're sweet and still has cheese, eggs and milk so I'm not worried about dairy. She'll eat anything with pastry round it or custard on it so I find things like fruit pies, quiche and pasties with some fruit or vegetables in them are quite useful. We have a salad buffet tea on a Sunday and she eats quite well then having a little bit of everything with a lettuce leaf and a couple of tomato slices and some new potatoes or mash. Speaking of mash, she'll eat Colcannon and bubble and squeak too. She enjoys sweetcorn these days too. A jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise and sweetcorn went down well in a cafe the other day according to my daughter.

Left to her own devices all she would eat would be bread and butter, toast, biscuits and cake. LOTS of cake.

 

[HelenInBC]

My mom seems to have lost much of her ability to taste things. Perhaps certain taste buds last longer. She can still taste if something is spicy hot, and she seems to enjoy very sweet things. Everything else she seems to eat without tasting it. If I ask if something is good, she will usually say "it's ok" Not sure if it's just part of normal aging (she is 87) because her sense of smell is gone too.

So far, she eats everything that is put in front of her, but it will probably change. She has gained about 9-10 pounds this year after my daughter moved in and starting making the meals for her.

I think changes in appetite are very common in dementia. I try not to worry too much about what she eats. I worry more about her hydration as she doesn't seem to have thirst anymore.

 

[Oxy]

Loss of smell/taste I think is actually brain damage as it set in after a stroke. Regularly get asked is it tea or coffee having just consumed it. Have read other posts pertaining to this aswell. Appears not to be isolated occurrence.

 

[Bythspirit]

Yes, my Mum was same in last few years before she passed away, very limited diet and even more of sweet tooth than she ever had. Luckily she was not diabetic, which both my sister and I are!! My point here though is that I've lost my sense of taste and smell over the past 18 years and I find it more and more difficult to have any interest in (healthy) food, I can only get crunchy, salty, spicy (yuck!), and of course sweet! My hubby, who also has dementia, is now beginning to find things tasting "different" as he says, and I notice he is eating less and developing a slight sweet tooth (which he never had). So, who's to say that older people with dementia experience food as I do, tasteless, but don't understand why.