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She is diabetic with high blood pressure. She has extremely difficult having regular bowel movements. She has to take large amounts of laxatives to have a bowel movement often. She is constantly hungry, her weight is out of control. I need desperately to know what I can do to help her with her hunger feelings. She can eat a big meal and then doze in the chair wake up and say she is hungry.

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I don't have diabetes but I understand that insulin has the cruel side effect of causing one to feel hungry when one is not. She needs someone to help keep her diabetes under control or she will also start to have the other problems that come with it being out of control, like CKD (chronic kidney disease) which requires dialysis. Then quality of life takes a nose dive.

Does she live alone or with someone? Who is her medical PoA? Is someone currently checking her levels and dispensing her meds? More information would be very helpful for forum participants to give you better suggestions.
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dementia can make people lose their appetite…or extremely hungry.

boredom can make all of us hungry too. we need happy things, to be kept busy with nice activities, and to look forward to things.

hug!!
also, dementia makes you crave for sugar, which makes you crave even more.

try to reduce sugar.
(i myself am not good at that. and i’m an athlete!).

i think basically, we all need to be kept busy with exciting activities. this can help also to stop thinking about food.

food is also a way to try to stop unhappy feelings.

hug!
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She probably forgot she ate. My 94 year old mother with dementia will finish her breakfast & 10 minutes later, ask what’s for breakfast? You have to remind her she just ate. Let her drink more water & or flavored seltzer …zero calories! Hugs 🤗
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Start giving her many small meals.
If breakfast is toast, cereal, juice and she has a snack of yogurt and fruit later before lunch break it so she has toast. then an hour later cereal, an hour later a piece of fruit then yogurt.
Lunch the same thing if she has a sandwich and soup give her a sandwich then an hour later soup.
Rather than laxatives would she eat foods that would act the same?
Fruits like prunes, prune juice. A blend of papaya and pineapple sometimes works.
Often it is not "hunger" it is boredom It also might be that she has forgotten that she ate.
Increase the fiber in the foods she does eat. They will help with the bowel movements but will make her feel fuller longer. (But she may still say she is hungry because eating is something to do and again she may have forgotten she ate)
when she says she is hungry give her a task to do that will take her m imnd off it for a bit, just say you will fix something but .."these towel need to be folded first" or "these socks need to be paired" or "I need to cut these coupons out of the paper" (or the recipes out of this magazine)
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answry Sep 2021
Grandma1954 That’s what home health taught me – as many small meals and snacks that the person can handle. At first, I was doing the taught tradition of three large meals and snacks in between. So, as you said, if lunch is soup and a sandwich, I would do half for lunch and then the other half when he said he has not eaten or is hungry. If I’m doing a snack pack of crackers, I’ve started doing half unless they ask for the other half right away. Prune juice, coffee, and apple juice mornings only lol. Thinking of trying a fiber supplement that you put in your coffee.
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Shernodine: Imho she should be seen by her gastroenterologist.
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Fiber is your friend. She needs foods high in fiber: whole grains, crunchy veggies and the rough parts of fruits (skin, seeds... and not jus the juice). She would also do well to avoid processed food - most snack foods - anything salty, starchy or greasy. Fiber not only helps to have consistent soft bowel movements, it also helps you to feel full.

Water will help. Everybody needs about 2 liters of water/fluids per day - even folks taking diuretics for blood pressure or heart issues.

If you can get her out into the sunshine for some short strolls or to dance to her favorite music, that will literally help things to move along.

Some folks as they age need a little extra help to get things going. My husband prefers sugar free fiber gummies. I prefer psyllium capsules. I have also found that getting a little more magnesium (prunes or milk of magnesia) also help with muscles of digestion. A doctor can be consulted for other medications to help stimulate bowel movements (Linzess and others).
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answry Sep 2021
You are absolutely right that you have to be careful with foods, juices, etc.
Food labels are a great big help. You can find two products and they both say low sodium (soups for example) or low sugar but still have to dig deep to see which has the lesser amount.

This morning dad is constantly asking for water and coffee. I'm drawing a line with the coffee but have been letting him have the water this morning back to back (smaller size cup) but that'll have to change later in the day.
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Many times hunger is mistaken for thirst. This is especially true for diabetics. Like the rest of us, chronic dehydration is very common.

Do you have a blood glucose monitor? She sounds hypoglycemic. She should be eating more protein and healthy fats and no processed food. Nothing prepackaged. Just whole, real food. No grains, no pasta, bread, or sweets.

Magnesium Glycinate really helps keep bowels moving.
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Buy and install a bidet on her toilet seat. That helps with constipation. Five small meals a day instead of 3 large ones will help. Also, healthy snacks throughout the day, along with lots of water. Why is she eating a big meal? Overloading on food in one meal makes us sleepy. Does she take insulin? When you consume a high carb meal, your blood sugar spikes up high and then about an hour or so later, it crashes to nearly low blood sugar. At that point, if you don't eat again, you can die. Keep glucose tablets for those times and test her blood sugar level. Discuss what to do with her endocrinologist.
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Michelle2828 Sep 2021
sorry Karen, but i don't understand how a bidet would help.....
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A bidet is supposed to be used to wash the butt after pooping; however, with constipation, it also acts like an enema.
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I too am often constipated. I have experienced sudden intense “hunger” pangs in the morning and I have come to recognize them as the first sign that my bowels have “woke up”.
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