Hi. My Mother has been diagnosed with vascular dementia and is currently being sought a home to go into. She is only 79 and was of perfect sound of mind until she had a bad back and started to take paracetomol about 2 years ago which got out of hand as she was forgetting that she'd already had one and was taking too many. I have read a few accounts on this website of a close to 811 diet helping such cases and having recently swithced to 811 rv myself and experienced the benefits am keen to help my mother out. I want to spend time with her and look after her nutrition for maybe a month or so and if some improvement is shown but the moment she is put in a home will become too late to help.
UPDATE 11/6/12.. I have just got back from spending a week with my mother and it was obvious at an early stage that I wasn't going to be able to persuade her to eat healthily AT ALL. She is stubborn at the best of times but the illness has made her cantankerous on top and it was even difficult to get her to eat any reasonable portions of what she actually liked. I'm afraid I have had to abandon my quest to help her as she is unwilling to help herself. Thanks to everyone for their advice and input and all I can do is keep on following 811 myself to hopefully avoid a third generation case of dementia when i am her age as her father suffered dementia when he was in his latter years.
Thanks
Stuart
Permalink Reply by ednshell on I have spent lots of time caring for my elder folks and I have to say they were some of the most precious times of my life, right up there with the birth of my children. Sending lots of good vibes your way! :)
Thanks ... vibes received : )
Well my month of staying with my mum and looking after her nutrition begins next week. My sister contacted her doctor about her folates deficiency and they were initially gonna give her supplements when diagnosed but didn't because they think she'd not keep track of taking them but now they've been prescribed to her following my sisters call. I will be using cronometer to track her nutrition and feeding her plenty of fruit smoothies with greens in so she would get plenty of folates without the supplements. I've also ordered sublingual methyl b12 the 5k type so she will be getting that daily during my month with her. All I can do is try to make sure she sticks to as much of the raw i feed her and make sure she doesn't take too many paracetomol which she takes daily for her bad back. She may want to continue drinking coffee (decaf) and have toast and honey for breakfast but i will try and persuade her to stop this as it will slow her detox. She also smokes but it's herbal tobacco now and I won't try to stop her doing that, she doesn't inhale much of it anyway.
Permalink Reply by Raw Zombie on Do your best, pick your battles wisely its tough with family they can sometimes be the hardest to win over in this aspect...
Thanks GrapeNut, i'll bear it in mind but she's not taking in nicotine now anway, will keep you posted throughout.
My sister found out from her doctor that my mother had 'normal' b12 levels, i asked if she had a figure but she didn't. I have methyl b12 sublinguals that came through the post, can anyone give any advice as to whether i should still ask my mum to take them for the duration of my month with her.
Permalink Reply by Amelia on Let her have her toast and honey (at least for awhile), because slowing the detox might not be a bad thing. Detox can be brutal, and if she has ill effects, it could thwart your ultimate goal.
If this is any encouragement, my mother was a lifelong smoker who stopped about five years ago. Her health improved, but she had longterm heart disease. Her mental clarity was fading and she was taking a lot of prescription drugs. About four months ago, she went low fat cooked vegan and her health and mental status have improved dramatically. Sure, I would like to see her take the next step to HCRV, but people need to go at their own pace. My point is, even if you can't have perfection right off the bat, you should still see expect to see some dramatic improvements.
I wish you and your mother the very best. I applaud you for the undertaking.
Permalink Reply by hellcat on She had a brain scan, that was when she was diagnosed with vascular dementia. She still smokes but it's not got nicotine in it, about 2 months ago my brother and I came up with a crafty plan of mixing her tobacco with herbal tobacco from the health shop, she still thinks she smokes but it is now 100% herbal tobacco she is smoking, we thought this might make her eat more. Also her coffee is now decaffeinated without her knowing.
About 2 years ago because of her osteoporosis she was given calcium tablets to take, she complained to the doctor that they made her go funny in the head so apparently they came and went through her medication to dispose of them, how much of this story is absolutley true i don't know because mum may have confused her story but it was a tale she said over and over again.
Permalink Reply by Janet on Hi Stuart,
I'm so sorry to hear your mum has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. My father also has been diagnosed with this and it is different to Alzheimer's in many ways. My father never smoked in his life but we were asked if he was a heavy drinker. He never drank alcohol when younger but he lived in Spain for 20 years and drank a lot of red wine. He is in a nursing home at the moment in my home town and the staff give him what they call "Indian Wine". It looks exactly like rose wine but is actually nothing but cranberry juice. He is very happy to get this as a treat in a wine glass as this type of dementia can totally alter taste buds and he really believes it is wine. This may be why your mum has not noticed the cigarettes and coffee.
My dad used to be a big eater but has totally gone off food and would not eat at all if the staff did not make sure that he did.
Vascular dementia seems to be caused by blood vessels in the brain constricting and cutting off blood flow and oxygen to the brain so we were told that getting as much fresh air as possible was good for my dad. I would imagine that getting a really healthy diet going would be helpful in that way too. Unfortunately my dad is very set in his ways of drinking milk and milky tea all day long and he still loves cream and cakes. You are in a better position with your mum to get her to try more fruit and veg.
I would be careful with kale and very fibrous greens as she may not like the texture. My favourite smoothies that even my son loves are made from grapefruit or frozen berries blended with celery. It just seems to be easier to drink than kale drinks. Also romaine lettuce can blend nicely with fruit.
Good luck. You are doing the best for your mum.
Thanks Janet, I'm still rying to get proportions of greens/ lettuce with fruit in smoothies right, I made one with mango, pears and romaine lettuce yesterday but it was quite bitter ... i used 2 mangoes, 4 small pears and 11oz of romaine lettuce, i'll try your grapefruit /celery one .... what proportions are best?
Permalink Reply by Janet on I don't really know about proportions as I don't tend to make many smoothies nowadays. I prefer to just eat big salads of rocket and crispy leaves like romaine maybe mixed with tomatoes.
Maybe you need to use more juicy and liquidy fruit like berries or grapefruit for smoothies. I used to buy the bags of frozen berries from Tesco or Sainsbury's - redcurrants, blackcurrants, blackberries and raspberries and place the bag in a bowl in the fridge to defrost over night. Then i would blend the contents of the whole bag of berries with a few sticks of celery or spinach. For some reason it actually tastes sweeter that way.
I also used to do the same smoothie using the segments from pink grapefruit and the greens although some people may find grapefruit quite a sharp taste.
Maybe your mum would like to snack on a big bowl of washed sweet grapes or a prepared fruit salad. Even non-fruit lovers seem to enjoy fruit salad. Sorry I can't be more help.
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