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Dementia and nutrition

Caregivers: Dementia | Last Active: Dec 21, 2019 | Replies (12)

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@sueinmn

For some reason this topic popped into my digest even though I'm not normally on this group. Brings back memories as we have dealt with this issue on our family several times with dementia and stroke-induced memory issues.
First order of business should be a swallowing (and chewing) study, probably by an occupational therapist - we learned there is often an issue with one or both that make a person fearful of choking. The same issues could be causing the med resistance. They will also evaluate her meds to see if one or more are suppressing her appetite or causing her taste buds to change, though the dementia itself can cause that too I believe.
As for the showering issue, also a common one, have you offered her an old-fashioned shower cap to protect her hair.
Your mother is very lucky to have a caring family supporting her. Good luck, the journey you are on is a tough one. I am thankful you have siblings with you - take care of yourselves.

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Replies to "For some reason this topic popped into my digest even though I'm not normally on this..."

Thanks for those suggestions. While I don’t think swallowing and chewing are an issue it’s certainly worth looking into, I’ll mention it to her GP. The shower cap would work, but she still needs to wash her hair once in a while. She actually has a hand-held shower head in her shower, and a built-in seat so she should be able to wash no problem without getting her hair wet but she won’t even do that. She does take her pills most of the time without a fight, but the main problem is getting her to take the medication she’s been prescribed to prevent constipation- it mixes with water so she can drink it. She suffers from some mild incontinence and that’s also contributing to her unwillingness to eat or drink. Although she has pads for the incontinence issues she still worries constantly about making it to the bathroom on time. The vanity combined with the insecurities about what her body is doing are contributing to some pretty irrational reasoning, which I guess is par for the course with this disease, but we don’t want to see her fail because of nutrition and hygiene when we are perfectly capable of helping her with those issues. ☹️ I appreciate all the suggestions, this is a difficult disease to navigate with no experience.