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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Alzheimer's / January 2008Losting appetite and very demanding
I haven't written for a while but do people with Alzheimer's demand a lot of attention? Are they aware of that? My sister and I work on crossword puzzles and as soon as we do that , he wants to go to bed. And he wants her in the bedroom with him, just sitting there. He tells her he is sleepy but he doesn't fall asleep but talks all the time. He seems to be losing his appetite, is that common? Please some answers. bri They demand a lot of attention because they are losing the ability to see the impacts of their behavior on other people, and the ability to control themselves. Those are learned behaviors that help us function in society. In other words, he's reverting to the stage small kids are at when they not only don't know when to stop, but couldn't if they wanted to. They can't read the signs that the people around them are getting fed up, irritated and annoyed, or just plain bored (while they blether on, have a tantrum, refuse to cooperate etc.). Its not selfish self centered behavior only because he isn't doing it on purpose, so it can't be framed in terms of deliberate or conscious actions. M. >They demand a lot of attention because they are losing the ability to >see the impacts of their behavior on other people, and the ability to [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Thank you for your reply. I have to print this and give it to my sister. She is very patient and very good to her husband but she is human and gets tired, very tired. It is a very sad situation. Bri. >... He seems to be losing his appetite, is that common? My mother, whose dementia was very advanced at the end, gave up eating altogether. No one could coax her into eating even her favorite foods or deserts. She died after about three weeks. We have no way of knowing if it was an unconscious decision (she was probably no longer capable of carrying out conscious decisions for any length of time) a result of depression, a result of the disease, or the result of some other health problem that she was unable to communicate to us. Whatever the explanation, surely Alzheimer's was the underlying cause. Alan >>... He seems to be losing his appetite, is that common? > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Alan I appreciate your comments. As time goes on we need to learn more and more of this disease. Bri Forgot to comment on the appetite aspect. You probably know that a frequent early development with AD is loss of the sense of smell (its called anosmia). If you read about anyone who has lost their sense of smell permanently from other causes, they tend to really have trouble with appetite, because so much of the allure of food is the smell and taste (and most of what we think of as flavor is actually the smell). In other words, they don't feel like eating because everything smells and tastes like so much cardboard. It's blah, like being sentenced to eat unsalted oatmeal for every meal. Later in the illness, I know my mother in law didn't feel hunger or thirst like a normal person. If you didn't prompt her to eat and drink, she wouldn't ask, and didn't seem bothered by it at all. I was never sure if she had lost the sensations, or just had no clue what they meant, or what to do about them. M My father has the opposite problem. I actually hope that he will stop eating and end the downward trajectory of this awful disease, but instead he sometimes has a voracious appetite and has put on 20 pounds in the past 6 months. As for the behaviors, nothing is deliberate. When my father is beligerent, demanding, or downright mean, I keep reminding myself that if he had the ability he would never in a million years act like that. Out of curiousity, does anyone in this group secretly worry about getting the illness themselves? I've been having this problem now for the past several months and every time I can't remember something or solve a complicated problem I wonder. Jackie Dear Jackie, I just now joined this group. Yes I often worry about getting alzheimers. both my grandmothers and now my mother (75) has it. I am 52. I have a question for the group: I take flax seed oil every day for it's valuable omega 3. Now I've been reading that the flax omega 3 does not offer the same protection against alzheimers (if there is such a thing, right>) that fish omega 3 does. Any thoughts? Regards, Pam > Out of curiousity, does anyone in this group secretly worry about > getting the illness themselves? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Jackie ... > Yes I often worry about getting alzheimers. both my grandmothers and > now my mother (75) has it. I am 52. I certainly worry about it too. I've had prostate cancer - which is a scary disease, but even the idea of dying in pain from cancer doesn't scare me as much as AD does. > I have a question for the group: I take flax seed oil every day for > it's valuable omega 3. Now I've been reading that the flax omega 3 > does not offer the same protection against alzheimers (if there is > such a thing, right>) that fish omega 3 does. > Any thoughts? I have no special information about this, though I too seem to recall reading that it is the fish oils that provide the most protection. They are available in supplement form and those are the ones I take. I've opened a new thread about what people might do to keep from getting AD and am very interested in any information anyone has. Alan > My father has the opposite problem. I actually hope that he will stop > eating and end the downward trajectory of this awful disease, but [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Jackie Hi Jackie, My husband and I often worry about the possibility, and tease about it when we forget something little. It isn't really a joking matter, but fortunately neither one of us has any sign of the illness at this time.  SignatureBest Regards, Evelyn Jackie inquired - > Out of curiousity, does anyone in this group secretly worry about > getting the illness themselves? > I've been having this problem now for the past several months and > every time I can't remember something or solve a complicated problem I > wonder One of the AARP publications had an article about 3 years ago, which I found very reassuring. The article described the "ahah!" moment. For example, my spouse and I were watching the Kennedy center tributes a couple of weeks ago, and as they were recapping the career of Martin Scorcese, I could not think of one specific actor's name, a guy who had been in a lot of Scorcese movies. My spouse couldn't think of it either. A day or two later at dinner, I suddenly had it and exclaimed "Harvy Keitel!" This is the "ahah!" moment the article described, and this is symptomatic of a type of memory lapse which is NOT characteristic of Alzheimers. To emphasize my point, I now remember watching the program and trying to think of the guy's name, coming up with it out of context a few days later, and remembering the whole sequence now as I type away. A person with AD would not be able to tell you the whole story, most likely wouldn't even remember wondering about the guy's name in the first place. If this is the kind of memory lapse you are concerned about, relax a little, there's probably no problem, at least at this point. SignatureA R Pickett aka Woodstock "Sometimes the facts threaten the truth" Amos Oz, prize winning Israeli author Read my book reviews at: http://www.booksnbytes.com/reviews/_idx_ws_all_byauth.html Now blogging! http://www.journalscape.com/woodstock/ Remove lower case "e" to respond >My father has the opposite problem. I actually hope that he will stop >eating and end the downward trajectory of this awful disease, but [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >Jackie I think we all wonder about having this disease. it is very sad to see someone lose their memory. My brother-in-law takes his dentures out at the table or anywhere we go eat. He would not do this, under any circumstances if he were well. I feel so sorry for him but don't know how to help him. Bri > My father has the opposite problem. I actually hope that he will stop > eating and end the downward trajectory of this awful disease, but [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Jackie my grandfather still eats like a horse, always has... On Jan 7, 10:18 am, jackieo...@gmail.com wrote: > My father has the opposite problem. I actually hope that he will stop > eating and end the downward trajectory of this awful disease, but [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Jackie Jackie, Yes I worry but not secretly.LOLThats why i am interested in things to do to ward it off.Barb |
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