Well I sure don't understand what is happening!! When I tell my DH that it is time for a meal, he always says " I'm not hungry". I will put out the food on the table and get him to sit down and he will eat everything on his plate plus desert. Example meal that he ate today after telling me he wasn't hungry... Thigh and leg of a BBQ chicken, 3/4 cup if scalloped potatoes, 1/2 cup of coleslaw and a cup if blueberries. Does anyone know why he never feels hungry but will eat like that minutes later? A friend wonders if he has forgotten the sensation to eat!! Is that possible??
Jazzy, my husband tells me the same thing now at each meal. I just ignore him and have him sit at the table and he eats all that is put in front of him and more if I serve it. Everything is "no, I don't want it" or "I'm not hungry". I just ignore him. Don't know why this is but I don't pay attention to what he says. No problems eating.
Jazzy I found my DW's "not hungry" comments were related to her difficulty in cutting her food, maneuvering a knife, spoon or fork. It was easier for her to avoid the task of eating by saying she wasn't hungry. At first, just cutting her food sufficed and relieved her mealtime anxiety. Food cut into bite size pieces = clean plate club
My DH has no problem cutting as he is still in quite good physical shape but him mind is doing strange things now like not being able to play a certain dice game where you have to look for pairs etc. he says his mind isn't so good at that stuff anymore. He is also having balance problems and staggers a bit more now. It helps to hear there are others with the same thing happening. Thanks LFL sounds like the same thing going on. Marty I will be watching now for the cutting up foods
My DH gives me a negative answer to almost everything I say including coming to a meal.. Then he gets up and comes to the table. Its like its instinct to say "No" when he means "Yes". I also cut all his food to bite size pieces.
DH does the same as MaryinPA. But he eats everything and I don't have to cut up his food yet. When I ask if he wants his ice cream for dessert he will say 'no' but means 'yes'. I think that short circuit hits the brain and they really don't know or understand what they are saying - or what it means.
Just like you Jazzy My DH also says he's not hungry and then eats everything on his plate of course after he has made a little pile of what ever is on the plate. He has also started crumbling up any crackers or chip like things and stirs them into his pile in the middle of the plate. I do cut up things into bite size pieces and he seems to like that. Some things have no rhyme or reason anymore.
DH has, for the last six months or so, mashed his cold cereal to small pieces before he eats it. He also cuts his apples into exact sections of eight. He only eats seven nuts not one extra He has to have three or four coffees a day and if we go to MacDonald's he has to have a refill. At other restaurants he will have four or five refills. He is very concerned about his weight and says he has to loss five more pounds. I don't see him weight himself anymore. I don't say anything but I make sure it is decaf or after three it has to be herbal tea. He is fine with that.
It is part of the disease. Don't ask if he is hungry, don't even ask what he would like. Make your lunch or dinner or breakfast or snacks and just put them before him. I have a TV tray in the family room and that is where we both have our evening meal. Otherwise I serve him there, breakfast in the kitchen. I don't change the routine.
My husband rarely will say he is hungry. I think it is combo of the taste goes first and they don't get the hunger signal - it may be that connection in our spouse has been destroyed
Why is it no one tells you these things when they diagnose Dementia of any kind?? I had to find you folks myself. I have had to search for answers for everything myself. Don't these Dr.'s know anything about what happens? DH has not been hungry for months unless I just put something in front of him or take him to a restaurant and when he sees the menu and food pictures then he eats. I guess it is a hit and miss job. Thanks so much. Now I know what to do. No more asking!!! Just put it in front if him. He goes into long term care soon and they make sure everyone comes to eat. He ate well there when he was there on respite. DH looks and acts like he has nothing wrong with him until you spend time with him.
Jazzy, I've done all sorts of reading about Dementia on the internet, read all about all the different stages, but nothing gives you the nitty gritty on what all those stages mean except for this message board, and the Canadian Alzheimer Society message board. These sites are where "difficulty eating" is explained in real, day to day terms that we all understand, such as cutting up food to make it easier to eat, or when no means yes. My DH does not have the appetite he once did, and he never says he is hungry, but then he isn't physically active anymore either, since I do almost all of the manual labor around the house and yard now. He almost never finishes what is on his plate, even when he tells me how much (or how little) he wants to eat. I think this is a holdover from when he was a boy, and his parents always instructed the children to leave food on their plate to show others that they were wealthy enough to waste food! (My family was an eat everything on your plate or you won't get dessert!) I have started to cut his meat off the bone to make it easier for him to eat, and he appreciates that. I expect that the next step will be to cut the meat up for him.
I agree with Charlotte....I think part of the "I'm not hungry" is they start to lose their ability to taste the different food flavors and since they can't taste it they're not interested in eating.
this is just a small example of how they are not able to make rational decisions and or express their wishes and thoughts. shows how jumbled things are in their brains even when we think and they 'appear' more with it. so many changes going on in their poor diseased minds. no wonder they act out wondering what the heck is going on with them. it must be so scary poor buggers. (nikki))):)
MD visit yesterday DWs weight loss of 9 lbs this last quarter concerned him and started discussion ...."I'm not hungry response. His recommendation ..."organic Marinol" (marijuana) wink, wink much better than tablet form. not having been without since age 16 I had some on hand. While its only been two days, her appetite has improved dramatically and her Sundowning frantic pacing routine has been reduced, more so than just Lorazepam alone ever did . DW is actually mellow! Memories of the '60's. I even bought a box of Twinkie's to celebrate They got a reaction!!
this is something I am thinking about with Dado. He has never been a partaker but his wife was, at times. My concern is dosage, what would it take to somehow match the miracles that our Nikki has seen with Lynn? I may start the experiment soon as he has lost 12 pounds in a few months, (though he does eat more than enough) . It definetely would help at the not eating stage, but also as he never speaks and seems so sad, perhaps that would help. I insist on speaking freely about this and appreciate that you do marty. This is a MEDICINE and a good one if done sensibly. If something is going to make his life better and happier and not have side effects, you bet he is going to get it. And I am aware that Marinol may work differently, but my gut, and what I read about the results, certainly go along the lines of the organic effectsare.
Coco: dosage for DW was 2 hits from a bong after lunch both days, that's all it took. listening to the CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta, yesterday " no one ever ODed on MJ vs the daily loss of 1000's from OD's on prescription meds. I can't begin to describe the positive shift in attitude She formerly loved music, but hasn't tolerated ear buds, or sitting in one room to listen in recent memory.This afternoon seeing her sitting in the terrace rocking to the sounds of the 70's is the most animated and stress free she's been in more than a year.