Think my mother is alcohol dependant???
I am new to this forum.
I am getting a strong feeling that my mother is addicted to alcohol. A quick history on my family:
* My father died at 50 from heart attack. Looking back he was a huge drinker – would drink approx. 5-6 cans of beer a night, drank every day and on weekends as soon as 12noon hit you would hear the first can opening.
* Mum drank too with him but can not really remember how much. She used to drink cask wine – so I suppose you never notice it empty like wine bottles
* Mum’s been on her own ever since dad died and hasn’t coped well with his death.
* At family functions, she fills her wine glasses to the brim and has one after another and by the end gets quite aggressive and argumentative.
* I have looked in her recycling bin and have noticed many bottles in there ( I once asked her whether she had visitors over and she said ‘no’ – couldn’t believe it)
Apart from the obvious physical signs of excess alcohol intake such as being drunk. Is there any other signs which may give someone who is addicted to alcohol. I find that my mum constantly makes comments about wine. If she goes out to dinner or lunch and drives she always needs to tell you that she only had ‘one’ wine at dinner or lunch. I wouldn’t even think about telling people that I went to dinner and point out the I had only ‘one’ wine or I had ‘two’ wines, etc.
She also tells us that she leaps out of bed every morning feeling great , bright as a button, etc. I don’t know whether this is her way of covering it up. I have read that alcoholics get used the their intake and they don’t tend to get a hang over, over time. Is this true?
I also find that she gets very defensive when you talk about her drinking. I once jokingly called her a ‘pisspot’ and she got so defensive I couldn’t believe it. If someone said it to me, I would have laughed it off and not thought twice about it – because I don’t drink very much. I enjoy a wine or beer but nothing too excessive.
Is there any other signs that can give an alcoholic away? Also is there a certain number of drinks someone has a day that could constitute an alcoholic (eg. A bottle of wine a day)
Thanks
Al