Why Alzheimer’s patients stop eating?

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disease and the most common cause of dementia. The condition systematically moves through the brain, damage spreading from region to region, eventually resulting in atrophy or shrinking the brain’s mass. As each region becomes affected, different areas of function are impacted.

Alzheimer’s progresses in stages. In stage one, it’s common to notice:

• Difficulty thinking of the correct word or a person’s name
• Forgetting things just learned (or read or heard)
• Remembering new people
• Misplacing things without the ability to retrace steps to find it

In stage two, you may notice:

• Forgetting personal history
• Mood swings
• Social withdrawal
• Confusion about time and place
• Difficulty controlling bladder and bowels
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Becoming lost

In the final stage of the disease, the patient may:

• Lose certain physical abilities like walking and swallowing
• Lose the ability to communicate or have difficulty with it
• Lose awareness of immediate experiences and surroundings

Memory and other cognitive or thinking problems are typically some of the first symptoms noticed. However, the disease is present in the brain for an extended time before symptoms become evident. As the disease progresses, the Alzheimer’s patient may forget to eat and become confused about whether or not they’ve eaten. It’s common for Alzheimer’s patients to lose weight or even to become dehydrated. As the disease progresses, this typically becomes worse.

In the final stage of Alzheimer’s, the symptoms are severe. The patient may be unable to engage and interact with their environment, and motor control can become impaired. The ability to feed oneself may be lost altogether, meals and hydration requirements may be forgotten entirely, and the ability to swallow is often affected. The ability to talk and swallow is often interrupted.

Those with the disease can also become sick with underlying infections, experience depression or other mental health issues, or be in pain from injuries or other problems, each of which can contribute to changes in eating patterns. Some medications can cause side effects that interfere with appetite and willingness to eat.

Caregivers must take note of eating habits, weight, and other indicators of inability to eat. This could be a sign of an underlying issue in addition to Alzheimer’s or maybe a sign the condition has worsened. Visit with your loved one’s doctor about their unwillingness to eat at the first sign of its occurrence.

If you or a loved one are experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, contact your health care provider for guidance and evaluation.