Dementia and alcohol

LitaHorvath

New member
Oct 27, 2021
1
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My mom enjoys her wine. My husband and I take care of her and makes sure she gets her one glass of wine a day. Lately she wants to control her own wine intake but she forgets how much she drinks. We do keep the wine locked. She has been getting very angry with us and it is a constant battle. She is obsessed with wine. Not sure what to do.
 

Lizbuff

Registered User
Apr 9, 2019
72
0
Hi LitaHorvath
Many apologies if this isn't at all workable but, if your mother isn't obsessed with any particular type of wine, would she notice if you swapped it for a non or low-alcohol one? Perhaps you could even treat her to a decanter, or quietly pour it into an empty bottle of her usual wine?
I wish you the best of luck with it x
 

Scarlet Lady

Registered User
Apr 6, 2021
571
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This is a difficult one, @LitaHorvath . My aunt, aged 92 with quite advanced dementia has always enjoyed her wine and was always perfectly in control of her drinking. The doctor saw no problem and I went along with it as it was one of the few pleasures she had left. Unfortunately, her advancing illness brought with it increasing problems. She was drinking wine like it was water and was completely unable to judge when she’d had enough. The result was that she became drunk quite quickly and after the fourth episode of her setting off the care and security alarms in her retirement flat (leaving me to be called out to deal with the police and paramedics while she was fast asleep in a drunken stupor), I realised that the wine had to come to an end. I have substituted it with alcohol-free wine and other soft drinks. I think initially she did know the difference, but now she doesn’t. Touch wood, we haven’t had any more alarm episodes and her blood sugar levels have surprisingly come right down. Maybe you could try the alcohol free stuff with your mum. I started doing it gradually, by letting my aunt have one glass of the real stuff and then moving on to alcohol free. It’s trial and error. Best of luck!
 

Duggies-girl

Registered User
Sep 6, 2017
3,618
0
@LitaHorvath try the non alcohol suggestion, you can always decant it into her favourite bottle and she probably won't notice. Dad always had a tot of whisky before bed (so did I) but he often told me 'that was a nice whisky' when I had given him a glass of Lucozade or similar.

I once gave him a glass of something fizzy and asked him if he wanted another one and he 'oh yes another half won't hurt' so he didn't have a clue what he was drinking. You could always start by mixing it and wean her off it slowly.