toastmaster

I'm 28, and an only child. My mom is almost 63. When I was growing up she was a heavy alcoholic/illegal drug abuser. Around 1993 she became completely clean and sober and active in AA. Around 2001 she stopped going to AA but continued being clean. After about two years, she became heavily addicted to ambiens - she would doctor shop, get multiple prescriptions and order them through those shady online pharmacies. She would work during the week but pop pills on the weekend. This ultimately led to my parents divorce.

Fast forward to 2011/12, she is still big on ambiens and God knows what else (she'll go through a bottle of 30 in a few days) and has started drinking beer, not to mention eating nothing but fast food and gaining loads of weight. She also has bouts of depression from the divorce. She is mixing ambien and alcohol. She'll stumble out of the house to go to the store or walk her dog and fall flat on her face. She just crashed her car, again, so at least I know she won't be driving for a while.

She has a support network of friends who care deeply about her. She is very active when she wants to be, does a lot of traveling, hangs out with her friends, etc. Her friends also notice what's going on with her.

I stayed over her house last night to make sure she went to work today - she went in and supposedly her boss told her to take the rest of the week off because she looked sick. So she went straight back home and drank some more today, after she promised me she wouldn't.

I need to know what I can do to help my mom. My mom is not in denial. She knows she has a problem and needs help. She has lots of friends who are recovering alcoholics and addicts, but when the opportunity to go to a meeting comes up, she has a million excuses why she can't go. I know a detox center would be ideal but if she is out of work for a long time I can't imagine her keeping her job. She might be able to do a two-week thing, if there are any such programs. It's easy to say I should live my life and wait for her to actually want help, but I can't idly sit by and let her continue down a road of self-destruction. She will kill herself or someone else. I'm in the NYC area if anyone knows if any programs.

Thanks for listening.