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Hi, my mom is 89 and has dementia. I need a food supplement for her to drink. After a short stay in the hospital for pancreatis she has been losing weight steadily. She has a few mouthful then says she is full. She is not on any medication and I would like to find a food supplement to add to her meals or drink. She does drink Ensure, but this is not enough to stabilize the weight lost.

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I have been giving my 85-year old mom Orgain, which is an organic meal replacement shake. Much healthier ingredients than Ensure, and the MDR of vitamins and minerals. Highly recommended.
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Call her MD first thing in the AM and ask what you can give her. She may need enzymes that normally come from the pancreas. Her insulin levels may be off. She really needs help from the MD, please make the call.
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My mom went thru something similar. They wanted to admit her to hospital for blood transfusions as well. Best to check with dr about appetite and the other things mentioned to make sure alwYs get a diagnosis first. Then I decided it was too risky to have admitted in hospital as the prior two times she contracted MRSA. SO I brought her home and stArted her on homemade bone soup. Within a couple of months no need for transfusions. Blood count and anemia disappeRed.
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My wife, showing early signs of dementia--though she can still cook, do laundry, and drive to supermarkets--but her short-term memory is shot. She will tell me the same thing three times. Our doctor put her on Namenda and Aricept, which can slow Alzheimer's, but not cure it (her 78-year-old sister has full-blown Alzheimer's, as did their mother and maternal grandmother). She has been losing weight steadily for the last 8 years, by her strategy of skipping lunch. From 140 a year ago she dropped to 126, which is alarming for a 5'5" 75-year-old. Our doctor said to make her drink an Ensure or a Boost at noon every day, and this has brought her up to 130. Ideally, she should be at 140, so I'll have to keep feeding her one of these supplements. When she reaches 140, I'll back off to one every other day. Why don't I take over the driving and some of the other chores? Because I live in a wheelchair. About all I can do is empty the dishwasher and take care of all the paperwork, paying bills, etc.
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My mum is solely on milk , fighting off a nasty bout of bed sores on both hips .. slowly recovering . We gave her 1 scoop of protein powder with each serving of milk , and it seemed to give her enough protein to recover slowly . The brand used here is Propass - protein powder. My mum is on Glucerna because she has diabetes , Ensure is for those without diabetes but Ensure has many combinations , some are better for elderly . Check it out and ask her doctor before you give her . Hope it helps . God bless.
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We used Ensure Plus, I mixed it with a scoop of ice cream. Her weight stabilized really fast. I used a little mini blender so it was much more like an ice cream shake.
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Bonnie, thank you for sharing the info on the soup. Being able to bring the blood up naturally like that is wonderful as blood transfusions can cause so many neg complications.
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After exiting the rehab where she lost weight, my mom refused to eat or drink ensure products, so I substituted Carnation Breakfast essentials Vanilla for regular milk in her cereal and she just thought the cereal was more delicious. She gained weight from it.
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Check with her doctor about an appetite enhancing prescription. I gave one to my cat when she was sick with cancer. I asked Mother's doctor about giving it to her, he thought it would be good, but she rallied and didn't need it.
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I gave my Mom Scandishake. Its not meant to be the sole food intake but it is high in calories (like 50% more than Ensure) and nutritious. It stopped her weight loss from dropping. Good tasting too. She loved it!
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