Why do elderly people refuse to drink sufficient fluid?

As a general guideline, a healthy adult needs around 35 ml of water per kilogram of body weight per day. For example, a 70 kg person should aim for about 2.4 litres (2400 ml) of water daily.

You deal with your FIL's catheter on a regular basis???

Yes i read it - i agree that it doesn’t state “made up by a journalist”, that was my paraphrase of the fact no scientific source could be found for it, but i’m not sure the passage you quote is quite the gotcha you think.

Did you read the snopes article you posted? It was not “made up by a journalist”.

From the article:

”The origins of the 8-10 glasses per day figure remain elusive. Some say the number was derived from fluid intake measurements taken decades ago among hospital patients on IVs; others say it's less a measure of what people need than a convenient reference point, especially for those who are prone to dehydration, such as many elderly people.”

OP jelly drops are sugar free

I mean 3L is quite a lot. I’m in my 40s with all my faculties about me and I’m advised to drink 2-2.5L a day because of medication I’m on. It is a conscious effort on my part.

I work in elderly care, and we give our patients jelly, ice-cream, custard, soup, milkshake, and regular cups of tea. We also make a fresh fruit salad served with pouring cream, and it all goes towards a healthy fluid intake.

My own mother, however, in her 80's, restricts fluids from 4pm onwards, because she doesn't like needing to wee during the night. It doesn't matter how much I tell her to drink more, she has capacity and she says she doesn't want to.

I don't think they move around fast enough to raise their body temperature and work up a bit of a sweat that might make their mouth feel a bit dry and like they need to take in some fluid.

Some people just don't have a strong thirst mechanism. I don't. I can go quite a few days drinking very little and then am surprised if I have a first morning wee and barely anything comes out and it's a very dark colour. So if dehydration can creep up on me I'm sure it happens easily for an elderly person.

Can’t believe how many people are utterly gobsmacked at 3ltrs a day. 2ltrs is the bare minimum but in hot weather, pregnancy, illness, activate lifestyle/exercise then 3ltrs recommended.

Your body gets used to the amount and you don’t have the urge to urinate s frequently. It’s a super easy thing to do that free accessible to all and benefits every single cell in your body.

Also 3ltrs is not “gallons”…it’s 3ltrs…

The 2l or 8 glasses of water a day was made up by a journalist, not extrapolated from rigorous scientific data.

Snopes have even investigated it and found no sound origin for it: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/water-works-2/

even if you bought into that nonsense, 3l for an elderly, less active man with reduced bladder capacity (because every elderly man has some sort of prostate issues that might effect going to the loo) who will be dreading constantly having to get up to pee is just bonkers.

Yes, British.

Perhaps he’d benefit from moving to a care home.
You don’t seem suited living together OP

I second this - I get them for my mother in law, and they work

I forgot the puréed vegetables. Also a big part of school dinners. Puréed courgette is snot on a plate and nobody can tell me otherwise.

Agree

Agree
I thought it was 2litres
The same for all of us

Nevertheless a lot of people are concerned they won’t get to the loo quickly enough.

Do you have a downstairs toilet OP, one tha5 he can use without difficulty that’s nearby.

Why liters a day? Thats generally way too much for anyone, let alone for an old person who is not used to drinking enough. It needs to be upped slowly.

I can’t help but wince at you having “brutal” conversations with an elderly relative about him, his clothes and your house smelling of wee.

I hate drinking water, it's not like air because you (generally) breathe without having to make any effort to do so!
I started trying to drink more water (my aim is 1 litre/day) last year and it still feels like a effort!

I guess maybe if all I had drunk in childhood was water, maybe it would seem easier...

I could no way drink 3L of water a day.

6/8 cups of tea is plenty for me.

@Disscombobulated - how much does your FIL actually drink each day?

I know people mean well, but some of the suggestions are unsuitable for someone with recent kidney failure or kidney disease. You need to take the advice of the renal nurse or your GP, OP. There are probably suggestions if you google too. My father was a renal patient for many years and was quite strict about what he ate and drank. No coffee was served on the renal ward, for example. He loved a proper cup of coffee, so that was a tough thing to give up. Barleycup is a good alternative though if your FiL enjoys coffee.

Being on my way to being old i can tell you it's because the more you drink the more you wee and when you are old you can't hold on for 2 minutes never mind 5 and wetting yourself is embarrassing. I have just been on holiday and really had to limit my fluid intake, less than a litre a day, if i hadn't done that i wouldn't have been able to explore the area as there was a massive lack of public toilets in the towns and of course the coast and countryside have no toilets. Once you are old this is just part of normal life, you have to plan travel and daily life around the loo.

My grandma worries about leaks and getting up to go to the loo is a huge effort for her.

Poor her!

I’m assuming you are British. Only in the UK have I ever heard anyone say they don’t like water. Or that it’s ‘boring’. It’s SO strange to me. Water is like air. It’s just what one drinks.

I work in a care home and lots of the residents use something called jelly drops. They help replenish fluids and people think they are eating sweets https://www.jellydrops.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21816760558&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnPS-BhBxEiwAZjMF0vywKgdaSOnZWmySHnbhF0rnVtjpghfNknwyFEKGyX16b2NnA9eCWhoCPh4QAvD_BwE