EP50: Helping a Person With Alzheimer's Disease to Eat

<p><strong>Helping a Person With Alzheimer's Disease to Eat</strong></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Handfeeding is recommended over tube feeding in Alzheimer's disease. The handfeeding techniques offer </span></em><em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">an additional sensorimotor cue."  </span></em><strong>-Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the late stages of Alzheimer's disease, it's not unusual for older adults to have trouble eating.  Before the end of life, 85% of people living with Alzheimer’s disease will have trouble eating.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are many reasons for this, but many stem from the sensory changes that happen with the disease such as changes with smell, taste, vision, and hearing. Other contributing factors may involve chewing their food, swallowing, or they simply lose interest in food. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ensuring that anyone with Alzheimer's eats a healthy meal or eats sufficiently turns into a real practical and emotional challenge for the caregiver. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In today's episode of This Is Getting Old, we'll talk about Alzheimer's Care: Making Mealtimes Easier. I'll share strategies that can help you help an older adult to eat more food.</span></p> <p><strong>Part One of 'Helping a Person With Alzheimer's Disease to Eat. '</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first step in understanding is the sensory changes that impact an older adult's ability to feed themselves. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These sensory changes are briefly described below; </span></p> <p><strong>Smell.</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Smell is diminished with Alzheimer's disease. As this disease progresses, people lose their sense of smell. They can't smell their body odor, they can't smell if there's smoke in the house, so they certainly have a hard time smelling food. This change also increases their risk for f