I spent yesterday in the ER with mom. A trip to her kidney doctor turned into a day long stay in the ER. She was severely dehydrated. She has also lost a bit of weight and is down to 90 pounds. Mom has dementia. I'm having trouble getting her to eat and drink enough. I remind her daily about this. She also announced during our visit that she was having sever abdominal pain. We found out that she has diverticulitis. Any advice would help. I'd like to encourage her to stay healthy. My husband is going to stop in and see her while I'm at work and remind her to drink and suggest they have a snack. Hopefully this will help
And at this time of the year, there's cider.
The "good" thing about dementia/Alzheimer's is that they don't remember if they've eaten or not, so you can tell them that they haven't and that they should eat "just a small sandwich".
You can do the same with something to drink. Put out a small glass, 4-6 oz., or have a special, easily described glass (I have a blue plastic wine glass for Mom) that you can say "Why don't you have a glass of water/apple juice/orange juice in that pretty new blue wine glass that I got you." And then use the dementia to help her… "No, you haven't had much today. Please just have one 'for me'. "
This means phone calls several times a day, but they can be short. Reminding her won't work. She won't remember. Have her do it while you are on the phone. Say things like, "I need to drink more water, too. Let's do it together even though we're only on the phone. Ready? Drink."
Your husband is a saint! (So is mine! So are my brother and sis-in-law!) Bringing the snack and leaving the leftovers with an "Eat this" note will help.
MAKE the food. Don't ask if she wants it. Just DO it! (Sorry Nike.)
Good luck! It's not easy, but it's SO worth it!!
Another thought if she can tolerate cold foods is dairy queens, although they're high in sugar and probably fat. But some of them actually have good things. We had Pumpkin Blizzards the other day; the pumpkin wasn't as prominent as in a pie, but it was there, and the treat was good.
Fruit salads are another option, especially if they're fluid based such as a blend of pineapple in juice, apples, bananas, etc.