Mom Is Suddenly An Alcoholic and a Thief!

Mom Is Suddenly an Alcoholic and a Thief!

I first met the “Farris” family a number of years ago when they brought their 81 year old mother in for a neuropsychological evaluation.  While Mrs. Farris met with the doctor, the 3 adult children met with me in my office to describe the changes they had observed in their mother over the past year.

The family explained that, after the death of their father 4 years ago, they had moved their mom into a condominium in the lively south of market neighborhood of San Francisco.  Initially, she had seemed to thrive, taking frequent excursions to the ballet and meeting friends for lunch at one of the many nearby restaurants.  In the past year, however, the children had begun to notice that their mother was curtailing her social activities and spending more time at home.  Although they had discussed these changes amongst themselves and tried to bring it up with their mom, she insisted she was “doing fine” and that they “shouldn’t worry”.

As the months went by, the children noticed that their mother’s apartment was getting increasingly cluttered.  Her mail began piling up and they found unpaid bills scattered around the condo; although she was resistant, they finally convinced their mom to allow them to take over the finances.  Most troubling to the children was the fact that their mother had begun drinking “every night” to excess.  When they phoned to check in or say good-night, she would be slurring her words and, the next morning, would have no memory of the previous night’s conversation.

Further discussion with the family revealed that their mother, although never a heavy drinker, had always allowed herself “one glass of champagne” with dinner.  As a busy stay-at-home mom with three lively kids and a husband that worked 50 hours per week, this was her end- of the-day “reward”.  Now, however, the children were finding dozens of empty champagne bottles in the recycling bin and their mother had, in their words, become a “total drunk”!

Later that afternoon, the results from the cognitive testing showed that Mrs. Farris was almost certainly suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.  This disease had affected her short-term memory to such an extent that she could not recall what she had said or done five minutes later.  In fact, Mrs. Farris was not an alcoholic…she was simply enjoying her “one glass of champagne” over and over again!

~May, 2013