My 91 years old mom who has Alzhiemer's, also has hypoglycemia. Her dinner is around 7. I will give her snacks before she goes to bed. She wakes up every 2 hours looking or asking for food and sometimes she shows the signs of drop in her blood sugar (shaking). I leave her snacks but she eats them at the beginning of the night when she first wakes up and this cycle never stops and she wants more foods later (every 2 hours!)
How can I address her night time eating problems considering her Hypoglycemia?
Thank you for your help in advance🙏🙏🙏
"This is the 3rd year I'm caring for her and she's declining as expected. She is the sweetest, most considerate and loving woman I've seen, but it's getting very difficult since I have a back injury as well which needs surgery soon! She doesn't speak english and that makes it harder to find a place for her. I will try to care for her until I can't anymore physically. She is truly an angel. I can't leave an angel in those nursing homes."
and
"...have sciatica, herniated disks and knee issues on top of that and can't hire anyone now(due to the Covid-19)! Its extremely difficult. I used to walk with her to the park but now due to the tear in my knee, I can't!"
Are also having to wake up every 2 hours when she does? Have you been able to hire any help yet?
What is the plan for if (when?) she needs a lot of physical assistance? Will you be able to hire daytime and nighttime caregivers for that? It sounds like with your physical problems that it would be a bad idea for you to take on any of the physical parts of caregiving. When will you have surgery for your back injury?
Since you apparently will not consider placing your mother in a facility ("I can't leave an angel in those nursing homes"), I hope you will also not consider sacrificing your own physical health for her.
For the hypoglycemia issue, you might try giving her cheese or another protein at bedtime, which will last in her system longer through the night.
Yes, it seems Mom needs round the clock care. Without a decent nights sleep caregiving is hard enough. Plus with your physical problems.
If she is diabetic and is experiencing lows at night as verified by a glucometer this is something you Must address with her doctor, she may need her medication adjusted and and a consult with a dietitian.
You may need the help of a dietician as well. There is SO much sugar hidden in foods today (people get overly worked up sometimes about salt, but don't realize how much sugar has been slipped into various foods as well. It's a cheap filler and is addictive - wonder why so many people might be overweight? Read the ingredients of what you buy!!!)
This page is geared for diabetics, but has a nice list of potential foods for a bedtime snack:
https://diabetesendocare.com/which-are-the-best-bedtime-snacks-for-diabetes/
AGAIN, you need to be very aware of food items that sugar has been added to. Like salt, some sugar is okay in certain items, but sugar is cheap and they add it to so many foods (peanut butter can be good, but not if you buy the kind with ANY sugar in it!!!!) READ the ingredients (my mom used to have to do this for salt when my dad had heart surgery - now it's sugar we have to watch out for!) ESPECIALLY suspect are all those "fat free" or "reduced fat" items. Removing the fat makes thing unpalatable, so they ADD SUGAR!
I can't list everything that has added sugar, you need to read the ingredients (watch for anything -ose, such as sucrose, maltose, dextrose, etc.) Even better, buy as little "processed" foods as possible. Start with fresh (or frozen) meat, fruits and veggies and cook them up yourself - no prepackaged stuff. Even those "healthy" promoted granola bars are loaded with sugar and hydrogenated** fats!!! GET RID OF IT ALL! Whenever possible, cook/make food items from scratch.
(**I added this as it is one of the things that led to my cholesterol being too high. Ditched those "healthy" things and all is good!)
He ordered a fasting blood test, but she can not fast! So we did it regular as her doctor advised. I don't know how that would show her blood glucose or A1C!
All her siblings are diabetic. But in past her blood sugar was normal(last year). She is hypoglycemic for sure even during the day! I catch myself feeding her constantly every 2 hours if she's not asleep! What else I could do? I truly don't know.
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