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What are the best next steps to take for my 87-year-old mother, who’s experiencing short-term memory loss and has recently started drinking straight alcohol—something she never did before? She’s had a hard life, losing her husband and sons, and now denies drinking during the day, though I’m not sure she even remembers. I have a camera in her place that she is aware of. Her primary dr was not helpful so I am trying to get a neurologist. I need help as I teach and live an hour 20 min away.

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Does Mom drive ?
I think I’d take the car and the booze away from her .,

Is she willing to live in assisted living ?
You don’t have to wait for a neurologist to do that.

Try to get Mom to move to assisted living near you . Do not have Mom move in with you .
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Unfortunately, if you withdraw the alcohol from an 87-year-old alcoholic, the result can be debilitating withdrawal symptoms. So if you stop the booze delivery, be prepared for that.

You should find a doctor that specializes in geriatrics and ask what to do. Mom may be self-medicating her depression. The doctor may be able to come up with a plan. Or maybe not. There's one school of thought that believes that you're better off to let them drink themselves to death because they're so addicted that no one can do anything about it anyway, and clearly that's how they've chosen to die.

Another aspect is that elders who drink a lot are more subject to falls. Bad falls, from which they can't recover. So then you've got dementia, alcoholism and broken hip in a SNF.

It's a bad scene all the way around, and I wish you luck in finding help.
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You say that your Mother “has recently started drinking straight alcohol—something she never did before”. The answers so far are assuming that she is an alcoholic. Do you think she is? It takes time, it may be just a new habit. My off-beat suggestion is to try her on neat lemon lime and bitters cordial flavoring. It packs quite a punch, she may treat it as a liqueur. It’s a cheap experiment!
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How is she getting the booze? If she's driving to get it, this is a problem. If someone else is getting it for her, this is a liability problem for them and they need to be informed to stop immediately. If she is still driving, and you suspect she is no longer a safe driver, then please see other posts on this forum that detail how to get her driving ability medically assessed and possibly have her license cancelled (I did this with my Mom last fall). I will not assume she's an alcoholic because you say her drinking habit has recently changed. Many elders drink more due to depression and sometimes the memory loss causes them to forgot how many drinks they just had. But when did you install the cameras? You live 1.5 hrs away so how do you know what her drinking habit really was prior? If she was drinking "cocktails" (mixed drinks) she could still have been an covert alcoholic. You living almost 2 hours away means you don't really know what she's been doing on a daily basis before installing the cameras. Don't bother with a neurologist. Get the HIPAA Medical Representative form from her primary doctor's office and have her write in your name, then give it to the receptionist. This will allow her doctor to legally divulge her private medical information to you without her having to be present. If your Mom doesn't have a PoA for both medical and financial, this really needs to happen soon, and *before* she gets a possible medical diagnosis of cognitive impairment. There are strategies for how to do that on this forum as well.
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Your Mom can die from withdrawl if you stop the alcohol suddenly.

I'd highly recommend AlAnon for you.

A lot of doctors will fall into the school of thought of "let them drink," particularly with an 87 year old.

It can be very difficult to place alcoholics in any type of facility. Only the worst of the worst facility in our county takes alcoholics and drug addicts. Alcoholics are considered to be serious troublemakers in residential facilities.

I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I had to back way off from Dad as he was going to drink no matter what.
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