Appetite problems

Hi,

My mother has the Ensure drinks too. But we try 2 bottles & something like soup or thin Smash with butter.

Our hospice nurse actually said "4 200ml Ensure drinks is enough to sustain weight & give more energy. It's about the same as eating normal food as it has all the correct nutrients and a good calorific value".

It's totally normal to feel how she does. No interest in foods. To help my mother when she had the same issue, the 1st thing was to get a prescribed anti sickness medication. This started to work after only 2 days. Mum didn't feel any nausea or sickness. And to this day it is still working well. Also, ginger based drinks are great for relieving sickness. Take the drink 1/2 an hour before eating.

Regarding the Ensure drinks, try adding a little spoon of coffee, it gives it a different & pleasing taste. You could also add Horlicks, Ovaltine, hot chocolate powder etc for more variety.

The Abbot Nurses state that 5 bottles of Ensure is all anyone would need, but we are all different so 4 bottles is likely to be enough for your mum. my mum has stayed at the same weight on only 3 bottles.

It's also a good idea to place nice little snacks by your mum, they can prove to be very tempting. Sweets, cheese triangles, melt on your tongue crisps such as Skips, pieces of chocolate, etc. Again this was advice from our hospice nurse.

Just 1 month after that awful treatment seems a bit quick to begin eating normal dinners, again my mum is 4 months post Radical Radiotherapy, & she still occasionally finds the thought of foods repulsive. And your mum had chemo too which is far harsher on the body.

One last idea which I will say straight away is not a nice thing to have done, a PEG Tube direct into the stomach for bolus feeding & medicating. It bypasses the taste buds so the smell of orally taking foods is gone. But this is painful after the surgical procedure, & that will last a good 6 weeks from my mums experience. You would be best to read about it first. Because mum initially deeply regretted having it done. But now she doesn't notice it. It makes feeding & medicating so much easier, both for you & your mum. I will stress that only thin liquid type foods & drinks will go through the tube, don't expect thick soups with veg like a winter soup. The veg would clog up the tube & may require a new tube fitting. Again, this isn't  a gentle & pain free procedure. Have a word with the dieticians, but don't be told it's an easy procedure with no pain afterwards. 

I hope your mum beats this "crap cancer" which sounds likely if it's curative. And don't worry too much, all therapy treatments tend to have nasty side effects, like lacking an appetite & being nauseous.

I wish you both my best thoughts & I hope I have given you even a little relevant advice.

Regards,

Graeme.

Thank you Graeme, this is very helpful. I will try some of your suggestions. Wishing you much luck too! 

Hi,

I hope you get something to work for your mum, it's terrible when people cannot tolerate foods.

Another thought that I'm going to try for my mum is Dextrose energy sweets.

Could be worth a try, I can let you know how it does with my mum before you shell out for no reason.

I used to do the hardest off road run in the UK with a certain outfit. They know their stuff. Best energy supply, flapjacks. Much better than these energy gels or drinks, they are for casual runners. So if you break one up & place it by your mum, she will have the best energy supply possible. And they have many different toppings so you have a good choice. Just another thought.

All the best ,

Graeme.

Just a quick one. We've just had our hospice nurse visit us. DO NOT USE DEXTROSE. Ensure covers what Dextrose would give so it has no value. So try adding a little flavouring to the Ensure. I have heard, but I cannot be sure, Ensure do savoury drinks too. Again it's best to speak to the Abbot Nurses. Some people prefer savoury food over sweet tasting food.

Regards,

Graeme.