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Meal replacement/nutrition supplement products; Any recommendations?
Topic Started: Nov 9 2010, 10:18 AM (678 Views)
Delia
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For all of October my elderly mom struggled with a persistant case of pneumonia. Last week she finally turned the corner on that, but then on Friday somehow rolled out of bed while sleeping and badly bruised some ribs. :( Throughout all of this she has had next to no appetite and has lost a lot of weight, and she was tiny to begin with. Not surprisingly, she's now pretty weak and I continue to struggle to get nutritious + high calorie food into her. Getting her to eat anything often is a struggle, and when she does eat she can't manage much at one sitting. And she absolutely won't touch a meal past about 4:00 p.m. Compounding the problem is that I work full-time, so only can get to her for breakfast and after 7:00 p.m. (she still lives independently . . . for now). She does, however, have a wicked sweet tooth, so I'm thinking that in the evening perhaps I can get her to drink something like an Ensure or Boost shake while we chat and watch TV.

So my question is -- does anyone have a recommendation on which of these types of products taste the best? I'm hoping maybe our hospital TOC'ers might have some opinions based on what is served to/received well by their patients. I've read a few reviews that Carnation Instant Breakfast is the best nutritionally (no corn syrup, for starters) and most palatable, and that Boost pudding tastes good. But I'm hoping to avoid a whole lot of trial and error, since I think these products generally come in six-packs or larger.
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Sparky Boy
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My mom loves the chocolate ensure.
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CDE Driver
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My elderly Mother likes the Muscle Milk drinks from Costco. Sometimes I make a shake with them and add a banana.
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FlashGordon
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Oh gosh Delia, so sorry to hear about your mama. :jingles: :jingles:

I drink the chocolate Boost when my colitis flares up. It has kind of a yucky aftertaste but it tastes pretty good while you're drinking it. There was a website I used to have bookmarked with all kinds of liquid meal replacement things, let me see if I can find it.

Does she like milkshakes? We've been using plain old strawberry milkshakes to fatten my grandma up!!
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Casey1
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Years ago, my mother had cancer and lost her lower jaw. She couldn't eat. Now she was fed through an NG tube so she was not tasting but she actually gained weight while on ensure. I have not had it but I have heard it does not taste bad.

I am sorry you are going through this. Try the ensure, if she likes it see if you can get her to drink two or three a day. She may start to feel better and get an appetite back. Ensure was made for instances like this.

:jingles: :jingles: :jingles: :jingles: :jingles:

Ann
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Sparky Boy
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Maybe we should start a "my mom won't eat" clique........


Mom's Dr.'s want her eating small meals or snacks every two hours. Even if it's just a pudding, fruit cup, or maybe some cheese and crackers.

My plan, once she moves in, is to have a lot of fresh veggie type meals pre-cooked so all she has to do is heat it in the microwave while I'm at work during the day.
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Delia
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Sparky Boy
Nov 9 2010, 11:27 AM

My plan, once she moves in, is to have a lot of fresh veggie type meals pre-cooked so all she has to do is heat it in the microwave while I'm at work during the day.
Sparky -- Good luck with that! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Sorry, I'm a little tired and have a dark sense of humor today. When my mom moved down here 2 years ago, I had similar plans to help her start eating more, healthier meals. Well, lets just say she had other plans. :no:

Flashy, once her lungs are totally cleared up, milkshakes would work, in theory, at least to get calories into her. But right now milk gets the phlegm going and makes her cough, which of course is excruciating with the bruised ribs.
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Indy
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Can she do soy products? Soy milk is good for shakes and might not have the same phlegmy side effect as regular milk. I'm a big fan of vanilla soy milk as a base for milkshakes (Silk brand, Whole Foods brand is also tasty).
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Sparky Boy
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Delia
Nov 9 2010, 11:53 AM
Sparky Boy
Nov 9 2010, 11:27 AM

My plan, once she moves in, is to have a lot of fresh veggie type meals pre-cooked so all she has to do is heat it in the microwave while I'm at work during the day.
Sparky -- Good luck with that! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Sorry, I'm a little tired and have a dark sense of humor today. When my mom moved down here 2 years ago, I had similar plans to help her start eating more, healthier meals. Well, lets just say she had other plans. :no:
.
I know right??? If my dogs start getting fat, I'll know what's up!! :teehee:
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Big Day
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Ugh, my mom was the same way. She was so tiny and the thought of any food made her sick to her stomach. Once she started getting some food INTO her stomach, she had an appetite again. Such a frustrating process for sure. I guess it would fall into the dairy category for phlegm (good god that word is gross :spew: ), but we had great luck with yogurt. For some reason, if she had that as the "base" she could eat other things on top of it. It was never TONS of food, but at least it was something on top.
And, I SOOOO get the dark humor days... :teehee:
It is such a difficult thing to care for your parents. :hug:
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buryinghill2
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Neither my Dad or stepmom seem to eat anything at all. My Dad is drinking again, (yes, he beat us, he wins :no: ), and I swear the only calories he gets are from the alcohol he consumes. He is definitely malnourished. My stepmom eats nothing, but I can't blame her, the food at the nursing home looks horrible! She will eat if I bring her muffins, etc. from the bakery down the road. I figure it's better than nothing.
My sister and I are really at our wits end with all this. I had a long phone conversation with her this morning. And we know we are lucky, we are not trying to do this care in our homes.
My Dad has also been smoking in his apartment. The management of the facility called my sister a few days ago and asked her to speak with him about it. All he does is get angry and tells us that "all the residents" smoke in their apartments. (Obviously not true). We are terrified that he will be kicked out of the long term facility if continues to smoke. I have NO idea what we will do if that happens.
Sorry if I just hijacked your thread, but today has been a difficult day in regards to my Dad and I'm feeling extremely frustrated. Your thread just kind of opened the flood gates for me.

I feel a little better and I'll go away now. :oops: Back to the previous discussion.
Edited by buryinghill2, Nov 9 2010, 01:51 PM.
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Delia
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Thanks guys for all the suggestions. For years she has been stubborn about eating, but it doesn't help that right now she's a little daft because of the painkillers she's taking for the ribs. She normally still has her wits about her, but on the pain meds she's very childlike. I think we'll give Ensure chocolate a whirl tonight. She does like the kind of Starbuck's Frapaccinos in a bottle that you can buy at supermarkets, so maybe I'll just pour the Ensure in a glass over ice and tell her that it's a new Frapaccino flavor. :teehee:
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Delia
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buryinghill2
Nov 9 2010, 01:50 PM
Neither my Dad or stepmom seem to eat anything at all. My Dad is drinking again, (yes, he beat us, he wins :no: ), and I swear the only calories he gets are from the alcohol he consumes. He is definitely malnourished. My stepmom eats nothing, but I can't blame her, the food at the nursing home looks horrible! She will eat if I bring her muffins, etc. from the bakery down the road. I figure it's better than nothing.
My sister and I are really at our wits end with all this. I had a long phone conversation with her this morning. And we know we are lucky, we are not trying to do this care in our homes.
My Dad has also been smoking in his apartment. The management of the facility called my sister a few days ago and asked her to speak with him about it. All he does is get angry and tells us that "all the residents" smoke in their apartments. (Obviously not true). We are terrified that he will be kicked out of the long term facility if continues to smoke. I have NO idea what we will do if that happens.
Sorry if I just hijacked your thread, but today has been a difficult day in regards to my Dad and I'm feeling extremely frustrated. Your thread just kind of opened the flood gates for me.

I feel a little better and I'll go away now. :oops: Back to the previous discussion.
Oh gosh BH2, vent away! PLEASE!! It just can be so.damn.hard dealing with elderly parents. :hug: :hug: :hug:

What I didn't mention is that I'm having an ongoing battle with my mother to take her regular meds. The only thing I can get into her right now is her daily blood pressure pill, because her head starts pounding when she doesn't take it. But she has 4 other daily meds she should be taking and she won't. And I have no idea for how long she hasn't been taking them. As I said, she doesn't have dementia. But we're coming up on the 17th anniversary of my dad's death and I think she's just plain tired of being here all this time without him. What am I supposed to do about that, other than call the ambulance when the time comes?? (Obviously, I know she needs treatment for depression, but getting her to agree to such treatment is well nigh impossible.) :sigh: :sigh:
Edited by Delia, Nov 9 2010, 02:22 PM.
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Buryinghill1
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:jingles: :jingles:
We make whole milk and "real" ice cream milkshakes for our patients. Some drink it down like they're starving (they are) and other don't touch them. I have learned NOT to push food. I encourage families to bring favorite homemade foods, and often this works. Small portions of mom's cooking would make me eat anytime (and dads too). And don't leave leftovers...

The aging parent thing is just sickening. My ma is turning her place into an episode of Hoarders. Absolutely blows me away. Now we fight over "things." This is a new phase in her life, and I keep reading through my old Psych schoolbooks to deal with it!... But she DOES eat!! phew

Delia - can you talk to ma's PCP about the meds? Maybe a home health nurse can visit daily to do meds and keep an eye on mom's condition. Can't mom drink the Frappucinos? At least it's something! I tried "sneaking" Boost and Ensure into dad's daily malteds from Baskin & Robbins. He was very polite and drank them. One day though he said - "here you drink this" - and I could taste the difference. He had known the whole time. He asked me not to add stuff to his food. I never did again.
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buryinghill2
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My Mom recommended a book to me. It's called "Passages in Caregiving" by Gail Sheehy. It's supposed to be really good. Maybe I'll buy it, and then pass it on to someone else on this board that might need it, with the agreement that it is then passed on again.
Edited by buryinghill2, Nov 9 2010, 03:21 PM.
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