My mother

[rBoulet]

This is a question about my mother (instead of me for once). I was out grocery shopping with her today and she was driving and I noticed she was shaking and the way she was driving kind of made her look like she was drunk. Before we got to the store she almost ran a light and hit someone but I shouted for her to stop and she ended up stopping in the middle of the intersection blocking traffic for a bit.
I took the keys from her and drove to the next store and back home (not much better mind you, I'm tired as heck).
I asked her if she had been drinking already today, to which she gave me the dirtiest look and said that no she hadn't but she was going to as soon as we got home.
I know that my mom has a drinking problem, she's been drinking every night for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure if she's lying or not and she actually was drinking this morning before I dragged my sorry butt out of bed, is it common for people with bipolar to lie about their self-medication? She's lied about it before, I know that, but I'm not sure about today.
Could there be another explanation for her weird behaviour and driving other than drinking? Could she maybe still be a bit tipsy from last night? I haven't drank since I was a lot younger so I have no idea if that's possible or not.

[ILADVOCATE]

If things are that bad then she may need immediate help. Speak to other family members about it.

[rBoulet]

Her physician had suggested that she had bipolar and asked if she'd be willing to see a psychiatrist about it but she refused. Her physician then was giving her medication for it but she eventually decided nothing was wrong with her and stopped taking it. The whole family is convinced she has something wrong, and bipolar is a pretty good fit. We're pretty sure her brother has it too but he's kind of sort or missing so we can't address that. The medication she was on really did help though, at least we all think it did.
She's come up to me before and randomly started speaking about suicide, she's sometimes overly active and easily angered (she has become physical with me and my sister in the past). Some days she'll be crying for no reason, others she's really upbeat and thinks world of herself.
I mean, just today after I posted question she came up to me and started to randomly talk about how after she dies that I shouldn't let them perform an autopsy on her. I asked her why she said that but she didn't say anything, kind of worried.

[ILADVOCATE]

Yes it is common and its common for bipolar to be inherited as well. My mother has cyclothymia and of course does not drink or anything like that. But it took me until recently to encourage her to seek help. If a person with bipolar (or any psychiatric disability for that matter) drinks or uses drugs they need to be in a dual recovery program and their psychiatrist needs to follow up with both. Its hard for someone with bipolar to address the recovery issues with a parent who is coping with some of the same issues. But its possible. It just takes some supportive action and encouragement although any form of addiction is hard to overcome of course.