Any tube diets that you can try prior to PEG?

[JohnHMich]

My wife is interested in getting a PEG. She also has a lot of trouble with diarrhea and bowel incontinence. Is it possible to eat the tube diet directly to see if it causes any issues? Or is it unpalatable if taken by mouth instead of thru the tube?

 

[nona]

Kate Farms makes a good chocolate and vanilla formula that has fewer calories than the tube version but is fairly close in content. I used to drink it quite a bit and use it as a base for smoothies.

 

[lgelb]

Kate Farms, Liquid Hope and RealFood are the ones we recommend as alternatives to traditional corn syrup-based formulae.

It won't be the same by mouth, though, since it's designed for the absorption profile that a tube provides. It might even make her sick, and the taste won't be stellar since tubes don't have taste buds.

From our collective experience, almost all PALS can find one of these to suit, and besides that, you always have the option of blending real food + liquid in a high-speed blender. Many people do that for at least part of their feeds.

 

[JohnHMich]

I found it puzzling that the tube formulas had flavors (Kate’s has regular and vanilla. The shakes have a couple more flavors. Like pet foods, I suspect that this is for the caregiver primarily. I like the idea of using a blender and just mixing up a batch of food. See,s
Ike an easy way to get around food sensitivities...

 

[Sistah]

Hello, I am sorry to hear about your wife. My husband was not able to tolerate the feeding tube formulas (it caused diarrhea) so we chose to make all his food. It is time consuming, so we would make it in batches, weigh it, put it in individual containers and freeze it. It was also important to strain the food after blending so as not to clog the feeding tube. I believe his home made food kept him with me longer.

 

[JohnHMich]

The Kate Farms arrived and she seems to be tolerating them well. She thought the Chocolate Shake flavor was good. I have my fingers crossed. But I am prepared to get a blender if the need arises. Thanks, all!

 

[affected]

That's great John, fingers crossed that if it is easier for you to purchase this, and it goes well in her system then it is a perfect win.

 

[Cathy H]

i have recently started drinking Kate Farms also. I'm doing this to help me with nutrition, not because I'm considering a peg anytime soon. I also like the chocolate one, but I don't think it is considered complete nutrition. If you were doing tube feeding you might need a different one of the Kate Farms. You might want to double check that.

 

[JohnHMich]

That is true, there are a couple versions for peg use and shakes. Its a positive sign that the shake is digestible, but not a guarantee that the PEG diet won’t need tweaking…