My grandma lives with my grandpa. Over the past few months (around 3), we've found wine bottles hidden under beds, in night stands, or in her quilting room. Sometimes the bottles are open, other times not. We began marking the liquid to see how much was being consumed during specific time periods. Most often, very little to no wine has been consumed. Other times, a significant amount of wine is gone. My grandma has a two story house, and has trouble walking easily. This is a bizarre development to think she's started drinking heavily and can still manage to navigate the stairwell and not be ill from the amount of wine she'd have to be consuming at times. I have read that people with dementia sometimes hide things out of fear etc, and I'm wondering if hiding alcohol is something common? We confronted her and her reaction was anger. I'm not sure the specific answer she gave were the truth or if she were just reacting to the situation we put her in with an 'intervention' of sorts. Could she be going for a drink of wine, forgetting she had a drink of wine, and then going back for a drink of wine? I am so confused if this is a dementia problem, or an alcohol problem.
If she's becoming reliant on wine, I would think she'd want it more regularly and more often.
I don't really any other insights; this is kind of unusual, at least to me.
Will her husband discuss it? What does he say about it? What about the neighbors? Who is buying the wine for her?
It sounds like she may not be able to be in charge of the household though.
We will definitely be bringing this up with their doctors and keeping a close eye on it. I had read about elderly patients hiding food or other items and thought maybe this is what she was doing. We're all at a loss right now for what the root cause is.
Perhaps you could substitute some empty bottles for the full ones and just make sure that no one buys any more.
Also, there may be many other bottles that you have not found.
It's difficult to say, except you know she has dementia. I would take it that she is progressing. I know that my loved one would hide chips, candy, etc., in drawers for no apparent reason in her dementia. Once she disconnected the cable box and hid it in the kitchen cabinet. She denied she did it, but obviously she did. She had no memory of it and we will never know why she did it. It's just part of how they do bizarre things at times.
I would immediately step in, because it sounds like her husband is very frustrated. It can be very frustrating living with a dementia patient. They can't help their behavior, it can be exasperating and the other person feels so helpless. I would offer him some help. It's unlikely thing will improve. In fact, they are likely to decline.