Husband eating less and less, is or was 6ft tall, weighed 71k lost 10k in one year and is now down to 56k, skin and bone, muscle wastage is evident, I am worried about heart muscle wastage, swallowing is a problem for him.
Any hints and tips could be very helpful.
We live in Spain, the hot part, he is 78
Has he had a swallow study? If not he could be aspiring, ask your dr.
Swallowing difficulties are common with Parkinsons. Try preparing softer foods that he can swallow easily. I found soups and stews, with ingredients cut into smaller pieces, to work well for my husband. Also make sure the foods are not dry. Serve with lots of sauces or gravy. Hope this helps.
Thank you wifeofparky, I have been doing this for some time, loss of taste is another problem. do you find you have to cook two different meals, I am short and inclined to be fatter than I should be so need to keep my food in control, also making sure enough vits and minerals are in his food is a challenge.
We ate the same meals. I just took a smaller portion. I found he liked spicier foods so we kept hot sauce on hand when he wanted to "spice it up". Adding more vegies into the mix also helps getting those vitamins and minerals into both of your diets.
Swallowing is not just about musculature but also about saliva. PD tends to dry out the GI tract from one end to the other. I take Cevimeline to improve my saliva production and docusate to keep things soft at the other end.
In addition to all that there is also the matter of appetite. Medical marijuana can improve this if it is legal in your location.
I suggest a nice full fat ice cream based chocolate double malted. It was the only thing that kept my grandfather going.
Yup! you should see the freezer, its his staple diet, but still the weight goes down. Thanks for the reply Hal
Your husband's story is very similar to my own, same height, dropped almost 50 pounds in a very short time, lost most muscle mass, was seldom hungry at mealtime. I understand your concern regarding pd weakening the heart muscle but my story gets better there. I had a serious problem with hypertension and a long record of stents, angioplasty, heart bypass surgery. To shorten the story, as symptoms of PD increased, the heart incidents lessened, then stopped. My cardiologist (ex-cardiologist) grudgingly admitted that the PD was probably involved in the cure. I worried, as did you, about the rapid loss of weight but it left sufficient muscle mass to maintain enough strength, with exercise, to live the pwp version of a normal life. If it were possible, I would like some details of your husband's swallowing problem.
Best Wishes to you and yours from California, (the hot part)
I love a story with a happy ending.
Hi Ronn,
John suffers with very low blood pressure, he can keel over at any time if he stands still, so buying a cup of coffee, and trying to pay for it, or standing at the sink shaving or cleaning teeth, he has had so many injuries, its a good job I am good with blood as long as its other peoples.
Swallowing, its strange, he loves fish but chokes on it, tablets get lodged in the throat, sometimes they regurgitate an hour later just damp but not dissolved, meal times take a long time as he takes small amounts to swallow, so meals get cold and need reheating, how common this is I am not sure.
He has to see a specialist in internal medicine next week so hoping they can help with the weight loss.
Thanks for replying, its great to share.
Can he get swallowing therapy? It really helped me a lot. I still do the exercises every other day.
I will have to look into it Michaela, there is not a lot on offer around here, perhaps if we lived in a large city but rural Spain, its a lot of, find for yourself and do it yourself, hence the usefulness of this site.
You could find the exercises on the web and he could start right away,really I never thought they would help but they do.
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