Q. My 31-year-old sister is an alcoholic. She has been to two rehab facilities within the last year. My parents and I have been very supportive and paid her bills for those.
She has lived with both of us, but when we put rules in place, she has done the opposite. She finally got a job and then about two weeks ago she started sleeping all weekend.
I couldn’t find any alcohol in the house, but we bought a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) detector and it would read off the charts. She’d say she wasn’t drinking and she would have this wild-eyed drunk look.
I saw a huge bottle of Listerine in her bathroom yesterday and today it is gone. She always smells of it and it broke my heart when I realized what she’s doing.
A. Your sister might need more help than you can give her. As you have realized, she might be abusing Listerine for its alcohol content. Only a desperate and addicted person does this.
We heard from another reader who reported that her mother died of liver failure, kidney failure and heart failure after several years of secretly drinking large amounts of Listerine.
Please get in touch with a professional who can guide you to treatment for your sister. This is not a do-it-yourself project.
