Food and eating

Today has almost been ‘normal,well as close to an ordinary pre-stroke day than I’ve ever had before.It started with blended porridge for breakfast which was disgusting and tasted just like dishwater.:face_vomiting:then at lunchtime I WAS wheeled into the dining room and up to a place setting at a table, the first in 4years. I fed myself orange and pumpkini soup which was Delicious.just incredible to do something so normal,had to share this that things can return close to ‘normal’:heart_exclamation: 🜁

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Great news Michelle - so the SaLT has given you the all clear then. Now you can go back to enjoying your yoghurt again.
So pleased for you :slight_smile:

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Yes @ManjiB.I’m on a level 2 diet still don’t have strong enough jaw muscles to eat solids but good with yoghurt,soup,smoothies etc.

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Wonderful - you will soon build the jaw muscles :slight_smile:

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Thank you @ManjiB,I love’love this forum the support and encouragement I get is astounding❣️ 🜁

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:partying_face: :clap: :clap: :clap: :partying_face: Happy days and here’s to more of them. It’s those little slices of normalcy that give you hope for more and spur you on.
Onwards and upwards Mich :partying_face:

Lorraine

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That’s good news Michelle. Hopefully this is the first of many great improvements to come.

Keep on Keeping on :+1:

Regards Sue

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Oh that’s great news. I bet it felt good to eat normally after so long. Hopefully it won’t be too long before you can start trying more foods. :clap::clap:

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My husband has hated eating since his stroke 8 months ago because he says all the food has a horrible taste. He has eaten just small portions to please me as I have tried my best to make tasty meals.

Just this week his taste finally came back and he says it’s lovely to have things on his plate that taste different to each other.

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:partying_face: Now that is the best news for a little celebration tonight :clap::clap::clap::clap::partying_face:

It took about that long for mine to return, though I still tried to eat everything put in front of me :grimacing:

Lorraine

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Well done Trisha - your persistence and devotion to your husband has paid off. You must congratulate yourself (I know we don’t do this, but really, you deserve to pat yourself on the back for what you have done).

It sounds cliched but your husband is lucky to have you :slight_smile: and you he.

I wish you both all the best and I am so happy for you.

Peace & Love
:pray:

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Oh that’s fantastic news. I bet he’ll devour all those tasty meals you make for him now. :partying_face:

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I’m so pleased for your husband, I haven’t been able to eat normally since my stroke14 months ago. Everything tastes awful and I basically live on cereal potatoes and Complan milkshake. The smells of cooking make me want to retch and I can’t eat out because of this. The dietician at the hospital say they can’t help me unless I’m losing weight orm my macro and micro nutrients are low. I’m having a blood test for this next week. I feel very depressed and keep trying different foods but so far nothing has changed. I keep hoping one day it will resolve itself but until then I just have to put up with it.

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I’m so sorry to all those who have said their sense of taste has gone or changed post-stroke, I’m sure you know but eating good food leads our brain to release the feel good hormones dopamine and oxytocin, that’s why eating healthy is so important for emotional health.

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My English is not so good, though I think it might not be so bad, but I must say I am struggling with the above sentence.

Is the dietician saying they can do something to help you but because you are not losing weight they won’t help you?

As your macro and micro nutrients are not low, you are “medically fit” and so don’t need help?

Perhaps you can ask the dietician what they would do if you were losing weight ?

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I have another question for you all that the experts can’t answer. I haven’t eaten food in four years only PEG fed. So why do I have flatulence, wind or fahrting? Which comes from eating greedily and swallowing air with food. One doctor said it was bacteria in my digestive tract but again surely they are long dead if I’m not eating and therefore not introducing them into my gut. Like when we eat unwashed fruit. There’s lots about stroke, PEG & trachiostomy that I have questions about that no-one can answer. I mentioned in another post that I don’t sleep anymore. Well my dad has a theory that sleep is cumulative, which means my time in a coma filled my proverbial sleep cup. So I don’t sleep anymore because I don’t need to. An AI search confirmed that medical studies back this up!

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I think the experts can answer these questions and maybe they have but you don’t accept their answers?

Anyway, let me see if I can help you with the several questions you ask.
And if I may, I will try and get you to answer your own questions.
I will do this by answering the question with a question.

Let’s start with the first one.
If you haven’t eaten food in four years because you have only PEG fed, what is keeping you alive?
Is food not essential to exist (be alive)?

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Yes @ManjiB food is indeed essential but the PEG feed contains all the essential nutrients needed. So I’m nil-by-mouth but an endoscopic gastrostomy tube goes through my abdomen wall straight into my stomach this is attached to a PeG pump and feed providing the necessary nutrients in a pre-mixed food bottle.

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OK Michelle - so if I understand you right, you are getting your nutrients and other essentials that you would get from eating by mouth directly from a food bottle. So whilst you haven’t eaten food (by mouth), you have been given/taken the same food essentials in a liquid form that has been designed to give you all the nutrients, and possibly more since it is a totally “balanced diet” to meet your daily needs.

Given the above, let’s look at your next question.

What do you think is the answer to this question?
Why do you suppose you have flatulence, wind and why do you fart?

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Flatulence, or excess gases, can still occur when receiving enteral feeding via PEG tube for a few reasons.

The body’s natural digestive processes produce gas. Your body still has to digest that formula and draw the nutrients into the bloodstream to take them where they need to go.

The formula itself can contain components that may be particularly hard to digest for some, leading to increased gas production.

You also have things like air entering the feeding tube during feeding or medication administration.

And last but not least . . . I presume you are regularly testing your swallowing reflexes and speech ability? You can always swallow air! And it has to go somewhere :laughing:

Lorraine