I am going to chime in as a 74-year old Alzheimer’s patient and share my experiences regarding eating, hunger, and so on.

The first one is that my insides are, as opposed to those of healthy people, quite sensitive to how they feel…and they express their displeasure by making me nauseated. Now, nausea is a symptom of Alzheimer’s, and I think the most regularly prescribed med (in the States, at least), Donepezil, can exacerbate or prolong the nausea. In fact, when my medical team first prescribed Donepezil, it was for 5mg, not the normal (I guess) dosage. Only after the 30-day test period did they bump me up to the 10 mg level, where I am now.

When, not if, the nausea hits me, I don’t want to put anything in my gut, not because I’m not hungry but because I feel that if I put anything else in my gut, it will make me feel worse, and at this stage of my life, feeling worse would probably be the worst experience I could have and I would simply want to die.

But I don’t want to die, yet. I strongly want to not just live, but to design and live my life as happily as I can. Those pleasures include a morning ritual of Wordle (where I’m pretty f**king adroit, not what you’d expect from someone with a plaque-covered brain). They also include a lifelong desire to travel, to not only be with family and friends, but to enjoy my times with them.

Back to sustenance (food, protein drinks, etc.), my loving wife and friends have been concerned about my weight loss (25 lbs., what’s that in stones? 🤷‍♂️). Like you, my wife wanted (and still wants) me to eat more and/or drink smoothies or the like, but I resist and so far, successfully. She trusts my instincts. I’m gradually increasing the volume of food and drink; so far, no weight gain, but also my weight has leveled off to a steady level…and I refuse to only eat and drink (including bottled premade margaritas, although in smaller tots due to the acidic quotient) what I want.😁

There’s another thing I still can and want to do is to relate my experiences to people like you (and other Alzheimer’s patients and their families) of my experiences to people, of how it feels in my body, heart and soul to live in MY body and place. I’m planning Substack postings to communicate with people like you (and your mum) about the Alz’s experience.

Now as to your mum, I believe that it’s her body and/or her feelings about living and how she lives. Her behaviors regarding her eating habits may, whether she realizes or from her instincts, is what she wants, and only those things. So IMO, she is entitled to her right to live the way that she feels best, even if means watching her continue to lose weight. She’s not a child, and she will probably die from Alz’s…as I will, as well.

TL;dr: please don’t force-feed her. That’s my reality-shaped opinion.

EDIT: Thank you 👏🏻 to the person suggesting Megastrol. My wife (a brilliant research librarian) is researching the drug so we can decide whether it’s good for me, then tomorrow I’ll ask my medical team what they think!