My 73-year-old mom appears to have dementia and makes up stories. She is an alcoholic and drinks until she vomits. What can I do?

Mar 13, 2010

Well there isn't a whole lot to do, either she get's it or she doesn't and if she continues to drink just don't enable her by buying more booze. Get yourself to Alinon (sp?) and take care of yourself. that is my 2Cents.

anne123

Mar 13, 2010

I don't know if your Mom lives with you or not. Alcoholism is a tough one to beat; there is always denial there on the part of the alcoholic. Still, it never hurts to pray, and also to honestly and lovingly talk to the alcoholic and tell her what you see. When my Mom was in her 70's, I did speak to her about what I saw, as far as her drinking to excess. She actually reacted somewhat receptively and thereafter cut back on her drinking. If your Mom is drinking until she vomits, that sounds like a pretty entrenched drinking problem, and you could use medical help/advice. Also, Al - Anon as shelly suggested. Best to you----this is so tough.

Alena

Mar 16, 2010

Does your mom live with you or is she on her own? You have a tough road. I went through the same thing with my mom. Looking back now, her saving grace was the alcohol almost killed her and that was her bottom. I had talked with her many times prior and even took her to AA meetings. She was depressed and addiction was in control of her life. She left her house after a bad fall, almost in a comma from malnutrition and alcoholism. She went to the hospital, then to a nursing home and now lives in a ALF. It has taken 1.5 years to nurse her back to health. She temporarily lost the ability to walk and could not take care of herself. She also was showing signs of dementia and severe memory loss due to the alcohol. She too was telling my crazy stories. The Dr said it was from a combination of being sick physically, malnutrition and the alcohol. We found a wonderful geriatrics DR that literally has brought her back to life along with the support of a wonderful place she lives. Talk to her DR about this and see if he can talk to her at their next appt. Also see if you can find out what is driving it. Is she lonely, bored, depressed etc.. then get her support and involvment in something. Get support from Alanon for you, you are going to need it. Pray is also a very powerful thing. It is a terrible thing to have to go through as a child seeing your parent kill themselves. God bless you. Please reach out to me anytime you need to talk and keep coming to this site. There is a lot of wonderful people here that will give you support.

holly37

May 31, 2010

i am going through nearly the same situation with my 73 y/o father...i'm not certain what i can do to help protect him from himself...and to protect others--he still drives and just recently had an alcohol related accident...i'll continue to pray, I guess...

195Austin

May 31, 2010

Holly -did your father lose his license for a dwi accident if not he should have a younger person would have and you probably want to consider stopping him from driving in my state he would lose the use of his license except to go to work if he still works and have to be evalued by an expert on drunk driving and go to classes-the next time he might kill someone. Tug who is buying her alcohol if she has dementia and drinks she should not be driving so someone else has to be buying alchol for her.