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Holiday Cheer Can Reveal Senior Addictions

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@tampatrib.com

Published: December 20, 2008

The holiday season is here, and there's Nana getting into the eggnog and batting her eyes. Or Pops with a face as red as Santa Claus refilling his glass, laughing a little too much.

It's nice that the old folks are having such a good time. But for many people, drinking and aging don't mix. The holiday party may also be an opportunity to spot a burgeoning problem in the older generation.

One-third of older Americans who abuse alcohol or drugs don't develop a problem until after they turn 50. Some have a genetic blueprint for addiction; others slip into a pattern of what researchers call hazardous substance abuse: a level of consumption and drinking that puts an older person at risk for health problems and injuries.

"People increase drinking after they retire; they drink because of loneliness, in response to life events such as the death of a spouse," Houston physician John W. Culberson says.

Doctors generally don't screen for problem drinking, and families would rather ignore it. But abuse of alcohol and legal drugs (prescribed and over-the-counter) affect up to 17 percent of adults 60 or older, government figures say. Unlike younger substance abusers, who get in trouble with the law or jeopardize their jobs and antagonize their families, older abusers often go unnoticed.

Physiologically, older people are less able to hold their liquor. With the loss of body mass and decrease of water in the body, they tend to develop a higher concentration of alcohol in the blood when they drink. Kidneys and livers are not as efficient in removing alcohol from the blood. One drink in youth may amount to two drinks in an older person.

In addition, many older men and women are taking medications (for heart disease, sleep disorders, pain and anxiety, for example) that interact badly with alcohol and with one another.

"We spend considerable time on financial planning, but we spend very little time or money on emotional-retirement planning," says Carol Colleran, director of Older Adult Services for the Hanley-Hazelden Center in West Palm Beach.

The good news is that treatment for late-onset substance abuse can be very effective. Older people tend to have good coping skills, and their support network of family and friends is usually intact.

The Washington Post

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