My MIL is in assisted living and has dementia. The current issue with her is that she has frequent UTIs and she refuses (in her typical passive aggressive way) to drink enough. She has always been a person who will smile at you, agree with what you say and then do exactly as she pleases. The dementia has obviously exacerbated this tendency in her. She becomes dehydrated and has frequent UTIs. She has some paranoia about the cups of water staff brings to her room - she thinks the water could be "tampered with"! We bought a case of small sealed bottles of water hoping she might drink more. The staff keeps the water in their frig. Last week I found 2 unopened bottles of water underneath her bedside table! The staff tries their best as do husband and I to get her to drink more. Bottom line though is we can't force her to drink and talking to her about the importance of staying hydrated does no good. Is anyone else dealing with this issue? I do wonder if her refusal to drink more is a way of asserting her power as there are so few things she does have control of.
Lostinthemix I love your idea about adding a pretty color additive. We hadn't thought of that. Wally003 thank you for the tip about plastic cups with straws. That may work too.
maybe try one of those plastic (something safe w/o BVA? pvc?) drinking cups with a screw-on lid and a straw that comes with it. maybe she wouldn't mind sipping on a straw instead of from a commercial 'water bottle'
i know its hard when dementia involved.
ive even left notes in my moms AL room.
near the sink: "DRINK LOTS OF WATER"
my mom hasn't removed the note yet (she usually removes my notes) and i have no idea how much she consumes everyday.
I was told by a nurse no pop or coffee, but my mil tends to help herself...at night...when everyone is in bed.
Paranoia is also a common feature of many with dementia. They think you're stealing from them or you're having an affair with the neighbor who is living under your bed. Their delusions and ideas appear ridiculous to the rest of us but are very real to them.
It sounds like maybe MIL needs more foods with a lot of water in them like fruits. Will she drink Ensure or other liquids like tea? Suck on popsicles? My mom also didn't drink enough fluids. She loved soda pop though, she looked on it as a treat, because she was poor growing up. So she drank a lot of pop that I brought her. At that point, any calorie and any fluid were good in my book.