My husband is losing weight. Can I give him ensure drink to help him gain weight?

[nishahathi]

I'd like to know if ensure is good for a pbc patient

[2006]

Hi! Ensure should be good for him if he is dropping weight or has trouble eating. There are vitamins in it that he needs if he is not eating. I wish you luck!

Ruth

[SLWB]

Hey I had to take ensure to gain weight. My doctor told me to drink in between meals only half a can at a time. That way I wouldn't be full at meal time. I also had multigrain toast with just peanut butter at night. Best of luck to your husband. Take care.

[Hidden in reply to SLWB]

Yes peanut butter is something I love too. I normally have mine on toast at morning if I am that way inclined as I vary between jam, honey and peanut butter or a small bit of butter. I find Whole Earth's organic crunchy is the one for me.

[Hidden]

Hello. This might seem an odd reply but I often drink a glass of semi-skimmed milk at lunchtime for the nutritional content. I also have been buying in the last 6 months the ready-made cartons of junior milk and having one of those on the days I feel a bit drained (due to the menstrual cycle). My children always liked the Farley's rusks and over the years despite my son now being in his 20s he still likes a few with warm milk poured over. I too find these something rather nutritious to pack up on.

You could also buy Complan if you are in England. I have used this previously, in 2010 the year I was to be diagnosed with PBC as at the time working over the allotted full-time working week in a rather stressful job, itching and feeling quite run down it did somehow help.

I no longer bother what I have in terms of calories. I go for the quality myself. I have lost around half a stone since 2010 and not gained any since diagnosis Dec 2010. I can eat best in the morning and noon but come around 4p.m. my appetite does start to wane somewhat. I put that down to getting older (almost 50). I am probably not going to regain the weight currently due to being a night time itcher and fidgeting all night. I find I cannot eat after the evening meal myself and from a psychological point of view I think myself if I was to eat later evening the itch would continue beyond the usual 5a.m. cut-off due to additional food needing the release of more bile.

[Misty1]

My husband was on ensure plus 2 bottles a day, I was given a leaflet on ways to build him up by the dietician. Ideas were full cream milk fortified with powder milk, fresh cream, cereals with honey or golden syrup, I was told to forget about so called healthy eating and just feed him up, but fresh veg and fruit, and fruit juice with the bits in we're essential.

[MrG5]

Hi I am answering for my husband who is currently in hospital. He was given Fortisip drinks via the doctor. 125ml = 300 calories.He also had to have a naso gastric tube (NG tube) to get him more calories overnight as he has lost so much weight. Might be worth seeing if your consultant can ask your doctor to prescribe some high energy drinks as they can be quite expensive. As per the replies above my husband also ate a lot more of the more fattening foods to help him build up. As well as peanut butter there are a number of other nut butters which are good - cashew/almond. other things he ate were puddings like rice puddings or stewed or cut up fruit (to get some good vitamins) and icecream. As mentioned it is good to take the drinks away from the meals so not to dampen the appetite.

[nishahathi in reply to MrG5]

Can I ask why is he in hospital?

[Kate50]

Hi, just thought I would let you know that I take ensure juice plus 3 bottles a day prescibed to me by the dietician from the liver clinic Ihave pbc and keep losing weight .