The purpose of tapering off alcohol is to avoid major withdrawal symptoms so you can achieve sobriety safely. The time it takes to taper will depend on how long you’ve been drinking, how much you’ve been drinking and a variety of personal factors. For others, simply cutting back the number of drinks can bring on alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Many people with alcohol use disorder struggle with dehydration and nausea during withdrawal. Drinking lots of fluids, especially fluids with electrolytes, will help address dehydration and nausea and improve your overall health and ability to undergo withdrawal.
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But that does not mean home detox is effective, appropriate, or safe. Although you can use methods to taper off alcohol at home, the best way to taper is to talk to a doctor. They can monitor your intake and adjust it accordingly to reduce the risk of withdrawal symptoms. The time it takes to taper off alcohol varies based on how much a person drinks. Regardless, The initial detoxification process may take several days. This means that there is little data about the best way to taper your drinking.
- Quitting drinking can feel very isolating, making it even more difficult to do alone at home without medical support.
- Discussing these issues with a loved one can help you avoid relapse.
- If you abruptly stop consuming alcohol, your brain may not have enough sensitivity to GABA, which can result in hyper-excitability and withdrawal symptoms.
Have A Strong Support System
Getting curious about a life without alcohol is already an incredible step, and a healthier lifestyle is within reach. 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. In most cases, the longer you take to wean off the effects of alcohol, the less severe your withdrawal symptoms should be. However, it can be challenging to stick with a long-term tapering schedule, so you have to find the right balance for you. Lastly, it is essential to have a comprehensive plan that includes strategies for coping with cravings and emotional distress.
Common Withdrawal Symptoms
Some people are facing problems with their health or personal lives which require them to quit immediately. However, for many people with alcohol use disorder, tapering off alcohol is a far better experience than quitting abruptly. Weaning off alcohol can benefit people who drink moderately or have support systems.
Understanding and Implementing an Alcohol Taper Schedule
With kindling, the brain becomes increasingly sensitized to stopping alcohol. In turn, you can suffer from increasingly severe withdrawal symptoms every time you try to stop drinking. If you start to experience significant withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking, a taper can provide a much safer method to detox from alcohol.
You can read all about mindful drinking in this article by a licensed therapist at Monument. We are dedicated to transforming the despair of addiction into a purposeful life of confidence, self-respect and happiness. We want to give recovering addicts the tools to return to the outside world completely substance-free and successful.
The phrase cold turkey refers to abruptly stopping drug or alcohol use. Typically, when a person thinks about the word tapering they think of tapering off medications like opioids. With that being said, tapering is a lot safer than going cold turkey. Although going cold turkey on opioids is dangerous and can cause significant withdrawal symptoms, quitting alcohol cold turkey can be fatal.
Alcohol withdrawal can be a challenging and potentially dangerous process, requiring careful management and support. It often raises many questions, especially regarding effective strategies for managing symptoms and ensuring safety. Let’s address some how to taper off alcohol of the most frequently asked questions about alcohol withdrawal, providing insight into different aspects such as medication, home remedies, dietary considerations and more. An effective coping technique is to “fast forward” your relapse fantasy.
Potential alcohol withdrawal symptoms
The main difference between tapering and quitting alcohol cold turkey is how fast you quit. Cold turkey is a common slang term for quitting alcohol (or any substance) all at once. Tapering or weaning means ramping down your alcohol use until you get to zero—or to a more moderate level of drinking that you prefer. That said, tapering off alcohol doesn’t completely eliminate withdrawal symptoms. Alcohol withdrawal is dangerous and it’s important to be careful throughout the process. Being dependent on alcohol means you feel you’re not able to function without it and means stopping drinking can causes physical withdrawal symptoms like shaking, sweating or nausea.
