In September of 2012, we had an intervention on my grandmother for her alcoholism. My mom has known she had a problem since she first met her mother in law in the mid-80s. She's crashed her car so many times and I think the reason she never got a DUI was because my grandfather was in those days a lawyer and later a judge. Before she had back surgery, we knew that she needed to go to rehab and quit drinking and so we had an intervention and as angry as she was about it, she went to detox and just did AA for a while. This past Sunday was her birthday and she was loaded when we showed up, and even more drunk when my uncle called her later that night. My mom says she has no idea what we should do at this point. She obviously doesn't want to stay sober so I think it'd he pointless in having another intervention. Any thoughts?
My grandmother u could say is an alcoholic. If someone says something mean to her she will just drink and drink and drink. There r days where she doesn't need it. Also she's never crashed a car before but she has passed out well riding her bike before. She started drinking when my dad was in 12th grade so around 1985 or 1986. She still does drink a lot today she has been limiting herself though. Idk if this helped but just thought I would say this.
My mom is going to talk to my dad tonight about it, and it looks like another intervention is going to happen. The last time they intervened, it was ugly. I'll spare you the details, but they almost had to go the legal route to get her into treatment. My mother suspects that it's because of my aunt who is having blood clot issues and could die any time, and my grandmother is so involved in her care and making sure she's okay that she's drinking to cope with the stress. She got drunk to deal with her marital problems, as while my dad portrayed my grandfather as a saint, my grandfather was where my dad learned his abusive behavior. She got drunk to deal with my grandfather's death in 2005, she got drunk to deal with the transition into living alone as an elderly woman, and now she's getting drunk to deal with being a caregiver. But there's a lot more healthy ways to deal with this sort of thing other than downing tons and tons of vodka. Whenever she was at our house, she'd hide the small airline size bottles of Smirnoff in her purse and pretend to use the bathroom and chug them. She'd flush the toilet and wash her hands to make it seem like that was what she was actually doing, but after doing that 8 times in one two-hour visit, well, we should have known earlier. My mom who is a doctor says she has no idea how her liver has lasted this long and is probably on the edge of failure at this point. My grandmother is 81 years old and has been an alcoholic for a big majority of her life. The thing about alcoholism and recovery is that you have to want to stay sober in order to stay sober. I don't think that she got all the resources and counseling she needed while in treatment because she didn't have the time before her surgery to go to the whole rehab program. She went to detox and then had her surgery and spent a month at an assisted living place before finally coming home and having alcohol available just a couple miles up the road from her house and no accountability.
Your grandma needs to really hit rock bottom hard. My grandmother is 71 and has been heavily drinking for almost 30 years. It's sad to see that happen. I also wonder how her liver managed to survive all this intoxication from boozing.
It's sad, but if someone doesn't want to get sober and stay sober, there's almost nothing anyone else can do. If the intervention has already happened once and failed, I really don't see much point in doing another one. But it seems that your parents aren't the most emotionally healthy, so it might be pointless to try to interject an opinion and just let them go and do what they want to go and do.
I'm not being an arse but... Like you said she's your Grandma.. Shes old.. she's too lost in the Alcohol.. You should leave her.. as hard as it sounds.. ---------- Post added 30th Apr 2014 at 12:59 AM ---------- I admit.. I'm an Alcoholic.. If I was at her age.. I'd prefer my family to let me be..
Rock bottom at this stage is death. As much as I've been a realist and having told exactly what Chip said to my mother, I'm trying to prepare myself for when it actually does happen.
I lost my grandma at the age of only 58 cause her organs have out because of her drinking. I already don't have any grand parents left at 24, though oddly enough I still have a living great grand parent. I'm sorry that your grandma is drowning herself in alcohol, some people just can't deal with their demons without a cushion. Good luck convincing her to stop, if you can't than I just wish you good luck in general.
My aunt today confronted her and my grandma swears that she wasn't drinking. Problem is, my grandma actually believes that lie. At this point, my mother isn't as concerned with her killing herself with her drinking as she is about her killing someone else with her driving. So I guess if she won't help herself, we'll have to try and help the people in general. I don't know when she'll be back at our house, but if she's drunk, I'll call the police on her myself.
Yeah alchoholics are friendly but tick them off and then you're f**ked, I mean when I was younger nearly every what? thrusday to Sunday My Grandpa would come drunk smelling like shit because of his diabetes and he would beat me and my cousins becuase he either lost a bet on one of the horse races or he was just bored idk, I mean my Grandma was there but she offered no protection. Mum and Dad were no help either... which kinda made me hate them... The point is alchohol ruins families... period.. It does nothing but f**king hurt the ones you love and drive them away. Honestly I don't mean to be a d**k but set her straight this time.... grr this makes me soooooo mad. if she wants to continue to ruin you guys and like really... either you leave her or continue to suffer.
I am no expert on addiction. Often people drink to mask major mental anxiety. So is her overall mental condition ever been assessed and strategy to manage her anxiety been discussed? Sorry - it was just a thought. Maybe your parents have thought of this and it is past the stage. But if she is sobered up again maybe a major professional assessment would be a good thing
My grandfather is a drunk. We had the third intervention a year ago...sadly we've faced the reality that he is just going to trip up one day. Drink too much, or drive somewhere. But he's not going to get better. It's hard at that age to change, not impossible, but still hard.
