When elderly people stop eating does it mean they want to die?!
Question: My aunt has stopped feeding herself. She needs someone else to feed her because she says she cannot lift up her arm, she gets distracted when she is eating and forgets to eat. Her doctor asked her why she was not eating well and she said because she is depressed.
When my grandmother stopped eating she died soon after.
Answers: My aunt has stopped feeding herself. She needs someone else to feed her because she says she cannot lift up her arm, she gets distracted when she is eating and forgets to eat. Her doctor asked her why she was not eating well and she said because she is depressed.
When my grandmother stopped eating she died soon after.
I can't guarantee this is the case with your aunt, but refusing food does happen before someone dies. Eventually it becomes involuntary (they lose the ability to swallow). Also, some elderly are just depressed its hard to tell without knowing what her health is like. I know I just recently went through something similar with my grandma, and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. Her nurses said she didn't have the ability to swallow, so we couldn't feed her. We had to watch her go day after day without eating. I know this website really helped me understand everything...and know what we were experiencing was normal. Check it out if you have time....
http://www.hospicepatients.org/hospic60....
I'm sorry about your situation, and I wish you the best.
i think the elderly feel that their time is up
It's for sure that, if you stop eating, you die, whether you want to or not. Your aunt isn't eating, for some reason, and so she needs someone to spoonfeed her. This is even done in nursing homes for people who cannot get the spoon to their mouths.
You didn't explain your aunt's physical condition. If she is able to move around, perhaps she needs a little variety to her life. Perhaps she could be taken out for a drive or to visit someone. Or perhaps just a few more visitors would help.
If elderly people are left alone, with nothing at all to look forward to or become interested in, they get depressed. That's when a family needs to step in and help out.
Send your aunt to a more caring doctor and ask him/her to have her mouth or throat examined carefully before jumping into conclusions. Maybe your aunt have painful ulcers in her mouth or throat that makes it difficult for her to eat food?
Don't try to play guessing games. There is more going on than a loss of appetite. As a person's body quits working, it may become difficult or impossible to eat. Food can go into a mouth, but digestion might not work. If bowels don't work, why stuff a body with food that has no place to go? Depression, illness and other factors may or may not exist.
I suggest you let doctors take care of the situation. All you can do is love and support your aunt. If it's her time, then there is nothing to be done. Otherwise proper medical treatment is the only course. Just love and support her.
There could be a host of reasons. Her Doctor was given the reason. She said she was depressed and it needs immediate further evaluation. DO NOT ENABLE HER OR ALLOW ANYONE ELSE TO. Be frank with her tell her she will be fed through a tube or hand fed but usually when you need to be hand fed it is possible she may need to be placed in a facility that can handle her care. It would be ashame to have to place this women because of the behaviors she displays that may be symptoms of the depression. Waste no time to get another opinion or follow up. she may also be having problems swallowing or chewing which makes her afraid that she may choke. dont give up and dont let her give up either she just may be depressed and lonely.. Good Luck