No appetite - Stroke Message Board

StrawberryFelid · 01-14-2007, 07:53 PM

Hello,

my grandmother had a stroke about a month ago. Since then, she has regained most of her cognitive abilities, but has no energy and has not eaten a full meal since the day after her stroke- thus, the loss of energy.

The doctors have put her on antidepressants and done many blood tests but they can not find a physical cause for her non-existant appetite. She says that she tries to eat, but feels full as soon as she swallows the first bite- she says it feels as if the food has "nowhere to go" and her stomach feels non-existant. What is going on?? Does this sound like loss of appetite due to depression, or something wrong with the stromach/brain? Everything I've found on the net says loss of appetite=depression, but could it be anything else? She seems like she's trying!
Anything we can do to help?

Mari526 · 01-15-2007, 11:25 AM

There is something you can do for her, ask her doctor if he/she will prescribe a drug called Megace which is an appetite enhancer. It should help your grandmothers appetite.
Provide your grandmother with liquid nutritional supplements like Ensure, she should be drinking 2- 3 cans daily until her appetite improves. You must help her prevent becoming malnourished.
I would also ask her doctor for a Prealbumin blood test, this will show what your grandmothers nutritional status is at this point in time. The doctor should refer her to a registered dietician if her prealbumin levels are low to work out a diet plan for her.

StrawberryFelid · 01-16-2007, 07:45 AM

Thank you for your reply

She's in a nursing home right now, nearly a state away, but we try. The staff is trying to get her to drink Ensure, but more than a few sips causes her to vomit. The doctors can't figure out why that happens, either

Maybe has something to do with the "no appetite"/no stomach thing.

I'm sure if they did a nutritional check-up on her they would find that she is pretty deficient, as, to my understanding, she eats about three spoonfulls of stuff a day and then sleeps it off the rest of the day. I don't know how she survives like that! It is scary!

I will tell her caregivers about the appetite stimulant, for certain.

ZippyENG · 01-16-2007, 04:11 PM

I had a stroke about 3 months ago. I have done very well during the recovery phase to the point that I went back to wok. Th one thing that is different is my eating has changed. During the ifirst month I lived on IV’s. the second month I would only eat those roman noodles things. I am eating a lot more. Part of the reason I did not want to eat was the associated smells and tastes that went along with foods. I lost my appitite and my sense of smell became very acute. As the sense of smell returned to normal my eating improved. I would recommend that you should try feeding your grandmother something other then insure like carnation instant breakfast. I would have your grandmothrer monitored for her nutritional status It may be a matter of time before her appitite improves. I also spent a lot of time sleeping during the first 2 months.