My mom - bipolar or addict?

My mother has been alternating between alcohol and pain pill abuse for two decades.  Yes, she can get depressed, and yes, she can be impulsive and "manic".  She has been treated for bipolar disorder the whole time with all meds possible.  She used to seem to level out, but every year to two years, she would binge drink and freak out.  The past few years have been painkillers - she even went to jail last december for faking a seizure in front of a pain clinic and assaulting a cop.  She went to detox for 3 days and then the mental ward for 4 days.  Never anymore than 4 days - several hospital stays.  My question is, she has been in a perpetual state of zombie - like actions.  She moves real slow, shuffles her feet and doesn't think clearly.  She is like a 90 yr old woman in a 56 yr old's body.  She looks like hell.  I can't tell if she is overmedicated, abusing painkillers, or just fried from all of the above.  Any ideas?

[DLA]

Well, to me sounds like it could be either one or it could be NPH (normal pressure hydrocephalus).  I suggest NPH because it causes the symptoms you are describing exactly.  It is a build up of fluid in the brain that happens as we age.  But there are times when it accumulates too much and needs to be taken off.  If she were my mother I would have her checked for this.

Addiction in people with BP is very common.  Most of us have an addiciton problem or two.

Keep us posted about your mom.
Dac