SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post - my mother-in-law needs serious HELP!!!!

newby22211 · 10-15-2007, 12:36 PM

hi, i am new here looking for advice.i posted this in the "friends and family of alcoholics" forum but i thought it was appropriate here, too.

my mother-in-law has been an alcoholic for many years, but only in the last couple years since she got a divorce has it gotten really, really bad. she is also very depressed and has bipolar I disorder. the depression and alcoholism feed off each other, and every time she gets drunk she talks about how she wants to die. she attempted suicide about a year ago, and that's when we realized the severity of her problems. she had kept it hidden very well from us. she voluntarily went into treatment for 30 days after her suicide attempt, but only stayed sober for about a month.

we live about 2 hours from her, and unfortunately we don't get to see her much. she is very lonely, as she doesn't talk to much of her family anymore. she has 2 sons, and of the two of them my husband is really the only one who talks to her. and he has almost given up on their relationship. i feel so bad for this woman.

after many, many second chances, she has finally lost her job. she missed too many days. so now she is on another drinking binge, i think it has been a week now. we don't know what to do. she doesn't want to go to rehab, because she doesn't think it will help, and she says she can't afford it. she says there's nothing they can say or do for her that she hasn't already heard or tried!

her friends and family have all tried to intervene on more than one occassion, and we all learned our lesson. it does no good to "rescue" her. i understand that is true with all alcoholics. they have to WANT to get better, interfering is just postponing it.

so, what can we do? just sit by and wait for her to drink herself to death or commit suicide? i feel so helpless. she is in really bad shape. she ruptured her esophogus from throwing up so much. she hasn't eaten in days, and when she runs out of alcohol she just goes out and drives drunk to get more.

any suggestions?

we talked about an intervention but no one seems to think it would do any good.

thank you so much for reading and for any responses!

10-15-2007, 12:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
newby22211 Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3	my mother-in-law needs serious HELP!!!! hi, i am new here looking for advice.i posted this in the "friends and family of alcoholics" forum but i thought it was appropriate here, too. my mother-in-law has been an alcoholic for many years, but only in the last couple years since she got a divorce has it gotten really, really bad. she is also very depressed and has bipolar I disorder. the depression and alcoholism feed off each other, and every time she gets drunk she talks about how she wants to die. she attempted suicide about a year ago, and that's when we realized the severity of her problems. she had kept it hidden very well from us. she voluntarily went into treatment for 30 days after her suicide attempt, but only stayed sober for about a month. we live about 2 hours from her, and unfortunately we don't get to see her much. she is very lonely, as she doesn't talk to much of her family anymore. she has 2 sons, and of the two of them my husband is really the only one who talks to her. and he has almost given up on their relationship. i feel so bad for this woman. after many, many second chances, she has finally lost her job. she missed too many days. so now she is on another drinking binge, i think it has been a week now. we don't know what to do. she doesn't want to go to rehab, because she doesn't think it will help, and she says she can't afford it. she says there's nothing they can say or do for her that she hasn't already heard or tried! her friends and family have all tried to intervene on more than one occassion, and we all learned our lesson. it does no good to "rescue" her. i understand that is true with all alcoholics. they have to WANT to get better, interfering is just postponing it. so, what can we do? just sit by and wait for her to drink herself to death or commit suicide? i feel so helpless. she is in really bad shape. she ruptured her esophogus from throwing up so much. she hasn't eaten in days, and when she runs out of alcohol she just goes out and drives drunk to get more. any suggestions? we talked about an intervention but no one seems to think it would do any good. thank you so much for reading and for any responses!