My mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2010. This is a blog about coming to terms with her absent mind.

Sunday 28 August 2011

Update

The Doctor came and was very thorough but as she isn't clinically dehydrated there wasn't much he could do. His advice to Ma is 'you need to drink more fluid'.

Well hey. I may have mentioned that to her at least five times a day since she came out of hospital.

Can you believe that it's only three weeks since she fell? No, me neither. Seems like at least three months.

So how exactly do you get a stubborn 81 year old woman with dementia to drink when she doesn't want to without resorting to a funnel??

She will mostly only drink about an inch of any mug of tea or coffee, although there are exceptions to this. She doesn't like squash, juice, milk, herbal tea, fruit tea, fizzy pop, yoghurt, smoothies and especially not water.

She will have soup, but only about once a week. Likewise an ice lolly.

Any ideas or suggestions?

8 comments:

  1. I wish I could think of something to help, darling Bee.....you and your dearest Ma remain in my thoughts and prayers. xx

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  2. try water melon or oranges they have liquid in them hope this helps x

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  3. I suppose I am lucky at the moment that mum eats and drinks far too much, a practice I am not going to discourage, a little extra weight isnt the end of the world. Afraid the only suggestion I had was, as above, fruit.

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  4. Fresh fruit is a no no. But, having spent most of the night fretting about this I've come up with those baby food fruit purees as an idea. Two things in their favour; they do taste nice (seem to remember when mine were little it was 'one spoon for you, one spoon for mama..' and the tins or jars are small so there shouldn't be much wastage. Unlike, say, some tinned fruit which she may eat a quarter of and then the rest goes off in the fridge because she doesn't want the rest.

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  5. I guess suggesting she uses a straw would be a nono too? I know when I had to drink a lot (for some reason I've forgotten) it made a difference.

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  6. That's a good idea Chris. Will give it a go *adds straws to shopping list*

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  7. Bee would ma not eat fruit (or other things ) if you pureed it (sorry not sure how to spell it ) xx

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  8. Cucumber? I know food's an issue but will she have gravy with things? xxxxxx

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