There are 5.4 million people who have Alzheimer's. It cost 183 billion dollars in annual costs. Alz's is the 6th leading cause of death.
To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US
1 John 4: 9-10

Mom and Dad Happy Times.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Alzheimer's And Eating

Mom is eating very well these days. She has went through so many different eating stages. When she still could and would feed herself all she wanted was candy. She would have me buy her Baby Ruth candy bars by the box full. She loved carmels  and peppermints too . She would have a peppermint in her mouth all day. I ask the doctor about it and he said at her age she can eat anything she wants. I wonder when I will be able to do that. I am ready now. Anyway, When it came to good food we kind of had to make sure someone cooked her something because she would just eat Rice Kristies or a sandwich. Than when I started caring for her full time I tried to cook 3 meals a day . I really hated it but  did it most of the time.  I started fixing  TV dinners at least once a day When I was still working  . She loved the Salisbury steak ones. Than she went to refusing everything unless it was sweet. I guess she was wanting her candy bars. But by this time everything had to be pureed. We had pureed fruit , shakes, puddings , custard and  cereal, lots of cream of wheat and grits. And of course maple and brown sugar oat meal . Still her all time favorite meal. But now I can get her to eat mashed potatoes, pureed vegetables , scrambled eggs and pureed meat. Man that is nasty. I just have to make myself do it.I am a bit lazy so actually getting up and pureeing something is a chore. I could go with baby food but that is a bit costly and not sure it  has enough nutrients for her. She still gets lots of  hot cereal and applesauce because I don't have to do much work and she just eats and eats.
I have some tips from my book on eating I wanted to share. Good luck and I am going to eat what ever I want after this post. My tummy is making noise.
1. Serve meals at the same time every day.
2. Serve foods with different colors and textures.
3. Make the table a calm place to eat.
4. Use plain-colored dishes with no pattern to set off the color of the food on the plate so your loved one can see the food. I had to get a plain color table cloth and place mats because mom used to pick at them.
5. Use a shallow bowl with a lip on it if they keep pushing there food off the plate.
6. Put only the knife , fork or spoon they need to eat with next to there plate.  Caution with this . Mom went through a stage were she would the knock the  heck out of you at any time so we kept the knives and forks away from her . A spoon was the best bet.
7. Allow plenty of time to eat. Don't rush them.
 If your love one refuses to eat, it may be because they have too many choices on her plate. Try offering one food item at a time.
They may not know how to get started . Show her the act of eating. 

In one of my older post . Really old post I showed you the heavy fork I got for mom. She never used it. But her PT gave here a rubber thing to put over her spoon to make it big and she could hold onto it better. I also had to remind her all the time how to use the spoon and get her started. Now it is feeding her all the way. But she did it for a very long time on her own. When she was wanted to. A lot of times she refused either way. For years I just left a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios sitting by her chair and she ate on it all day. In fact she used to eat two or three bowls a day sometimes. I miss those days. Now she just sits with hardly any emotion. Sometimes she talks and sometimes she doesn't . Never know what tomorrow will be like so cherish today.

8 comments:

  1. Such good information, Karen.
    Blessings,
    Carol

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  2. I had to smile at number 2 because when I was first married I made us fish which was white, mashed potatoes and cauliflower. Everything was white and we still laugh about it to this day. :-)

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  3. Karen.....thank you so much for the good advice. I especially liked the hint about using plain colored dishes. Ours are very busy colored dishes, and I can truly see how that could be confusing.
    Thanks!
    Hugs,

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  4. Carolanne's grandfather didn't have Alzheimer's and he would only eat one thing at a time. You could have 10 different foods on the table, but he'd eat his meat first, then a helping of something else, then another thing. Only one thing in the plate at a time. Her dad would fill his plate with different foods, but would still only eat one at a time. He'd eat all of his beans, then all of his potatoes, then all of his bread, or whatever. Never a bite of this then a bite of that. One of my kids got some of that. She loves divided plates. Her beans can't be touching her potatoes or whatever. It can be on the plate together but it can't touch.

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  5. I used to like to eat one thing at a time. But now I just mix it all together.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. just a mom. I did removed your wonderful post because I did not know if you wanted you email public. But thank you so much for the great comment.

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  8. Thanks Karen for the information on eating. My mom loves the design on the edge of the plate but I know it does distract her sometimes. I'm trying to find a balance between using "pretty" things that my mom likes and using "practical" things. Since I just started the full-time caregiver role, I am figuring it out slowly but advice like yours is helpful. Thanks.

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Thanks for visiting my blog and I love reading your comments. Please come back soon. Karen

The Early, Mild to Moderate and Advanced stages of Alzheimer's in the brain.

The Early, Mild to Moderate and Advanced stages of Alzheimer's in the brain.

Seven Stages of Alzheimer's

1. No sign of congnitive impairment. 2. Very mild congnitive decline. 3. Mild congnitive decline. 4. Moderate congnitive decline. 5. Moderately severe congnitive decline. 6. Severe congnitive decline. 7. Very severe congnitive decline. (Congnitive pertains to the mental process of perception, memory, judgement, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes.)

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