I am not a drinker, but when I go over to a certain family members house, and she is going through her binge period, I find little juice bottles filled with alcohol everywhere! Behind books, in the seat cushions on the couch, under the couch, on the top shelf in the closet, etc etc. In another situation, it was my deceased grandmother. Apparently, she liked to have a little drink now and then. To my knowledge, she was not an alcoholic, but her husband, my grandfather drank for years (gave it up in his 60s). I think, she was too afraid to leave a bottle of wine around, in fear, it would be too tempting for him. When we were cleaning out her house, we found all these half bottles of wine around the house. I think, she may have forgotten where she put them, she had alzheimer's later in life. Is this common?
I'm not sure if it is common. I personally don't hide my booze. I always have a bottle of brandy in my dresser in my bedroom and that's the least seen bottle in my house. I like my alcohol close and easy to spot. But that's just me and my friends. I've never met someone "hide" their booze.
I know a couple of alcoholics that do indeed hide their alcohol bottles around the house. They are sometimes even surprised to find them in the places that they do. Otherwise, I do know alcoholics that aren't even trying to hide their alcohol, and they display it around the house almost everywhere. Each person has different habits here, but some people do hide things whenever possible so that they can keep drinking.
If she suffered from alzheimer's hiding bottles is the least of your worries. Your lucky she didn't get hurt or woke up in another state.
You're lucky that nothing serious happened. An elderly women who drank alcohol who also suffered from Alzheimer's is definitely a pretty explosive situation. That could have ended very badly.
My sentiments exactly. The fact that she hid bottles should not have really been a concern at that point. I'm glad that she was alright in the end, though.
Well that happens sometimes with alcoholic people. It varies from case to case. your grandmother might have been another case altogether, but your other family member is clearly an alcoholic, and they are clearly hiding the fact that they are.
Oh, it was not what a worry at the time. No one knew even the bottles existed, until she was an existed living facility environment. I was just curious, if other drinkers, hid there bottles. When drinking turns into an unmanageable problem, and loved ones and family get concerned, no-one likes to see a bottle hanging around. Looks like some other drinkers do hide their bottles and lie, and some drinkers do not care and just leave their bottles out in the open. From my feedback, looks like either scenario is common from the comments, thus far.
People are usually hiding bottles when there is someone to hide the bottles from. If you're living with someone who disagrees with your drinking & has made your drinking an issue (whether it truly is or is not) you're bound to hide bottles. I hid bottles for both reasons. I also hid drugs. When I lived alone I didn't feel a need to hide anything. When I lived with others (be it a roommate or a loved one) I ended up always having a specific place. Normally not in the line of sight of others.
My ex was a alcoholic and he used to hide bottles everywhere! He would lie to me about drinking, but I would find them under sinks, in the closets, by the water heater and even in the tank of the toilet. Even after I kicked him out I was still finding alcohol around my house months later.
My cousin was sort of alcoholic before, and when we went to his apartment, his house smelled of booze, and you could really see there were a lot of empty bottles around the house. As for me, I don't drink at home, I prefer going out with friends and having a drink with them. I'm more of a social drinker.
I have a friend who is a hardcore drinker though I still wouldn't consider him an alcoholic because he is a very responsible person and I think he can probably stop when he wants at least for a few days. He does tend to keep around lots of types alcohol scattered and hidden around the house but I don't give it much meaning since I doubt he does it to hide them from anyone, they just happen to be kept in different places.
Well, don't you think he might have a problem, if he has a lot of alcohol scattered all over his house. I also think you bring up an interesting point about him not being an alcoholic because he carries on with his responsibilities. I am going to post another thread on this subject and see what kind of feedback I get. I find this an interesting concept in how to define the line between a hardcore drinker and an alcoholic.
I use to wonder why I saw bottles of Vodka hidden around my grandparents house when I was young. Weird how I would be hiding in the closet and a bottle of Vodka would be stashed in the back area. I think my grandfather was hiding it from my grandma. That must of been it. I remember her scolding him while he would be showering about drinking at home.
I have known someone who hid her alcohol bottles and it was because she was trying to convince her husband that she had stopped drinking. I did point out the fact that you can smell alcohol on a person's breath, but that did not matter to her. It got to the point where her husband would mark the liquid levels of the bottles they had out in the open and she would take a swig and just top the bottle off with water.
I don't think so because he can go days and sometimes weeks without drinking although he does partake in some other recreational substances so that may be the case too. I consider myself observant so I think I'd be worried if I was seeing some questionable behavior but at this point I think he has a handle on things. I think it helps that he was raised in a good family so he mostly just does these things for fun rather than as a suppressant for childhood trauma.
I don't know if this is common but it's definitely a sign that somebody as got a problem with alcohol. I think anybody that has to hide what they're doing knows they must be doing something wrong, but instead of stopping or being able to stop, they try and hide the fact. Aswell as hiding it from other people it's probably also a way of hiding it from theirselves aswell, running away from the problem instead of confronting it.
I agree with your statement. Anytime we have to hide something in life is because there is a certain shame in our mind for whatever we are doing. There is a reason that you do not want others to know what you are doing.
As you said she had alzheimer so, maybe she was just forgetting where she placed her bottles. I also find bottles in the household before because our grandfather used to drink. He just drink a small bottle at night after eating dinner.
Oh, that is good to hear about being able to go days without drinking. I am no expert, but I think that is good thing to not "have" to have a drink everyday. Your mention of a childhood trauma is another subject that I would like to look into. I think there are many people who try to suppress situations. I am going to look for a thread on this subject of start one. Yeah, I just looked and did not find one, so I started one.