Alcohol abuse amongst seniors is a hidden epidemic, and few people outside of the immediate family ever even know when a senior is having problems with drugs or alcohol.
Older people are at an increased risk for alcohol abuse and addiction, and unfortunately, as old age brings greater rates of alcohol abuse, so too does that abuse cause greater health and cognitive problems.
Seniors abusing alcohol achieve intoxication far more readily than do younger people, and a few drinks in an older person can equal a great many in a younger adult. With intoxication comes a loss of coordination and a greater risk for falls and injuries, and because the bones become far more brittle with age, these falls more often end up in mobility compromising broken bones.
But it’s not just the acute risks of alcohol that are worrisome; and the chronic effects of alcohol abuse in seniors are wide ranging and very detrimental. As the body ages and loses some efficiency, cells can no longer regenerate as readily, and the organs lose the ability to effectively metabolize the toxins in alcoholic drinks. The risks of cancers, of heart disease, of cirrhosis and of mental declines are all elevated amongst older alcohol abusers.
Why they so rarely get help
Older women particularly report great shame when confronted with problems with alcohol abuse or alcoholism, and from this embarrassment comes a great reluctance to admit to a problem and initiate treatment.
And because seniors are less visible in the community, outside intervention is also far less common. Seniors are less likely to get noticed for drinking at work, to get into a fight or to get arrested for drunk driving. Senior alcohol abuse is a very often hidden and in the home problem.
Families often know, but they either don’t believe that anything can be done for adults abusing so late in life, or they feel that allowing them to drink is a kindness for old age. Seniors start drinking for any number of reasons, but the trials and stresses of aging (such as the loss of a spouse, declining health or declining mobility) can often spark a problem, and families remain hesitant to intervene when the abuse is considered justified.
Letting them drink is never a kindness
No reason is a good enough reason for substance abuse and addiction. The reasons for the drinking may be understandable, but drinking is never an effective solution to the trials of life, and especially so in old age. Drinking very rarely makes anyone feel better in the long run, and alcohol induced depression and anxiety often worsens the problems alcohol was initially used to control.
Drinking prematurely ages seniors into very old age, and robs them of sometimes decades of otherwise health and well being. Seniors do very well in all forms of alcohol and drug treatment, and have a better than average success rate when they are encouraged to get help.
You would ever let a younger person continue to abuse alcohol, and your older relatives deserve the same compassion and care.
