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Emotional Eating (Expert Forum)
Will not eat or drink
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions in the Emotional Eating forum are answered by Dr. Roger Gould. Topics covered include anger and eating, anxiety and eating, binge eating, depression and eating, eating to "fit in", emotional eating, fill the void eating, guilt and eating, loneliness and eating, social eating, and stress and eating.
Will not eat or drink
by 6Ferndale, Oct 16, 2007 12:37PM
My mum has alzheimers. she is in hospital after not drinking or eating properly for 4 weeks. She has urinary infection now. the hospital say they can not force her to drink or eat, Surely there is something that can be done to help? 4 weeks ago she could walk miles and eat like a horse! Now she cant walk unaided. They want to send her home even though she will not eat or drink. Can you suggest anything we can try or anyone we can contact for help?
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Oct 16, 2007 05:18PM
, Oct 16, 2007 05:18PM
To: 6ferbdale
It's hard to believe the hospital would take that position. Your mother may be at a stage of alzheimer's that requires a stepped up level of care to make sure she eats and drinks. You can also get another opinion by calling in a neurologist specialist while she is in the hospital to make sure something else isn't going on that is being missed.
Member Comments (2)
by cw1330, Oct 22, 2007 02:03PM
My thoughts are that they should be giving her food and hydration through an IV if she is not eating or drinking on her own. That is probably why she has a urinary tract infection - she is dehydrated. It would be good if someone could even get her to drink a little bit of gatorade. You might need to contact a long term care facility or a nurse that can come to your home but it sounds like she needs care around the clock to make sure she doesn't keep the hunger strike up.
