When combined with counseling, this approach is proven highly effective. Excessive drinking has numerous impacts on your body and mind, ranging from mild to severe. Learn which signs to look out for, and how to care for your well-being. Maybe it’s a family member or a friend who knows you well enough to ask how it’s going. You might even find that once you tell a friend that you’re going to stick to mocktails or limit yourself to two drinks tonight, they decide to join you.
- It’s a good idea to talk with a medical professional before you begin a taper.
- You can taper off alcohol if you worry that you are developing alcohol addiction.
- A direct taper means you continue to drink your regular drinks but slowly decrease the amount over time.
- This process is called dependence because your brain depends on alcohol being present to function normally.
- An effective tapering schedule may include cutting out one drink at a time at regular intervals.
- Nanci Stockwell of Advanced Recovery Systems discusses the risks of detoxing at home and the benefits of detoxing from alcohol and other drugs in a safe environment.
Achieve Sobriety with Virtual IOP
It’s important to nurture a healthy relationship with your body so you can have a Substance abuse healthy relationship with your mind. You can start building the foundation for a happy future by going to rehab for alcohol. If you were to suddenly stop drinking alcohol, your receptors would become hyperactive because they are no longer being depressed.
Manage Withdrawal Symptoms
Having been through this journey, I know that taking a break from alcohol is not as easy as it may sound. It takes practice and commitment, and it often requires us to step out of our comfort zones and do things differently for the first time. It may be the first time you unwind at the end of the day without a bottle of beer, socialize without loosening up with a cocktail, or fall asleep without the aid of alcohol. Here’s What I Did Wrong,” I covered the five mistakes I made when I first tried to break free from my decade-long daily drinking ritual.
Take the lead when ordering a drink or making plans.
You must continue abstaining from alcohol and monitor cravings or urges to drink. Don’t try to go through recovery alone — reach out for help and support. The support of family, friends and others in recovery is crucial during this adjustment period.
- This is a staggering number considering that many other drugs do not even have the possibility of lethal withdrawals.
- Check out this medical article which provides further detail on withdrawal from alcohol.
- But if you still have control over your drinking and want to drink less, you may be able to self-taper.
- By consciously upgrading them to match my goal to drink less, saying “no” to a drink became easier and easier over time.
- If you notice an urge to use other substances, observe your feelings and consider talking to a counselor to help navigate the emotional impact of tapering your alcohol use.
Check in with your body for signs of detox
Before you start your detox, ensure you have enough alcohol on hand to last you a few days. Always keep some extra alcohol available in the event you experience severe withdrawal symptoms. The last thing you want is to run out of booze at three in the morning thinking you’re about to have a seizure. Tapering is the process of gradually decreasing your consumption of a substance over time to lessen the withdrawal symptoms if you’re physically dependent. This is the same thing they’ll do if you go to a detox facility or hospital, except they’ll use medications instead of alcohol for the taper.
After prolonged alcohol use, your body can come to rely on alcohol for normal functioning, and suddenly going without it can cause potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms. This phenomenon is often described as “alcohol dependence.” The most common more mild withdrawal symptoms include headaches, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. One of the more difficult parts is maintaining sobriety after you achieve it. Reducing alcohol consumption should begin with determining your baseline of use since your taper schedule depends on how much you drink before you start decreasing your intake. To calculate your baseline, you must know how many standard drinks you consume daily. Alcohol withdrawal occurs when alcohol use is suddenly stopped, removing its suppressing effect.
- Because symptoms such as seizures and delirium tremens can be fatal, reducing alcohol consumption can be dangerous for some.
- This reduces the severity of withdrawal symptoms and chances of fatal complications.
- By gradually tapering off alcohol, you can lower your risk for alcohol-related accidents or death.
- Gradually reducing the amount of alcohol you drink can help give your body the time it needs to adjust to the lack of alcohol.
If These 3 Celebrities Were Able to Conquer Addiction, You Can Too
Counting each drink you consume may seem simple, but all drinks are not created equal. The alcohol content itself is important, and it depends on the percentage of alcohol, the proof of the alcohol and the actual amount of alcohol in the drink. Get professional treatment and long-term support to prevent relapse. Set up therapy, counseling and support groups, a plan for sober living, and follow-up medical evaluations.
Reduce Your Number of Drinks Per Day
Slowly tapering your alcohol use can help you manage mild withdrawal symptoms and https://ecosoberhouse.com/ decrease the risk of AUD. However, you may experience withdrawal symptoms or relapse if you’re not tapering correctly and safely. If you’ve been drinking for a long time, you may experience withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking. People who try tapering off alcohol won’t have the guided support of medical professionals that they would at inpatient treatment. In contrast, in-patient care can be more beneficial and less expensive in the long-term.
Does Tapering Help Reduce Withdrawal Symptoms?
Sustainable recovery is possible and the best version of youself awaits at our Norcross addiction recovery center. We’ll help you learn that the opposite of addiction is connection. We’ll give you skills to discover your self-worth and show you the tools for a life of hope and promise.
Strategies for Safe Alcohol Reduction
For example, if you notice your tremors are getting pretty bad three days in, drink the same amount you drank on the third day for the following day. Try not to do this for too many days, though, or you may get stuck at that point. If you are underweight, a woman, FtM, or at weaning off alcohol risk of complications due to high blood pressure, consider tapering slower than this. Check out this medical article which provides further detail on withdrawal from alcohol.