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96yo lady senior on non-meat diet.


Diet has not changed. Everything freshly prepared and very clean:


2 bananas and 1 small cup of milk tea for breakfast.
250mL lentil soup and 1 kiwi fruit for lunch.
125mL lentil soup, 125mL cerelac baby food, half a small mango for dinner.


Suddenly poo smelled like grass on Day 1.


Normal poo on Day 2.
She vomited on Day 3. Again poo smell like grass on Day 3.


PANICKING... what mistake have I made ???

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Is the care in a facility or group location, or in a private home? If it's in a group setting, and there are any drastic changes to poo, then I'd have her checked for c-diff just to rule it out or catch it as fast as possible.
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AlvaDeer Oct 2020
Good point.
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May I ask why she is on a protein limited diet? Does she have kidney complications? Usually, unless there is a reason, a good balanced diet is best. For all of us.
The smell of grass? I can't imagine? Generally things that have a grass diet have quite a bad odor to the poop.
I am a bit more concerned in all of the about the vomitting. Is it ongoing? Was it from choking and swallow deficit? Is she back to normal with no vomitting?
I wouldn't overworry or panic unless the vomitting continues.
Are there any medication changes of late?
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From what I can gather, the grassy smell in feces is hexanal which is a gas that's produced from decomposition..........your mother could have a gastrointestinal issue going on or too much bad bacteria in her intestinal tract. A probiotic supplement may help replace the bad bacteria with good, but of course, check with her doctor to be sure. At 96, a GI issue can be very serious, so you're better off checking with her doctor than an online forum! Vomiting and grassy smelling feces is something to be concerned about, for sure!

Good luck!
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The medical checking is good advice, I am only commenting on the diet. The lentils cope with the protein requirement, but a lot do give me diarrhoea. I recently had a wonderful thick pea and ham soup, and the next day was in dire straits – I think my gut couldn’t work out if it was liquid or solid. The diet has very little carbohydrate to burn for energy. Most importantly, very little fibre, which the gut needs to function properly. If she didn’t want the bananas one day, it might upset things. Psyllium in the soup might be a good idea.

I wouldn’t worry about the grass smell myself. On the farm, we have the remains of an old asparagus market garden, and in the season, mine smells like asparagus!
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lealonnie1 Oct 2020
Not for nothing, Margaret, but the mother's diet is VERY high in carbs, protein and fiber:

2 bananas: 6 gms fiber 54 gms carbs
lentil soup: 18 gms fiber 42 gms carbs 18 gms protein
cerelac baby cereal: 7 gms fiber 170 gms carbs 37 gms protein (if 125 ml is the correct serving) + a TON of vitamins
1/2 mango: 2 gms fiber 14 carbs
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Who placed her on this diet? Did you? If so, did you speak to her doctor about it?

What kind of diet was she on before? Was she having problems then? Is that the reason for the switch?

How Long has she been on this diet? You say, “Suddenly” So, is this a new experiment that is being tried?
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Thank you everyone. We are vegetarians. We rarely eat meat or eggs. Our normal diet is: lentils, bananas, whatever fruit is in season. Now Mama is not vomiting and her poo is back to normal. I think she had a gastro-intestinal infection despite all my cleaning. Now Mama suddenly stopped all activities: exercize, prayer, reading scripture. I am now feeding her small frequent pureed meals (whenever she wakes up - she sleeps a LOT). I found this very useful Youtube video. First stage of dying can be managed but overfeeding is a strict no-no:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxzI0EMHgSk
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