Alcoholism Among the Elderly – Anonymous Alcoholics
Medical studies in the area of alcoholism have found alcoholism among the elderly to be a bigger problem than you might think. What’s really surprising about this trend is that in retrospect, medical investigation suggests that this phenomenon is nothing new. In fact, alcoholism among maturing baby boomers has been a silent threat to the health of these individuals for quite some time now.
Since awareness of this problem was first announced, action to solve the problem has been slow moving. It is estimated that today almost half the elderly individuals suffering from alcoholism remain undetected. When these individuals use their health insurance for check ups and treatment, health care professionals sometimes misdiagnose these patients by focusing on secondary ailments such as dementia, depression, insomnia or gastrointestinal problems. What these physicians fail to realize is that some of these ailments might be attributed to alcoholism.
The type of alcoholism that assails the elderly is called “late onset alcoholism”. This is a distinction from early onset alcoholism that usually begins earlier in life for most individuals. Late onset alcoholism, on the other hand, is developed by the elderly usually in response to situations unique to this age bracket.
