Hi everyone. My 81 year old father-in-law has some kind of dementia. Reading up on it we believe it could be alcohol dementia. He lost his wife 10 days ago. He lives in Greece. We have not seen him for 2 years so are playing catch-up with his issues as his wife hid them from us well. We have always considered them functioning alcoholics (she died of chirossis). We can't get a full assessment/diagnosis for him at the moment as the results would be too skewed by his bereavement (he is devastated). So - our immediate concern is how to reduce his intake gradually and safely. He hasn't noticed that the beer he now has at lunchtime is 0% alcohol. I would say he is currently drinking c.3-4 double shots of spirits a day. As I understand it if (and it's a big IF) it is alcohol dementia then abstinence could possibly halt any further progression. So... my question to you all is:

1. How long should be spread the reduction of alcohol from 35 units a week to zero? One week, two? One month, two etc?

2. We're thinking we'd do it with a combination of watering down the spirits and gradually introducing 0% alcohol wine as a substitute etc. Does this sound about right?

Many thanks in advance for any comments/insights - and my love to all of you dealing with these issues either directly or indirectly :-)

K