Watching for Alcohol Withdrawal in Elders

I asked the nurse at the home if I could bring Joe some vodka and orange juice. They told me his doctor wouldn't let him have alcohol, because he is an alcoholic. "No kidding!" I thought. "Now, tell me something I don't know."

So what is the doctor going to do with this guy? The answer was, after much begging on my part, he would "prescribed" one drink a day, to be measured out by the nurse. To a guy who used to put some orange juice in his vodka, a measured ounce of vodka in his orange juice would go unnoticed. Joe would get no significant relief, yet it was the best that I could do for him.

Joe was dead in six weeks. The trauma of the hip fracture was the likely cause. But Joe could have been treated much more humanely than he was. I like to think things have improved, as that was a decade ago. But sometimes I wonder. How many medical people even consider that a number of these elderly people they treat have alcohol problems? I know that Joe wasn't alone in this.

"Alcoholism in the Elderly," by Sally K Rigler (American Family Physician, March 15, 2000), begins, "Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are common but under-recognized problems among older adults."

Later, the paper states, "Although only about 5 percent of alcoholics develop delirium or seizures during withdrawal, older persons with comorbid medical conditions and decreased physiologic reserve should be closely supervised while undergoing detoxification."

Are doctors recognizing the widow, who has resorted to alcohol to soothe the pain of losing her husband, as a possible alcoholic? Do they recognize guys like Joe, who spent a lifetime depending on alcohol? Are they considering how to humanely treat these elders who come in through ER, and are abruptly taken off the alcohol, which is, of course, a drug.

I hope so, because there are more elders suffering from alcoholism than we like to think. If their condition is not recognized when they are hospitalized or placed in a nursing home, we are sentencing them to misery that is totally avoidable. There are drugs to treat this condition. Whether it goes as far as delirium, or manifests to a lesser degree, there is no need for them to suffer from withdrawal.

Medical people need to be watchful for elders who have alcohol problems. If it is too late to treat the disease, at least they can treat the symptoms.

To learn more about Carol, please go to www.mindingourelders.com or www.mindingoureldersblogs.com.