Mother in law not eaten since saturday, need help.

SaBel_3

really no problem and normal upon her check up on your doctor? yes maybe she is depressed or thinking of something making her lose her appetite. At the same time, eating disorders cannot be seen on check-up it is seen on the person who does not like eating at all. maybe she has eating disorder? she doesn't get fond of food anymore. There are chances that if your body never get food it will start getting use to it, especially now that she is on her 70's. same thing with a little kid, if you don't feed him he'll start refusing food.

Mojisola

Phoebe_Buffay wrote: »

A couple of months ago my mother in law complained of feeling something in her stomach, a "ball" which was causing discomfort under her ribs etc. She said she felt like she was going to be sick each time she had something to eat, this then turned into her actually being sick each time she ate or took a drink.

She then stopped eating. She completely changed from an outgoing, chatty person who loved gardening, learning new things, traveling and cooking to somebody that would not move from the couch. She would be in the middle of talking to somebody then she would fall asleep mid way through the conversation.

She went to bed on saturday and has refused to get up since, she has not eaten anything at all since saturday, just lay in bed not talking to anyone.

She is 73 years old and weighed 9 stone, she now weighs just over 6 stone.

It's really alarming that the GP isn't taking this seriously.

Please do all you can to get a doctor to take this seriously.

Dunroamin

Is she keeping her liquid intake up?

ammonite

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be fobbed off by the GP. They told my my Gdad's sudden poor appetite was down to "old age". We knew this was rubbish as he absolutely loved eating! We fought for months with the doctors to get him seen to, an endoscope showed us he had stage 4 cancer of the oesophagus and there was an enormous tumour preventing him from eating or swallowing properly. He used to say "it feels like its getting stuck".

I'm not trying to scare you, I'm begging you to see a different doctor and don't let them fob you off saying she is depressed or "old" (she probably is depressed because she feels so rubbish - understandable but not definitely the cause of not eating). Has she had an endoscopic investigation?

Try and get her to eat icecream or lolly ices as they will go down easily and give her some calories. If she isn't drinking she should be in hospital on a drip - which might be good as they might take her seriously.

Really not suggesting that it could be something nasty but doctors can get it wrong (and indeed do get it wrong - as wonderful as I think they are).

aliasojo

ammonite wrote: »

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be fobbed off by the GP. They told my my Gdad's sudden poor appetite was down to "old age". We knew this was rubbish as he absolutely loved eating! We fought for months with the doctors to get him seen to, an endoscope showed us he had stage 4 cancer of the oesophagus and there was an enormous tumour preventing him from eating or swallowing properly. He used to say "it feels like its getting stuck".

I'm not trying to scare you, I'm begging you to see a different doctor and don't let them fob you off saying she is depressed or "old" (she probably is depressed because she feels so rubbish - understandable but not definitely the cause of not eating). Has she had an endoscopic investigation?

Try and get her to eat icecream or lolly ices as they will go down easily and give her some calories. If she isn't drinking she should be in hospital on a drip - which might be good as they might take her seriously.

Really not suggesting that it could be something nasty but doctors can get it wrong (and indeed do get it wrong - as wonderful as I think they are).

This could be my Aunt's story also. For 2 years she complained of something not being right. She was fobbed off and her symptoms and problems were dismissed as 'one of those things about getting older'. The few tests she was sent for, were basic and showed nothing.

She couldn't eat and then lost all interest in eating. She got very depressed.

Eventually another Dr took her seriously, and actually showed an interest in helping her. It was found that she'd had cancer. She underwent a series of operations and some pretty nasty radiotherapy.

I hope this isn't the case for the OP's MIL but 'something' caused her initial feelings of a 'ball' under her ribs. Whether that is physical or psychological doesn't matter, it still needs serious investigation.

It's my belief that the older you get the less the medical profession want to do.

OP, I'd be getting very (politely) pushy right about now.

Mojisola

ammonite wrote: »

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be fobbed off by the GP. They told my my Gdad's sudden poor appetite was down to "old age". We knew this was rubbish as he absolutely loved eating! We fought for months with the doctors to get him seen to, an endoscope showed us he had stage 4 cancer of the oesophagus and there was an enormous tumour preventing him from eating or swallowing properly. He used to say "it feels like its getting stuck".

aliasojo wrote: »

This could be my Aunt's story also. For 2 years she complained of something not being right. She was fobbed off and her symptoms and problems were dismissed as 'one of those things about getting older'. The few tests she was sent for, were basic and showed nothing..

One of my Mum's best friends went through this too - two years of being given Gaviscon and told it was all in her mind. By the time it was discovered, the cancer had spread and she didn't last long.

SavingPennies_2

Hi I want to share that I had a similar experience although I am a lot younger, but not sure if it makes any difference.

I also had the feeling that something was stuck in my throat/top of my chest. Eating and drinking made me feel sick and anxious, the only way to control it was to stop eating and drinking. I lost 2.5 stone quickly and was slim to start with. It had nothing to do with my weight/appearance and i hardly noticed the weight loss myself, but other people told me. I also was completely "normal" before, it just struck me one day out of nowhere, I know that's hard to believe but it did. I also became very withdrawn and fearful particularly of leaving my house. I forced myself to go to work but stopped all other travel and socialisation I became very withdrawn.

I had blood tests etc and there was "nothing" wrong. I had CBT for anxiety and gradually reintroduced food/drink over several years and have put the weight back on although I still dont eat normally as I did before.

I hope this helps, as a lot of people are mentioning cancer and I wanted to share that I had what appears to be a similar problem which was a mental health problem rather than physical.

ammonite

savingpennies - that is really interesting. I couldn't imagine something like that being a mental health problem. great that you are on the mend

(P.S. I didn't mention cancer to the OP to scare her/him, just saying how it went for us and basically to encourage them not to give up until you are satisfied with the answer)

SavingPennies_2

ammonite wrote: »

savingpennies - that is really interesting. I couldn't imagine something like that being a mental health problem. great that you are on the mend

(P.S. I didn't mention cancer to the OP to scare her/him, just saying how it went for us and basically to encourage them not to give up until you are satisfied with the answer)

Hi thanks, and I totally agree, it's best to get all avenues checked.

BitterAndTwisted

If she won't eat because she's fearful of feeling nauseous but is willing to drink liquids, even in very small quantities, I'd lay in some stocks of Complan as well as offering her juices and milk-shakes/smoothies.

But I'd still be chasing this through the GP and I wouldn't be taking "no" for an answer.