Mum with Alzheimer’s drinking A LOT

[Sbl]

New to this...hoping to get some advice please
My mum has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s around 5 months ago. We had noticed she’s been forgetful/acting oddly progressively for near on 3 years but together with my dad/her husband they functioned (we think my dad may have hid how bad my mum was getting)
Anyway we lost my dad in Feb this year and since then my mums condition is spiralling downwards at super speed. I have 2 sisters close by and between the 3 of us we try our best to help take care of mum (she does have carers in for minimal care twice a day) but we have our own young families and jobs to contend with also.
My main reason that has prompted my plea for help today is that mum has been drinking now for nearly 2 days/nights straight! She is a tiny little woman, 4ft 11ins and a size 6 but she has been drinking wine solidly since Tuesday evening (it’s now Thursday morning) apart from a 4 hour break when I went to collect her and took her to my sisters to eat etc.
I tried to talk to her yesterday and said please no more drinking today mum but having called her this morning and finding her still drunk I suspect she may have been up most of the night drinking.
How can I help my mum through her grief while taking into account the Alzheimer’s? We are at a loss where to even start

 

[Shedrech]

hello @Sbl
a warm welcome to TP
what a worry for you
my condolences on your father's death - you and your sisters must yourselves be grieving him - and now trying to support your mum as she clearly struggles with her situation
do let her GP know exactly what is happening so they have a full picture, don't hold back as it's important for the medics to know everything, whether they can actually help, or not - it may be that some meds may help your mum, eg antidepressants
is there any way you can control what your mum is drinking - eg swap the wine for a non-alcoholic or at least low alcohol version by decanting the new 'wine' into some old bottles (especially if they are screw top) so that she doesn't realise what you've done - as you've discovered, trying to reason with her unfortunately isn't likely to work as her brain will have been affected by the dementia, so thinking rationally as she used to is compromised
this is a recent thread on a similar topic
https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/pulling-everything-together.107571/
you say your mum has home care visits, so I'm guessing there hs been contact with her Local Authority Adult Services - might you get on to them again and ask for some day care, so that your mum is out of the house for a while, well fed, occupied and supervised; it may help break the cycle
this page on the main AS site may be of interest
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20046/help_with_dementia_care/411/grief_loss_and_bereavement
sorry if none of this is helpful
now you've found TP, keep posting as it does help to share with folk who understand

 

[Sbl]

Thank you for your reply, it is helpful just to be offered support and advice.
My mum goes out alone to her local shop for the wine so I’m not sure trying to replace with non alcoholic would work for long. The trips to the shop while already drunk and sometimes late in the evening are a major concern but aside from being with her 24/7 there isn’t much we can do about that ‍♀️
We are on the waiting list for assisted living accommodation which we hope will provide more supervision for this type of worry, there have been a couple of occasions where she could not initially figure out how to unlock her front door.
My eldest sister has just tried to talk to her about how worried we are with the drinking and she basically said she doesn’t care
It’s so difficult to see her suffering. She has always been so strong as a woman and such an amazing mother that seeing her breaking is just unbearable.