Your mom has liver failure with a side of kidney problems and you want to give her high protein foods? I don't think sugar and salt are your biggest problems. If she's already being tube fed then this is no longer in your hands.
High Calorie Meals?
- Thread starter Jozu
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A single bag of Ramen noodles is like 400 calories. I personally could down like three of those with ease, and I am not fat at all. Just drain the water and eat only the noodles with half as much seasoning. Those things are calorie bombs. If you want protein in it, drop an egg or two in the water while it cooks.
When I was going through chemo I basically lived off of Ensure supplement drinks, peanut butter and banana sandwiches on whole wheat toast, and chicken broth. Once I started to be able to hold down even more solid foods, I ate Clif bars like they were going out of style.
kaid
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My dad had cancer and after his second operation he had about 2/3 of his tongue removed. This made it hard for him to eat and hard for him to put on any weight. Eventually what we found worked well for him was basically body builder shakes. The doctor said to give it a try and we went to one of the body builder stores that had the body building bulk up shake powder. We found some flavors he liked and that stuff kept him alive for a good 10 extra years before he finally passed away.
put her on a gluten-free diet with lots of vegetables, high quality fats (eggs, coconut oil, grass-fed beef, olive oil) and nutrient-dense starches like sweet potatoes. the last thing you want to do is overload the liver with fructose and carb-laden foods.
Jozu
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Damn man thanks. I just figured she needs protein to put on weight quickly. She cant eat Ramen because of the high sodium. I think im going to get her weight gainer powder, protein powder, and do the pancake thing as well as sticking with the chicken soup at least and start adding in peanut butter on bagels etc. And no its not out of my hands. It wont be till she dies.
And im sorry to hear that kaid. Nursing a sick parent is a lot harder than people think. Its so annoying having people question the amount of work I do heh.
Furry
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Ill agree with some of the above posters. Weight gain formulas/high proteins are best. When you're light and cant eat much, you want to make sure you get all the required nutrition first, this can be accomplished between the aforementioned and vitamins. On top of that, start introducing luxury food as you can. If you go without eating for a long time, baby food is highly recommended as something to start introducing on top of a sustenance diet. It's typically very good, very healthy and very easy on the eater.
Have her doctor switch risperidone to quietapine; it causes more weight gain. Maybe add a low dose of mirtazapine to help her gain even more weight and help with sleep.
Other than that, nuts and peanut butter is her best bet but kind of hard to do that if she's on a feedine tube. See if she can tolerate adding peanut butter to soup or some olive/cocount/madamia oil.
edit: She's on dialysis. It's controversial but no one should be recommending extra protein in her case.
Pasteton
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Based on what youre describing, and the likelihood that she has severe diabetes given the renal failure, she probably has very bad diabetic gastroparesis, which is exponentially worsened by her liver failure and medicatins. in her situation, the things she describes as enjoying are likely all she can tolerate.
You may want to ask her doctors if they think this is a possibility. But to be very blunt, with cirrhosis and end stage renal disease, and on top of that diabetes, The best bet is to make her happy and as comfortable as possible, and her diet should reflect basically whatever it is she enjoys that she can tolerate. She has so many complicating factors with her medical conditions and likely pharmaceutical related issues as well, that any recommendations are perilous at best, and at her stage in life it's unlikely that anything will reverse or significantly improve her situation.
Hopefully she's not allergic to mirtazapine like I apparently am. It made my hands break out in a horrible itchy rash.
Jozu
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I hate reading shit like this but its sobering. I just love my mom a lot and I just cant even imagine her dying man.
But yeah, she has hope dude. She is on a liver+kidney transplant list. I bring her to Beth Israel in Boston and its one of the best hospitals out there. Her infections and weight loss caused her to be deactivated on the list, so Im trying to get her to gain weight now that the infections are gone so she can get back active on the list.
This shit is extremely stressful, and I really do thank each and every one of you who responded and tried to help.
edit: Btw guys she just turned 50
Sorry for not being more clear. You cannot give your mother any of the shit listed above like body builder drinks, high carb foods, and protein powder because the build up of urea in her blood would cause brain damage and kill her.
She is on a highly restricted diet, was tube fed, etc for a reason. I don't know where you would find medical grade fat emulsions. That's why I said it was out of your hands.
She is on a highly restricted diet, was tube fed, etc for a reason. I don't know where you would find medical grade fat emulsions. That's why I said it was out of your hands.
Rune's right. Without healthy kidney's and a good working liver to help filter out toxins, any excess food you give her is going to cause her serious problems.
If you try to DIY this shit using information you are getting from the internet, you may kill your mom. Don't be a moron.
Dashel
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Good fat, some protein and veggies. Does she like avocado or guacamole? How about almonds, walnuts, macadamias? Broth I think is good too. Maybe she would like a simple ground beef chili or even just beef and eggplant which is closer to soup than a hunk of meat. Sweet potatoes are good too for getting some extra calories.
Good luck.