CONTENTS

Table of Contents
Introduction

1. Overview
2. Alcohol
3. Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medications
4. Barriers to Recognizing Problems
5. Signs and Symptoms of Misuse
6. Talking About Sensitive Issues
7. Assessing a Problem
8. Preventing Misuse
9. Intervention and Treatment

Supplements
Resources

Alcohol, Medication and Older Adults
For Those Who Care About or Care for an Older Adult

The Problem

Generally a problem drinker is defined by how much alcohol is consumed (quantity) and how often (frequency). Other factors affect the way an individual reacts to alcohol, such as:

• Age - it takes less alcohol to feel the effect when a person is older.
• Food - drinking on an empty stomach will increase the absorption of alcohol more quickly than if one drinks while eating.
• Body weight - the more a person weighs, the more alcohol it takes for a person to feel the effects of alcohol.
• Alcohol tolerance - over time, one will need to drink more alcohol to feel the same effect.

Older adults can drink low amounts of alcohol and drink infrequently and still experience problems.

Sensible Drinking

Sensible drinking means different things to different people. The medical field defines sensible or moderate drinking as "drinking that does not generally cause problems, either to the drinker or to society."

Safe drinking limits are hard to set because the same amount of alcohol can affect different people differently. For example, alcohol affects men and women differently.

Recommended Guidelines for Alcohol

• For men, recommended sensible limits - no more than two alcoholic drinks a day
• For women, recommended sensible limits - no more than one alcoholic drink a day.
• For adults over 65, both men and women, sensible drinking means no more than one alcoholic drink a day.

A few things to keep in mind:

• One alcoholic drink means:
  • 12 ounces of beer OR
  • 5 ounces of wine OR
  • 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits
  • or 4 ounces of liqueur (such as sherry)
• These guidelines are not intended for:
  • People who plan to drive or perform activities requiring attention
  • People taking prescription medicines or over-the-counter drugs
  • People with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes
  • People who are in recovery from alcohol problems
• If an individual does not drink (abstains), starting to drink is not advised.
• Recommended safe drinking limits do not take into account body weight, patterns of drinking, or spacing of drinks. This is particularly important for older adults in whom the toxic effects of alcohol are increased.