Thank you for your response. She is not having a swallowing problem. As soon as the food touches her lips she says it's horrible and spits it out. I just tried a tastycake and her response was the same. I think I will try a milkshake next.
Give her tiny meals. Start out with, let's say, a hard-boiled egg and a piece of buttered toast. Glass of OJ. See if she'll eat if there's just an itty-bitty amount of food on her plate. Then give her a mid-morning Ensure.
Is she on pain medication? Oxycodone can suppress appetite. Google some of her other meds and see if any suppress appetite. If so, call the doctor and let him know she's experiencing that side effect.
Do you think she's having trouble swallowing? Watch her, even with the Ensure. Does she seem uncomfortable when she swallows?
How are her teeth? Could she be having an unidentified tooth ache? Does she wear dentures? Take them out and see if she eats any better in case the denture has become loose and is uncomfortable when she chews.
For other soft foods, try pasta, stir-fried rice with veggies. Try sweet things like BBQ hamburger. Or BBQ chicken. Or spaghetti sauce, slightly sweetened. The ability to taste sweet may be working pretty good evidenced by her liking Ensure. She could have a taste disorder.
It could be that she's just slowing down. Don't worry too much about the calories. The body learns to live on what it's got to work with. Remarkable thing.
Of COURSE let your doctor know what's going on. Sad as it is to say, when combined with her whole history, how long she's had Alzheimer's, what other health problems she has...it may be time for hospice.
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Is she on pain medication? Oxycodone can suppress appetite. Google some of her other meds and see if any suppress appetite. If so, call the doctor and let him know she's experiencing that side effect.
Do you think she's having trouble swallowing? Watch her, even with the Ensure. Does she seem uncomfortable when she swallows?
How are her teeth? Could she be having an unidentified tooth ache? Does she wear dentures? Take them out and see if she eats any better in case the denture has become loose and is uncomfortable when she chews.
For other soft foods, try pasta, stir-fried rice with veggies. Try sweet things like BBQ hamburger. Or BBQ chicken. Or spaghetti sauce, slightly sweetened. The ability to taste sweet may be working pretty good evidenced by her liking Ensure. She could have a taste disorder.
It could be that she's just slowing down. Don't worry too much about the calories. The body learns to live on what it's got to work with. Remarkable thing.
Of COURSE let your doctor know what's going on. Sad as it is to say, when combined with her whole history, how long she's had Alzheimer's, what other health problems she has...it may be time for hospice.