Is it true that Alzheimer's patients can stop swallowing or eating?

Here's something for you Lori. I'm not experienced with Alzheimers but plenty of people here are. Perhaps this will help a little.

Alzheimer's Disease at Age-Matters
Behavior of Alzheimer's Patients

Thanks to Beth Creason at about.com

The Seven Stages of Alzheimer's Symptoms

Do you know what to expect during the course of Alzheimer's disease? There are seven stages that describe each phase of this debilitating disease. Not everyone who has AD will have all of these symptoms, nor will they necessarily have the symptoms in the order I have listed, but, by using this guide, you can get an idea of the progressive decline of the patient's cognitive functions.

Alzheimer's disease usually lasts from three to 20 years. During this time, cognitive function steadily decreases. In many cases, patients do not die of Alzheimer's itself, but other complications, such as pneumonia, heart failure or infections.

Let's examine the seven stages:

Stage One: There are no symptoms at all. The patient has no memory impairment nor does he have any visible signs of other cognitive decline.

Stage Two: The patient will notice some mild memory loss. He or she will usually start by misplacing objects or forgetting names that are well known to them. He or she may wonder about the memory loss, but will usually blame it on aging.

Stage Three: The victim will notice an increase in memory impairment. They may make a trip to the store and forget how to get back home. Their work performance may suffer because the patient may forget important details while working on a project. They may start trying to think of what a particular object is called, and the frequency of forgetting names of people they should know well will probably increase. Reading may become a problem, as the patient cannot remember what he or she has just read. At this point, the patient may lose or misplace something valuable, not remembering where they put it. Concentration will become very difficult. Most victims will go into denial during this stage, and will tend to have problems with anxiety.

Stage Four: In this stage, some long term memory loss will be seen. When asked about news headlines or current events, they may have difficulty in recalling what is happening. Travel becomes difficult because of the anxiety it causes. The person may not be able to handle their finances any longer because of confusion. The victim will usually start to withdraw from anything that presents a challenge. Denial is still prominent.

Stage Five: The patient now has to have assistance with some activities of daily living. They usually need help in selecting the clothes they wear, as during this stage they tend to dress inappropriately. They can still feed themselves and use the restroom without assistance. They may have trouble remembering some family members names, especially grandchildren or siblings, but can usually tell you their own names or the names of their spouse or children. They have trouble recalling such things as their address, or phone number.

Stage Six: The victim may now start forgetting the name of their spouse or children. They usually cannot recall any recent events in their lives. They may be able to recall things that have happened in the past, but cannot go into detail about the events. They are disoriented to time and place. When asked to count from ten, they will usually not be able to do this. They may even have difficulty in counting from one to ten. They may become incontinent, and will require help with most activities of daily living, such as bathing, toileting, dressing and sometimes eating. Delusions and paranoia may be a problem. They may start having some difficult behavior problems. Anxiety, agitation or violent behavior may occur.

Stage Seven: Most communication skills are lost. Speech is non-existent. The patient is incontinent. They will need help with feeding and toileting. They will become unable to walk or control other motor functions. During this stage, the person usually becomes bedfast.

It's been my experience that many patients will stay in stage five or six for a long period of time. Some patients that I met several years ago that were in these stages are still in the same stage. Not every patient is the same, so the stages and length of time in each stage will vary.

You can help the patient by showing him or her a lot of love and patience. Learning the different stages and knowing what to expect, will help you, the caregiver.

My mother has had this disease for @ 20 years now. She was doing good with finger foods, but now all she wants to have are sandwiches. Depending on the sandwich, she will shove the quarter of sandwich into her mouth and forgets to chew or swallow. Now she can't figure out how to spit the food out. Being a diabetic all she wants is to eat sweets or candy. I deny her of these things because her sugars are doing good. She is 86 years old and lost her husband 2 years ago and they were married for 50 years. I really expected her to go about 6 months after he past, but this cruel disease is just holding her down. My father's dying wish was for me NOT to put her in a nursing home, I just don't break promises.
I do have providers that come in to assist with her care. But they are only there for a paycheck!!! I have my 25 year old daughter staying with my mother and she is at her wits end with all that is going on. Does anyone have any suggestions that I really could use?

My father passed away from Alzheimer's/Dementia. He developed pneumonia in October which responded to antibiotics. Then in December, he developed pneumonia again which did not respond to the antibiotics. At this point he could not longer swallow. He had been bedridden for many months sleeping most of the time. Whether the not swallowing was due to Alzherimer's or because his body was shutting down, I don't know the answer, however, it does happen. My father fell one day while in the care home, he could no longer walk after that event. Most likely he forgot how to walk. My 83 yr. old mother, from what I can understand, is in stage 3. She gets confused with information, can no longer learn new skills, asks the same questions over and over again, and forgets what you said to her five minutes after you said it. She can still take care of herself but needs to be watched. To answer your question, I honestly think that yes they forget how to swallow since they forget how to walk. It all depends on how the disease is progressing in their brain and the cognitive abilities it is affecting. It is a horrible disease because you lose your loved one twice...once to Alzheimer's, and again in death. I remember one day when I was visiting my father in the care home and he was sitting in a chair sleeping. I tried in vain to wake him up for 20 minutes at least. I talked about my children and other family members but he would not respond. I told him I was going to go and I kissed him goodbye. As I got up to leave he said, "Don't go". I was so heartbroken because I realized that even though he wasn't responding to me, he KNEW I was there. Just remember, they may not talk to you but they know you are there!!

Dad @ age 91, suffered a fall which resulted in his admittance to the hospital. Nothing was broken, but he did have an infection in one leg requiring treatment.
During the hospital stay he started refusing to eat. In an attempt to feed him, he aspirated. After testing determined that he was having difficulty swallowing, staff recommendation was, of course, to insert a feeding tube. We were informed that no rehab/SN facility would accept him after discharge without this procedure.
Fortunately, a local Hospice accepted Dad and cared for him according to his previously recorded wishes. We do not consider that Dad was slowly starving to death, but instead was comfortably allowed to leave this life without medical interference that would prolong his suffering.
At first it was a difficult decision to make, but we are glad that we were able to grant Dad the dignified passing that he requested.

They may aspirate food into their lungs. That took out a friend's mother. Mom has problems swallowing, probably due to dentures at this point.

A swallowing study can be done easily by a dietician in one nursing home my husband was in every new pt. even those for rehab had a simple swallowing study done by the dietician and if needed a more complex study can be done if a pt. can not swallow then a feeding tube has to be placed.

I really appreciate the information you all have given to these questions. I particularly appreciate the 7 stages Pamela mentioned. I recognize some of the stages my mother has moved from and into. I see her now in a combination of 3, 4, and 5. I think she may get frustrated trying to read, but she won't say so. One thing I read here too that made me feel a whole lot better, is that I may have to accept it when my mom refuses to take a shower. A co-worker said I must make her take a shower at least twice a week. I felt awful, because my mom is very stubburn! Anyway, thanks again!

What kind of suggestions are you looking for, suzyQs? About food? About your daughter's frustration? What?

To those who have trouble swallowing: Soft, pureed food, known as a "mechanical diet" has been around for years. Hospitals use it, doctors recommend it. Even small bits of food get stuck in a patient's mouth, so switch to the mechanical diet. It's just as nutritious as regularly prepared food.. Start with the blender; put the food into it of like content ( such as potatoes) and blend. Remove, and then put in the meat and puree. Remove, and lastly put into the blender the veggies. ummmm. Remove and put all three on the patient's plate. give her a spoon not a fork and voila!

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