Please Help!! Advice needed for my alcoholic dad who refuses medical assistance!!

Posted , 3 users are following.

Hi, I'm hoping somebody can help me out understanding where my dad is in liver failure and what the future holds.

My mother passed 2 years ago and he has given up on life & openly admits that he's drinking himself to death. He refuses point blank to see a health professional of any kind.

He is 68 years old and a long time alcoholic (40 + years) and currently drinks between 5 - 14 units a day of mostly either whiskey or rum and he smokes 30 - 40 hand rolled cigarettes a day.

He doesn't have much of an appetite and barely eats but when he does it's just toast, crisps, icecream, chocolate, cake and sweets with the occasional portion of chips or sandwich!!

His tolerance to alcohol has reduced drastically in the last year.

He sleeps a lot but not often through the night.

His feet and ankles are dark red and swollen (oedema), they have been this way for around 1 year.

He has chest pain and shortness of breath.

In the last few weeks I have noticed the inner corners of his eyes have become jaundiced.

He has lost weight overall but his stomach is now looking swollen (ascites).

He has a constant cough and runny nose.

He goes through phases of coughing up pink phlegm.

We have exactly the same conversation covering the same 5 topics on a loop every single day. He has no idea he is repeating himself.

The palms of his hands are red blotches.

I have done as much research across various platforms to try and gauge his illness based on the symptoms available to me because he will not even entertain seeing a health professional and while originally I thought he had heart disease, I am now convinced that he has cirrhosis, which may well be decompensated.

I know that everyone is different and illnesses are not the same for everyone but I'm just looking of other peoples stories to help me understand and see what may be in his future.

I am struggling mentally trying to deal with this on my own and have no one to help me.

0 likes, 1 reply

1 Reply

  • Posted

    Hello Jessica, so many problems and so hard to help your Dad who doesn't want help. I do not know where to start. Medical help for certain but how? Anybody else who can help you to persuade him?? He does need hell and now. Regards Robin

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.