Loss of Appetite After Stroke

[pattypetty]

My Mother/87 had a stroke 5 weeks ago.  She is in a great rehabilitation center but has totally lost her appetite.  She has no trouble swallowing - no damage to the throat/swallowing.  She says "that doesn't taste good" with everything we try to feed her.  She will spit it out and only wants to drink milk.  We can get her to eat maybe 2 tsp.'s of fruit; or a little bite of bread/with butter but all and all eats little to nothing.  She says she is not hungry when you start trying to get her to eat and the minute she takes one bite, she says she is full and begs not to be given anything else.  She has grown progressively weak and they are now giving her 2 days of IV's to rehydrate her.  We talk to her about eating and that is the only way to regain her strength and she understands that and will agree with you - until it is time to eat and she refuses.  Her dr. started her on an anti-depressant that has side affects of increased appetite and has been on that for 2 weeks/with no success.  Any ideas?  We could sure use the help.  She is unable to get out of bed; doesn't understand "turn over"; and is not doing well with minimal PT.  Thanks so much!

[sanjayd101]

It's exactly the same situation here with my mother (82). Given a choice she will not it at all. Somehow we are making her take small portions of milk and juice, but that too with a great difficulty. Her appetite has completely gone. I am worried as how long person can survive with such a low intake. Her haemoglobin level has fallen too.

[strokesurvivor48]

After eating hospital food for over two months , what can we expect.. IT S Bland and bland,our appetites decrease and finding something we like is an achievement and also a blessing that we are greatful for that we actually eat it.   we need to find something that we enjoy and trying out things is the beginning, so we dont feel weak... munch on peanuts for protein even if its a handful but its something and drink water, try ENsure also, i had to force myself to drink it as I   was never a morning person who ate breakfast even before my stroke, my stroke was on march 19th 2014

[strokesurvivor48]

I'm 48 years old and had a stroke on march 19 2014, i understand what your mom is going through, since my stroke my appetite hasnt been the greatest, food i used to love  i dont care for, i try drinking things like mango juice for the flavour to keep me drinking besides water or slices ofwatermelon. I went home june 26 and my fear was... what am i going to eat and dealing with the downtime of keeping myself busy, as I was always on the go, now i have so much time I feel a void inside.I kmow we must focus on being posItive, as I tell my friends, everyday is a healing day.  Your mom will find something she likes just tkeep tryimg, try to remember what she enjoyed before even something simple as bluberry jam on wholewheat bread, itd triggering the taste buds... i was surprised to eat ribs that my mom made with brown rice, i nibbled on them and found i ended up eating them, i also had cravings of eating steamed spinach and squirting lemon on them. i never liked spinach now after stroke i like them

[eileenlohan]

Has any one come up with a solution of the no eating after a stroke?  When you wrote the above passage you wrote about my father in law.  We really need help.

[jimmy934]

hello, I have the same problem with my mom, I am rehabbing her at home and she is doing good, the Dr.s cannot believe she survived the stroke let alone walking again, it is a daily grind to get her to eat anything, and she was her witts about her but it is a constant stress to get her to eat, can anyone shed some light on this at all.

[rpapa]

I could have written your note almost word for word concerning my mother-in-law.  Have you found any answers?