TeM

Okay, I know it's 10% alcohol, and I've heard stories about A's getting drunk on weird stuff like Nyquil, Vanilla extract and mouthwash. Now I've seen it with my own eyes.

AW managed about 8 months of sobriety, but lately I've been coming home to find her apparently drunk. She swears up and down she's not drinking, and my Daughter and I have had no luck finding a stash.

Finally, she told me she'd been taking Nyquil. I asked how much, and she said she just turns up the bottle. So, knowing her consumption habits, (she has a hard time doing anything in moderation) I'd say she just chugged the whole bottle. It made her every bit as drunk as Vodka or Whiskey ever has.

(Either that, or she's gotten really clever about hiding her booze, which is another possibility.)

Just when I thought nothing could surprise me.

BlueSkies1

I've heard of poor alcoholics drinking rubbing alcohol because it is the cheapest. Desperation calls for desperate measures?
Sorry to hear she is using again. Take care of yourself!

An addict will always be able to surprise a codie, lol...it's why we fall for it time and time again.

Learn2Live

They'll drink mouthwash too. Anything that contains alcohol. I don't know how anyone can stomach that.

wicked

My father, just before he went into the hospital for the last time, drank rubbing alcohol.

I saw on "Intervention" a young man in the hospital for od'ing on alcohol, fill up cups with the hand sanitizer found on the wall of the room and drinking that.

Yes, it is horrible what alcoholics will do to themselves for that craving.

wicked

Yep, anvilhead the kids call it "robo-tripping".

SuzyMarie

My ex, who's DOC was actually cocaine, would drink mouthwash in desperation to try and bring himself down. He'd always deny it though. Sad stuff

Thumper

I walked into a grocery store once and the entire front shelf was top to bottom, the length of the store, cans of lysol. I thought to myself "What on earth - no town uses that much lysol."

They drank it. If you walked around (which I did not do I heard about it) you would see cans of lysol with holes punched in the can along the ditch and piled up behind houses. I do not know if it is still like that or not. It is so dangerous.
Alcoholism is such a tragedy.

Learn2Live

OMG Thumper, Lysol?!?!?! I had never heard of that.

SamanthaIam

The Nyquil thing sounds really scary -- not just the alcohol but a major OD of the other ingredients. Seriously, I would worry that chugging a whole bottle of Nyquil would kill a person.

so sorry about your AW's behavior, TeM.

aasharon90

I was 30 yrs old when family intervention
took place sending me to the hospital. That
first night there I had no idea what kind of
hospital I was in, but observered the windows
were bared, the outlets filled in with plaster,
and they wouldnt allow me to have my makeup
or cologne.

The authorities were sent to drive me there because
I had taken pain pills and my kids couldnt wake me
up. so red flags flew high as to wondering about my
mental state of mind. They thought I lost my mind.:crazy

They told me the next day after I passed all the
physcological test that I just had a drinking problem
and the reason for not allowing me to have
mouthwash or my cologne was because people
drank it.

My mouth flew open wide as I had no idea how nieve I
was to what all people did or what lengths they go to to
satisfy their cravings for alcohol. Shoots, all I did was drink
my wine and mixed drinks like normal people do, in a glass,
cup or bottle. And it was just your ordinary alcohol you buy
in the liquor part of ur grocery store.

While in rehab for 28 days i was also astound at all the
different kinds of drugs that were available to people and
their dependancy on them. Me, again was so nieve at to
all that as well. whew... thank God.

Of course today, 21 yrs sober later, im still nieve at to
what all the new drugs are out there, but do know they
are tearing people up left and right.

And to think I drank wine mostly because I thoughty
it was safer.

TeM

Thanks for all the replies. It's a terrible, baffling thing. Even though my situation is not nearly as bad as some I've read about here, it's nice to have this community for support.

Looking4ward

Yeah, my ex used to drink this stuff too. Only bottles at a time. He'd claim it helped him go to sleep.

choublak

Huh. So, that store knew how to corner their "market". I'm not even trying to be funny either. I take it this was a dry county?

Thumper

Yes it was a dry county and one of the lowest income in the US. Lysol was cheap and easy to get (at any age) so it was not unheard of in other areas. This was many years ago and I didn't figure it out until a couple of years later and at that time they were talking about strategies to curb that practice. I'm not sure where it stands now.