Everyday, I feed Mum the same foods at
* breakfast (paste banana, apple, oat, skim milk powder),
* lunch (paste chick peas, lentils; breakfast paste)
* dinner (same as lunch)
I make her sit and prepare for bed for 1 hour after dinner. But she coughs, coughs, coughs and there is so much phlegm. This happens every night. Never happens after breakfast or lunch.
PLEASE HELP! Any tips ?
Or maybe she can't handle so much for dinner because her digestion is very slow and by dinner time her stomach is overfilled and she is regurgitating, maybe a much smaller portion or a different meal altogether - sedentary elders need surprisingly few calories.
My mom periodically had so much phlegm near the end of her life. In hindsight it is obvious her inability to swallow her own saliva was the cause and it had been slowly pooling in her airway - at night it wouldn't be a problem as she would be more apt to drool.
Also, calorie needs to decrease significantly with advancing age, and loss of interest in food is normal.
Hospice may be helpful, in this case.
Wishing you the best and hope you'll update.
small meals more often than large ones work best for elderly. Peristalsis slows down with age and it takes longer for food to digest. Acid reflux happens when undigested food ferments and can’t leave the stomach. It backs up in the esophagus. Digestive enzymes will correct this problem.
i hope that this helps someone.
She could have a slight allergy that is triggered by to much of whatever is causing it and that's why it happens after the 3rd meal.
I know this is a real thing because I can eat a half an avocado and I'm fine, if I eat a whole one, migraine headache for 3 days. Just to much for my system.
There is a natural allergy tincture called stinging nettle that is really effective in clearing up symptoms from allergies of any kind.