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my mom who my husband and I live with in her house because she needs care and we sold our home to move in with her because she refused to leave her house which was a mistake for us to do because nothing but stress and trouble for us who are 70 yrs old and treats us like dirt and wants to fight and is violent when she drinks her multiple glasses of wine at dinner time. If we tell her nicely Mom you had enough she gets agitated and goes and gets the wine herself doesnt care if she falls. She now hides her drinking from us not knowing that we hear her getting the glass and gallon of wine bottle from closet then hides the glass. At times she gets drunk and becomes very violent and wants to fight with us for no reason. dont know what to do

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No one can stop anyone else from drinking. If you moved in with a drinker then that was decision making that hasn't worked well for you and it is time for you to move out.
Attend Al-Anon which will have excellent advice for you from those who have BEEN THERE, and will have resources for you to contact as well. They are invaluable for those trapped in your situation.
It is time to move. Do not assume POA or guardianship of Mom; leave that to the state. If you feel she is in danger leave her with the 911 number, and call APS yourself asking them to do a wellness check, telling them you have left and why.
That you sold your home is sad. I hope your savings are plumped up by the amount of the home sale that you can afford your own rental, but when bad decisions like this are made there are consequences and sadly not everything can be fixed up as it was.
I sure wish you luck. And remember, you cannot stop anyone from drinking. You will learn that at your first meeting of Al-Anon.
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thank you for your advice but my mom was not drinking only on occassions and now its everyday for approx. 6 months she doesnt like the way she is and personally I think she has started with dementia/sundoners and knows she has been very forgetful and bothers her. She refuses to go see a doctor for help
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AlvaDeer Apr 2022
My own personal advice would still be the same. You post asked us how you stop your Mom from drinking. The answer is that you cannot do that. You can only move away from her or stay.
Whatever the fact with drinking, it seems clear now that your plan to sell your own home and move in with Mom has not worked out. It very seldom does work for people.
You cannot force people to go to a doctor either. You CAN call an ambulance if they are drunk as alcohol poisoning happens with elders quite quickly. You can also call an ambulance to any serious acting out, have Mom transported to ER, contact Social Services and let them know she needs assessment for dementia.
But all in all what you CAN DO is very limited. And what you NEED to do is take care of yourself, find your own housing. In future you will need to decide if you wish POA or guardianship of your Mom. I myself would not, as I have done it for a with it and cooperative relative and it is fairly killing work.
You can only take care of yourself. To my mind that means moving. But you will have to make your own choices for yourselves. I wish you a lot of luck.
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It’s unrealistic that mom will go to aa but there are things u can do. Like water down the wine. In time u can try shutter home fre or another zero alcohol product
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AlvaDeer Apr 2022
Forget Mom and AA. That's up to MOM. But they should definitely go to Al-Anon.
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Pour the wine down the drain?
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sweetp621 Apr 2022
cant do that she would call to have it delivered she already threatened us with that or will call a cab to get it. she has a very bad temper and wouldnt take much to get her started . We were told to get the F out from her house several times and that she will brake everything in her house that my husband and I have when we moved in with her to care for her she is very mean when she s drinking and I dont have the heart to leave her she might try to do something to kill herself was told that also wish she could shoot herself. Dont know where to turn to get help we have also our belongings in her house and said if we ever leave she will break everything so we couldnt take it. Do we call the police in this situation? dont know where to get help if this situation happens or who to call. She knows we have nowhere to go that is the problem she even told us hah you are trapped here and I am the boss you do what I say or get the F out this is a 94 going on 95 yr old mother who we sacrificed leaving out home we loved for 20 yrs and get treated like this who knew this would have happened. Big Mistake for being good hearted.
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Move.

You don't have any obligation to care for a violent, ugly drunk.

Pack up, move out, and tell her exactly why. She's committing suicide by bottle, and she has every right to do so. Tell her to call 911 when she needs help.
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The short answer here is that you don't stop her from drinking. You are not responsible for her behavior but when she is violent you don't take abuse. Let her get good and drink and violent one night then call Adult Protective Services that you are dealing with an elderly adult that is violent and drunk. If you have a smart phone video her violence and show it to the APS officers. They will assess the situation.
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Much like a welfare check done by cops, isn't there an agency or elder advocate group to call to assess what's happening (in this case, she IS a harm to herself)?

Beyond finding resources in your area for what I mentioned above, I can see nothing for you to do except stay out of her way, let her do what she's going to do without increasing her agitation. You can't control others, especially those who are substance-dependent. She'll likely find "causes" to attack you, even if you steer clear, but just, what?, walk away when you can or agree with her if the current moment finds you trapped. Do not argue.

I really feel for you. "No good deed goes unpunished." Happens waaaay too much in this world.

Stay strong. Big hugs.
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Your mom is an alcoholic. It's unlikely she is going to stop drinking at 94 years old. Even if she were to decide on her own to quit, she would need medical intervention to get through it. It can be dangerous for an alcoholic to abruptly give up all alcohol; it can lead to the DT's, to seizures, etc.

Since you can't change her, then your only option is to change you and your circumstances. Find an apartment somewhere and move out. You have tried to care for her and save her and she has rejected your help. You have no moral obligation to remain in this situation and continue to try to help someone who refuses.
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The alcoholic is the only one who can decide to stop drinking.
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You could try to have a doctor prescribe what I think is called Antabuse. It makes a person feel ill if they drink after taking it. Of course you can't tell her what it is for and who knows if she will take it.

I would think she might have falls. If she does have her taken to the ER and refuse to take her home and make sure they are aware of her drinking. I agree with others. Don't live with her and attempt to not care about her future since she is so self sabotaging. A relatives decline can exhaust us even when they are not behaving poorly.
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Dilution solution. Serve a beef bullion or bone broth 30 min before dinner with a tablespoon of olive oil and a 1/4 tsp of apple cider vinegar. Then with dinner, try to begin to introduce smaller wine glasses that look the same as the one she typically uses. It seems like nothing is wrong with her regarding cognition and autonomy. She does not have memory issues i guess. If she did, it would be easier to do a little swapping out of things. But don't if she has a lot of will, determination and autonomy. Maybe disrupt the schedule and begin to introduce different flavors to her meals which can alter the taste of the wine on her taste buds. That way you can begin to slowly change the taste of the wine without her realizing it. Maybe something with less calories and less alchohol and say, "i got the wine on discount but they are smaller bottles." and begin to spike the recipe with something slowly that begins to change the taste ever so slightly to the extent that she begins to get used to a lighter formula? I began to alter my dads diet coke that way. He could not have phosphorous acid because it was destroying his epithelial throat cells and causing reflux. SO little by little i began to use tonic water or club soda ever so lightly. First it was just 1 inch of the can. Now he is used to just having a lite beer or wine and no more soda. I know its the opposite but that is the idea and maybe you can do something similar. I wonder if you put out some snacks that are super delicious like hourdourves (spell check isn't working for that word) Or little tea sandwiches along with the wine. Or make a wine session every few hours along with the tea sandwiches and little cakes made with something healthy like nut butter and blasting Elvis. Im just rambling off here but i do stuff like this. My sibling was an alcoholic and i found that i had to shock the day with some intrusive yet structured interruptions where my sibling could not say no because the interruption was overpowering the ability to focus on obtaining the drink. There was too much going on that pushed off the focus on the getting the drink. Who has time to serve tea sandwiches to someone with a nasty temperament??? That is the challenge indeed. I feel your pain.. Sometimes it doesn't work. But other times it did.
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Beatty Apr 2022
You have my admiration for the dedication & patience involved. Crafty too!

I have tried the odd swap on my DH & kids like no salt peanut butter. They know. (They can also read the massive NO on the label). Did get away with filling the regular tomato sauce bottle with no salt version though, ha!
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You wanted to help, but have found 'old age' & it's many problems are not all fixable.

Didn't have a crystal ball? None of us do!

But. You CAN start to make new plans.

What would happen if you said Mom, we are planning to move out to our own home again?
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