My mom is in a nursing home

[DorothysDaughter]

Does anyone on this forum know why a nursing home would thicken beverages that some patients are drinking and not thicken them for other patients?

My mom & dad are both sharing a room at same nursing home and beverages are thickened for her - not for him.  My mother
is constantly thirsty I got a taste
of her thickened water, ice tea etc and it is disgusting.  Not something a thirsty person would want to drink.  Although the taste isn't really different it is thick not refreshing.  My dad who is continent is not having drinks thickened.  My mom who is incontinent totally on diapers and non-ambulatory is having all beverages thickened.

I asked today why they were thickened and was told it had to do with swallowing.  That PT had at some point decided that she
had some trouble swallowing w/o choking if she drank too fast.  The thickening apparently helps with swallowing.  I can't see why though.  I took care of her for a year and have never seen her have trouble swallowing.  The thickened beverages would always be unwanted considering how weird they taste.

Since they have to literally lift her with 2 aides into the bed and out of to change her could they be limiting changes of diapers by limiting how much she wants to consume.  This is not so good as it could dehydrate.  The only choking help I can see is not wanting to drink it as much.  She never choked with me.

[aish]

People who have difficulty swallowing thin liquids often must drink thickened liquids. Thin liquids often cause choking and are harder to swallow than thick liquids. Examples of thin liquids are water, coffee, milk, soda, broth, and soup.

[edvardsmith33]

Nursing home abuse is much more common than one would think, largely because it goes unreported in a large number of instances. An elderly resident may lack the physical ability or opportunity to bring their situation to the attention of authorities.

[fabiandavis285]

The elderly patients are under high risk at nursing homes. They are not treated well in nursing homes and it has been found that they are abused at nursing home.