re: Do alcoholics get stuck telling the same story multiple time a day?

When you drink a certain amount, the part of your brain that makes memories shuts down. That is how you black out. If you're in a blacked out state, you won't remember what you said. That's what's happening, I assume.

Once my brother stopped drinking, he said there were months and whole years he could not remember. He was heavily drinking every day.

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I know story tellers that don’t drink and do this…

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My mom is one of them. She just forgets who she's told and who she hasn't. It's an extrovert problem I thankfully will never have. But being an alcoholic can definitely cause it as well

Sounds like he has dementia

They'll tell the same story multiple times within 20 minutes

Thank you all for the comments.
Since you asked, I was born female and remain female and we've been married 30+ years.
The relative discovered weed in high school and has never stopped using.

What made him especially happy was selling something which had been a less that perfect investment.

Why my husband listens: He's afraid the relative will do something really bad to himself because no one else seems to care (or have stopped caring-my take) Also my husband grew up in a typical dysfunctional family and learned to ignore his parents arguments and verbal abuse. He tunes out what he doesn't want to hear. I think he was reading an ebook on his pc through those calls.

That side of the family doesn't seem to have dementia,

The multiple "I'm gonna quit" above is all too familiar.

I don't want to lose this relative because of how it would affect my husband.

I cutoff people like this from my life.
And then get accused of not caring about said family/friend.
Ding ding ding. GTFO with all them bad vibes

Liver problems, in this case probably caused by alcoholism, can lead to build up of ammonia in the system. That causes dimentia type symptoms.

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But a crucial tie between liver disease and dementia is what occurs in the brains of about 50% of people with cirrhosis: hepatic encephalopathy. When the liver stops removing toxins and waste from the blood, those bits of trash circulate to the brain. There, toxins like ammonia and manganese have a poisonous effect on brain cells. Once encephalopathy moves from covert to overt, patients can experience an array of changes to their cognition, motor skills, sleep and mood — a profile strikingly similar to that seen in dementia, except it’s reversible.

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If your relative can sober up, those symptoms will go away. Unless he has irreversible damage to his liver, in which case he'll need a medical intervention.

I know people that are waiting for a liver transplant that have terrible dimentia because of it. After a round of dialysis, they are much clearer. However, the ammonia levels eventually spike again, and they are back to being in a fog, telling the same stories over and over, not knowing what year it is, or don't even know their own children. It's scary, and most people don't know how much you depend on your liver to keep you alive, and sane.

Sounds like an alcohol and xanax problem together....have your husband ask him if he knows where to get some xanax. If he "might" you have your answer....

It gets better with long term sobriety. I was worried I would be a pickle brain the rest of my life. As long as you are not too far gone, you bounce back. The more you use it, the quicker and more powerfully it returns. I saw improvements at a month, months and years.

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we wondered if being an alcoholic affects short term memory

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yes very much so. Alcoholics have a very hard time remembering things they have said or done in fine detail or at all from very short periods of time previously. They may not have even necessarily been drunk at the time. it just changes the ability of the brain to hold onto those memories.