Mother in law not eaten since saturday, need help.

sassyblue

Yes OP, this happened to a good friend of my parents. She complained of something that made it hard to swallow and eventually ate very, very little. She had the camera up and down and x-rays but nothing showed.

The GP was less than helpful saying all tests had been done and eventually she was taken back in hospital and a psychologist was assigned to her because someone decided a near 80 year old lady of previous good health had 'eating issues' i.e anorexia. She was prescribed those little milkshakes but still had trouble drinking those.

Unfortunately it was an MRI scan (l think??) that revealed she had cancer of the lung and she only lived a few weeks after that.

Really hope your mums is not that but l would not hesitate to take her back and make a nuisance of yourself until you have firm answers.

no-oneknowsme

OP , I know this inst what you will want to hear...but please , please , please take your MIL back to see a Doctor!

My Gran is (was) 86 years old and she took ill , an illness which is almost identical to the one you describe you MIL of having.

My Gran was in a nursing home and we watched her weight fall drastically. We had Doctors out with her on numerous occasions. She was admitted to hospital on so many occasions that at times we had difficulty remembering whether we should be going to the nursing home to visit or to the hospital!

She was treated for many different symtoms and even though we KNEW that she wasnt much better on release from the hospital than she was when we went in (we always voiced this concern to the hospital and GP) the Doctors assured us that she was "fine" .

Well , she WASNT fine!!

Infact , we buried her yesterday!

She was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday of last week and it was discovered that she had cancer in her stomach. She was dead within 24 hours!

Please OP , insist on having your MIL looked at again , dont take no for an answer.

georgiesmum

I started being unable to eat about 3 years ago. I was ok at breakfast, a bit of porrage, lunch was usually a small sandwich or some soup. However at dinner time after cooking a meal i was really looking forward to i found i couldn't eat at all. I was having perhaps 600 calories a day. Went to the docters but was fobbed off and practically told to be thankful as i was losing weight. I am on a lot of medication and it was a nurse at the centre who indicated that it might be one of the drugs and to try taking them at different times. So i experimented and found it was the diabetic tablets that were the problem. I eat fine now and am putting the weight back on:mad: but i feel better anyway. Incidentaly it was a practise nurse who told the doctor that i had some heart problems after I'd been going to him for over 5 years with dizziness and pains. Don't let the doctor fob you off. Make a nuisance of yourself, it's the only way.

doodoot

She needs a full body scan to rule out anything that may have been missed, although it could be the case there is nothing wrong at all.

My mother acted like your MIL because she was convinced that she had cancer - she stopped eating because of worry and gave up on life.

What she did have was a benign tumour in her womb that she could feel through the skin.

So the tumour did not cause the weight loss, but she was convinced that it was...even when I pointed out to her that she needed to eat more than 1 cracker per day to survive she still insisted that it wasn't her poor diet to blame. :mad:

Here's hoping that your MIL gets the proper care that she requires.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi OP.

I haven't real all the replies but the initial questions I would be asking are below.

Is your MIL able to keep food down or she just doesn't fancy eating?
Is she drinking?
Is she in any pain at all?
Has any medication changed over the past week?
Has her weight dropped and is she physically weaker?

I would contact your surgery again to ask for a second opinion because if this isn't like her, then there is a problem. If you are really worried, then you could take her to A&E. Could she possibly sip some of the nourishment drinks?

PP
xx

amyloofoo

OP, some doctors are notoriously bad for failing to treat older people who present with symptoms which aren't immediately straightforward. It's really important you keep getting doctors to see her until they agree that the situation hasn't been satisfactorily resolved until your MIL either has a suitable diagnosis (which is being treated) or is eating (and at a healthy weight) again. Until either of these conditions can be met, you need a doctor to either:

a) admit her to hospital for IV / oral nutrition / further testing / observation
b) agree that her weight loss can be managed in the community via high-calorie oral suspensions such as nutrisip drinks and that she will be periodically monitored by GP / district nurse / consultant

Unless it's insisted upon then unfortunately some doctors will just put weight loss down to age and the situation will only deteriorate. I know it's difficult but you need to become an advocate for your MIL to ensure she's getting the support she needs. Also, as an aside, I know it sounds odd but has MIL been tested for a UTI? These can cause loss of appetite, lethargy, confusion, etc, particularly in older women and are incredibly common and easy to treat.

I also agree with other posters that it's really important to check her fluid intake is adequate too, as this can cause problems incredibly quickly; as well as checking the side effects of any medication she's on as lots of these (particularly heart, diabetes and psychoactive medications) can cause appetite changes. In an ideal world your GP would already have considered these factors but it's always worth double checking / getting a second opinion. I hope your MIL improves and this is resolved soon OP.

cottonhead

OP I am sorry to say this as its hopefully nothing to worry about but my grandmother had similar symptoms and she actually had throat cancer and died about 4 weeks after developing symptoms.
You need to get some medical attention - its not normal not to eat anything at all for that long with no obvious reason and she will probably get complications soon such as urinary infections / constipation /stomach cramps etc even if her appetite does come back eventually. Persist with the doctor. I hope she gets better soon.

Person_one

Lets not forget that the MIL has had a scan and endoscopy, as stated in the OP.

Obviously something's not right, but there has been some investigation that should have picked up on some of the conditions posters are listing, and we don't want to scare the OP!

None of us can diagnose her over the internet OP, the priority is getting her seen by someone who can and will.

sassyblue

Person_one wrote: »

Lets not forget that the MIL has had a scan and endoscopy, as stated in the OP.

Obviously something's not right, but there has been some investigation that should have picked up on some of the conditions posters are listing, and we don't want to scare the OP!

None of us can diagnose her over the internet OP, the priority is getting her seen by someone who can and will.

A scan of her stomach only. None of us wants the worst case scenario but IMO the OP needs to be really firm on some more tests being done, which lm sure she will x

lilibet1

It sounds very similar to something my family has been through in the past couple of months. I'm very sorry to say that my auntie died a couple of weeks ago. She had cancer and had been to the dr on numerous occasions. Please please please get another dr to see her. So sad that in these times we should be going through this. Xx