Eating difficulties.

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?

[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

[Hidden in reply to jojokarak]

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 in reply to Hidden]

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

[Hidden in reply to jojokarak]

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 in reply to Hidden]

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

[Hidden in reply to AyrshireK]

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

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

But fortisip is a drink and its lovely!

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[Hidden in reply to jojokarak]

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]

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

[Hidden in reply to chell1704]

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

[chell1704 in reply to Hidden]

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

[Hidden in reply to chell1704]

Who is they?

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[chell1704 in reply to Hidden]

"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!

[Hidden in reply to chell1704]

Who is mine?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

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!

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[chell1704 in reply to Hidden]

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