weight loss

[Tammy]

Mom has lost a good bit of weight considering she was only 87lbs to begin with. She is now down to 83lbs and the cancer is spreading. My question is what can she eat that will fatten her up? Can she take the weight gainer from the nutriton store? She is now taking an appetite medicine lets hope that will help. She is so upset about the weight loss more than the new about the cancer spreading I just want to try and get her back up. Thanks in advance!

Tammy

[shineladysue]

Tammy,

When Mike was trying to gain weight, he drank Boost Plus (Vanilla is his favorite) 3 times a day. He also ate small meals consisting of pasta, rice etc. I bought lots of little snack packs of puddings, ice cream and fruits etc. I also remember buying lots of frozen foods in individual portions.. especially the macaroni and cheese dinners etc. The main thing is that if a person hasn't eaten well for a long time, you can't overload their stomachs. Small amounts, frequently works best.

Prayers to you and your mom.

Sue

[kimmek]

Hi Tammy,

The supplement drinks like Boost,Ensure, etc work well. My mom could only handle the chocolate Boost though which was rather funny since she does not normally like anything chocolate. Her favortie thing to eat came to be the little individual pudding cups again in chocolate!! Mom never could eat alot at one time to she just would eat throught the day whenver she got hungry and sometimes even when she wasnt. A little alot of times seemed to do best.

I can imagine being 87 pounds and going thru treatment, and i would be scared to if i lost a pound. Is this your Moms normal size before cancer?

Hopefully this new meds will get her going again. Just keep things around for your mom that are quick and easy and fattening!! all those things we have been told not to eat no longer applies.

Prayers for your Mom to get back her 4 lbs plus some.

God Bless

Kim

[pritchie]

One of the other survivors on the site said he used

weight gainer and mixed it with ice cream. Hopefully

that will help.

Pamela

[luvmydog2]

Hi, Your mom sounds like my mom did before she passed on in 2000. I did manage to get her to drink Ensure and Boost. Not sure if she liked it or not but I think so. She did not complain but then again she never questioned what I said or did. I was the one she trusted and nobody else.

Anyway she was a southern lady that loved her vegetable garden and was proud of it. She loved to show off her homemade Chow-Chow etc. On the last she wanted some of her hot relish and beans. She wanted

V-8 juice to drink. Thinking this might hurt her stomach and all I as the doctor what he thought. He said anything was better then nothing and if it stayed down then fine. What I am trying to say is that Boost and Ensure is good nutrition but anything that she might eat is also good.

Hope this bit of info helps some and hope your mom gets to feeling better.

P.S. Make her laugh every chance you get. It is good medicine also.

[Ry]

The medicine takes a little while to kick in but it should help her get an appetite. Like Bruce said, whatever you can get in will help. A few years ago my mother in law was quite ill and dropped some weight, lost energy etc. but she sure could drink Bloody Marys . You guessed it, all that V-8 did the trick and she was back to good health in no time. Put the Weight Gainer in whatever you can.

[Calintay]

My mom thought the boost and ensure tasted horrible but her dietician recommended her eating alot of yougurt which she did. About 5 times a day. Of course we made her eat at least one meal a day.

[daggiesmom]

Try and get some Ensure drinks. They taste good and frankly, they kept me going. When I couldn't eat, I had two a day and they kept me alive. Vanilla was pretty good. Also, if ice cream is a favorite, eat Haggen Das all the time.

Joanie

[Wendy]

One similar product to the Boost/ensure drinks is Carnation instant breakfast powder. It contains the nutrients that are in Boost and Ensure without the heavy after taste. I actually mixed it in with ice cream.

In truth though, what ever sounds good to her give her. Junk food isn't going to kill her and may even bring a smile to her face to be eating a box of chocolates and not worrying about gaining a pound - kind of like a mischievious kid.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Wendy

[Tammy]

Thanks for all the replies. When Mom went through Chemo she gained weight Yep she was up to 100lbs never in her life has she weighed that. Yes Mom has been this tiny all her life and the Dr was nervous about Chemo but she did well. If this new med don't help I told her to at least try the chemo if you start dropping weight then stop. I pray everyday that she hangs on. I am now getting very angry with this disease what a terrible thing to go through mentally and physically. Mom is still doing everything she did before cancer and she looks good so thats a good thing right? Each day we need to live like its the last day and make everyday count. God bless you all.