My husband refuses to eat solid food. Any suggestions?

Husband has dementia and about a week ago my husband decided he would not eat solid food. He has already lost lots of weight which hasn’t been pinpointed by doctors as to why. He eats oranges, drinks ensure, applesauce sometimes and will drink water.
He has gone from breakfast of eggs and grits every morning to nothing but what I mentioned. Will eat nothing solid during the remainder of the day. I have spoken to hospice and he going to be evaluated. I’m at my wits end.

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My father had some mild problems chewing and swallowing his food. He would still eat puddings, smoothies and milkshakes (with strawberries, bananas or smooth peanut butter mixed in and reduced by the blender to very fine bits), mashed potatoes, and meat cooked in broth until very tender, cut into about 1/4" pieces then mixed with thickened gravy (usually used a little cornstarch to thicken the broth I used to cook the meat). He liked vegetable soup made with the vegetables cut into small pieces and the whole pot cooked into a near mush condition. He always loved cornbread soaked in milk, I always thought this was mush but I was thankful in his later years that this was one of his favorite "snacks". Daddy still liked ice cream so I frequently would buy some soft serve (Wendy's frosty worked well) or use the blender and a little milk to make a milkshake from chocolate and vanilla half gallons.

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lots of great practicle advice Techie

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It's VERY frightening to suddenly begin choking on food, or to feel it's not going all the way down to the stomach. Once that happened to daddy (Parkinson's) he simply refused all solid foods. He also had to be 'fed' at that point and if you were even the slightest bit too quick--he'd throw up everything. It was a challenge, and fortunately didn't last too long before he went to liquids only--he passed a month or so after the 'choking' began.

I do not know if he had a test for dysphagia. He was bedbound and on Hospice. I kind of think not. We just kept him comfortable.

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Definitely have a swallow evaluation done on him, as it may just be as BarbBrooklyn mentioned the fact that he can no longer swallow solid foods, because he has dysphagia. My late husband who had vascular dementia, ended up with aspiration pneumonia(because of his dysphagia) after he could no longer swallow properly. And though he initially survived that, he after that had to have all his drinks thickened with the product Thick It, and I had to pureed all of his food. Eventually he progressed to just soft foods, and thickened drinks, until his death last year.
I hope you get the answers you need, and just know that hospice will not approve a swallow test, so you will have to do that on your own. Best wishes.

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Besides the very high calorie Boost, which has to be bought online, there's another high calorie supplemnt called benecalorie that mixes well into smoothies, soups, oatmeal, puddings, mashed potatoes, etc. It's basically flavorless, but is a bit oily as it has a high fat content. Maybe try making a smoothie with the VHC boost, benecalorie, and some kind of juicy fruit to thin it down some. It will be 700-800 calories which is more than the grits and eggs breakfast. It's good your husband is getting the swallow study.

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My mother has a condition which prevents her from eating solid food at the present. She has no appetite and finds liquids easier to "get down". Boost has a high calorie drink that has more calories than any of the Ensure drinks. We do have to thin it with water for her to tolerate it (not sure if it is because of her swallowing or how it feels in her stomach afterwards). I have to order it online because I have not found it in stores.

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I imagine he has developed dysphagia (a fancy word that means difficulty swallowing).

I doubt this is a "choice" that he's made. It's his body starting to fail.

Here is a good article on dysphagia. https://www.dysphagia-diet.com/t-dysphagia-facts.aspx

I'm glad he is going to have a swallow study.

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My husband refuses to eat solid food. Any suggestions?

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