Today I am losing it. Tiara won’t stop eating and it is driving me insane. Over the past 2 years she has steadily gained weight because of her medications. Sometimes she is insatiable and no matter what I feed her she wants more. She is in one of those phases and I feel like I am going to have a panic attack over the situation. She is obese which is very dangerous for her health for a long list of reasons of which you all know. Last night she kept waking up and sitting up in her sleep because she was having trouble breathing even though she was wearing her oxygen mask.
As of 4:00 pm today she has consumed the following: humus, carrots, brown rice crackers, 3 turkey hot dogs, water, berry smoothie, popcorn, diet coke, at least 5 granola bars, 4 frozen pieces of chicken, and a big plate of homemade chicken tetrazzini from last nights dinner, which she served up to herself while I ran to go pee. I think I was gone 30 seconds and she managed to get down a plate, get out the casserole dish and start spooning some onto the plate. If I wasn’t so mad about the food I would have praised her effort because she was really dishing it onto the plate nicely.
As for the granola bars, they too were eaten has been against my will. Each time she took one out of the cabinet I would try and grab it from until she grabbed my hair or slapped me. I gave in after she resorted to digging her nails into my hand.
Every time she puts something in her mouth I feel panic. It’s like watching an alcoholic take that first sip after being sober. You know they are doomed, you want them to stop, you can’t help them and you have no control over the situation. The whole thing sucks. Yes, even my husband tries to pretend I have control over what goes in Tiara’s mouth , but I don’t always. I literally hide the granola bars, so she eats 2 cups of nuts. I hide the gold fish so she grabs microwave popcorn. I feed her a head of romaine lettuce every night with her dinner but she still wants the pasta her little sister is eating. I make her whole wheat pasta, skip the butter and add garlic salt. I give her one bowl, and put the rest in a ziploc in the refrigerator. I walk away for a minute and I find she has eaten the first bowl, gotten the bag from the frig and is eating more. This goes on all day, everyday and today I am at my wits end.
Lou suggests only feeding her fruits and vegetables. That is a great idea, but “those people” (Lou, Trinity and Tabitha) want other food in the house besides veggies. If Tiara and I lived alone I could stock only proteins and veggies but 3 other normal people live here who want other things to eat. Like, Lou loves brie. When I buy it for him I have to hide it in the refrigerator. If Tiara sees it she will grab it, run to her room and eat the whole brick in secrecy because she knows it is against the rules. Enough complaining……
Anyways, it was a very long weekend for the two of us because her caretaker didn’t come on Saturday so today I was really eager for her to show up and then I received the call this morning that her son was sick so she wasn’t coming in. Ohhhh…. So I didn’t have any help which meant I couldn’t take my eyes of of her for a second or she would start eating. Despite my best efforts she won. I emailed her doctor and she is trying to come up with a solution, so I am hoping she can pull a magic wand out of her cape and make it all better. Hmmm, a girl can always dream.
xoxo tiffani
Totally hope her doctor can come up with a better plan. I can’t even imagine how frustrating this must be for you, as well as scary. I know my neighbor’s daughter has cerebral palsy and used to babysit when I was teen (she is now in her mid twenties), but she was overweight and had issues with eating and they even had to lock the cabinets that had food in them. I remember her mom being very upset and telling me all this. Just so hard when they can’t understand why they need to limit their food intake and their brain tells them something different. Totally keeping my fingers crossed for you and thinking of you today! 🙂 xoxo!!
Thanks Janine! Yes we have tried locking the cabinets but she is so strong she has broken off handles trying to get them open. We keep a baby lock on the pantry which she can pull off but it gives us a heads up. xoxo
hmmm, I see your problem. deb is overweight ( obese) but does not eat voraciously. she snacks on popcorn rice cakes and likes chips but gets satisfied really easy. she can open the fridge, cabinets ect…but does not grab food. TT’s meds must be driving that insatiable need. I don’t think it’s just her being overweight either. It sounds like you are giving her all the right food choices but the sneaking food seems compulsive doesn’t it? hope you get some answers. hugs
You are right the issue is she is starving AND her doctor thinks it may also be an obsessive/compulsive behavior which I totally agree with. Looks like we are taking her off Abilify today and trying something new.
Our Tyler is OCD on eating also. We have put a keypad lock on our pantry and bike paddle lock on our refridge and the chest freezer is key locked He is 20 and almost 300 pounds. He will just eat and eat and eat and eat. It is quite scary and he also has asthma. I find him trying to grab pans out of the ovens and trying to dish food out of pans on the stove all while they are cooking. Alls he does is ask to eat ALL day long. It literally wears me out. We are in the process of placing him in a group home and they do not have locks. I bet they put them on with in one week!! Good luck, we have tried everything!!
ps…the lock we have on our pantry is an actual keypad lock to get in a house!! Nothing kidproof works for him either!!
Just hearing you say how I feel makes me feel better. You are the first person that seems to feel exactly like I do and it reaffirms that Tiara is OCD on the food and it isn’t just the meds. I just read your comment to my husband because it sounds so familiar. Thanks for taking the time to comment! xoxo tiffani
Oh Tiffani! I know exactly what you’re going through. Bethany was just like this when she was on depakote! I know seizure control and changing meds is tricky, and the risk may not be worth it, but maybe Tiara could go on a seizure medication that is known for suppressing the appetite like Zonegran.
I know Tiara is on a lot of meds already, but is there a chance she could be put on a med to suppress her appetite? Poor thing, I know it must be frustrating! Hell, I am overweight and it is hard for ME to not overeat! I hope you all find a peaceful solution to your problem. Hope you all had a great holiday (speaking of food 🙂