Eating difficulties.: My husband, who... - British Liver Trust

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Eating difficulties.

16 Replies

My husband, who has decompensated cirrhosis, has lack of appetite and now seems to have developed problems chewing his food. He chews even soft food for ages before swallowing. Has anyone else had experience of this?

16 Replies
jojokarak profile image
jojokarak

I never wanted to eat for about 2 years before transplant ... You need to take him to gp or ring your gastro and hopefully they will prescribe him so fortisip drinks or a similar brand I was better on soup .. it could also be a fluid buildup which also reduced my appetite further so definitely go for now just to check him out x

in reply tojojokarak

Thank you. He does have the fluid build up which is drained regularly and is on Ensures, but, as you know, it's extremely difficult to force yourself to eat. I'll just keep trying to encourage him.

jojokarak profile image
jojokarak in reply to

It certainly is I hope he feels better soon... Is he on the transplant list?

in reply tojojokarak

He's only just reached this stage and they can't refer him for assessment until his nutritional status improves! It's a real catch 22!

AyrshireK profile image
AyrshireK in reply to

Is he seeing dietician regularly, perhaps nasal gastric feeding will have to come into play if he is having such difficulties. Sadly malnourishment is a contraindication to transplant as you need a bit of reserves to fall back on during long operation and recouperation period.

Hope you are able to get him eating something. Little and often, snacking better than meals.

Katie

in reply toAyrshireK

Hii was thinking the same as Katie, little and often is the way to go. Hope he starts to improve very soon love and hugs Lynne cxxx

in reply to

But fortisip is a drink and its lovely!

🇧🇧

in reply tojojokarak

I love fortisip, i want more, more, more. Had it before t/p and still have it now, prescribed of course, but the bottles are too small even at 4/day......

Miles

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chell1704 profile image
chell1704

My husband had bad malnourishment. He would chew food for ages saying it was tough for him to swallow. He had ensure drinks from the consultant and we were told he should eat every 2 hours with the focus on proteins. That's because the liver cannot store the products from food for longer than that if it's badly decomposed (as hubbies was). Following this he managed to gain enough weight to go on the list. I used to make lots of soups which is good with winter coming up! X

in reply tochell1704

Thank you so much, I now know what he needs to do, but still struggling to persuade him!

chell1704 profile image
chell1704 in reply to

They get so grumpy with all the side effects lol. I had to constantly nag at mine and we had many a fall out due to his HE making him "grumpy". We used to be told just get the calories in him even if it's not the best (cake lol). He was 56kg at his worse. Now post transplant 6 months and 76kg! Good luck with your journey x

in reply tochell1704

Who is they?

🇧🇧

chell1704 profile image
chell1704 in reply to

"They" are those with HE. Our consultant said it's a comman side effect. I know everyone is different but grumpy is comman. If I'm honest mine was quite aggressive on times. Getting him to do anything he should was a battle!

in reply tochell1704

Who is mine?

in reply to

Lol shelly, im only joking , I like your style of writing - get in there! 😀😀

Well I am a mine to my wife and she would say exactly the same about him!

🇧🇧

chell1704 profile image
chell1704 in reply to

Lol we all need a sense of humour at times like this!!

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