How to Wean Off Alcohol Safely and Effectively

Consumption should be minimal; just enough to prevent withdrawal symptoms and gradually reducing the amount until you are no longer using alcohol. You should be able to taper off alcohol within a few days, 3 to 5 days at the most. While you are tapering off alcohol, it is important that you stay hydrated. Follow a healthy diet with fruits and vegetables, and take a multi-vitamin.

It doesn’t mean you have to go to rehab (though that’s certainly an option). You can try support groups, therapy, psychiatrists, spiritual groups, and outpatient rehab services. I have a complete guide on Alternatives to Rehab, which has over a dozen different options to select from. If you can get through a day with no physical withdrawal symptoms, you probably won’t need to taper. If you get moderate tremors or start hallucinating six hours after your last drink, you probably need to taper.

Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

Unfortunately, alcohol tapering has not been extensively studied. This means that there is little data about the best way to taper your drinking. However, some groups have published tapering examples to assist those trying to quit drinking. Quitting alcohol cold turkey is not recommended and can be dangerous.

• We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals.
• Rather than quitting drinking abruptly (or “cold turkey”), many professionals recommend gradually reducing your drinking (or tapering) over time.
• They may have trouble relating to you and you could feel out-of-place talking to them about your problems.
• Many insurance companies will help pay for some or all of your treatment costs.
• “Using a medication such as naltrexone increases the overall chances that people can cut down or quit,” Lee said.
• However, even the best-designed tapers can put you at risk for alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

Can You Taper Off Alcohol Safely At Home?

If you choose moderate alcohol use, the best way to avoid alcohol withdrawal is to refrain from alcohol use two days in a row. If alcohol use is more frequent, try to abstain at least three days each week. Alcohol Tapering can help people start their recovery journey, including those with goals of stopping completely or curbing drinking. Tapering can also be effective for people who are unable to attend an in-person program or detox to help them stop drinking. If the drink of choice is liquor, it is difficult to measure amounts and easy to binge drink.

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If you don’t like beers, drink beers (find ones with lower alcohol, some have high concentrations). I have created a printable tapering guide you can download. It includes a logging section you can use to keep track of your daily alcohol intake, along with some withdrawal warnings. You can use an app like AlcoTrack (Android) or DrinkControl (Apple) to keep a log of your daily drinking and see your progression. You can enter in the type of drinks you consume and when you drink them to determine the total amount of alcohol you consume each day. This will help you figure out a baseline to start your taper.

Alcohol withdrawal occurs when neurotransmitters that combat the effects of alcohol on the nervous system suddenly have nothing to counteract them. Essentially, when an individual drinks, the brain amplifies certain activities to counterbalance the depressive effect alcohol has on it. When that numbing sensation disappears entirely, the brain is left dangerously overstimulated. Insomnia, anxiety and paranoia — the opposite effects of alcohol — are the expected results. Thus, a user will likely seek out alcohol again to rid themselves of the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.

I couldn’t locate a study on people who tapered at home with alcohol, because it’s kind of hard to assess the topic, and no rehabs are detoxing people with alcohol. The chance of experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms increases if you’ve had them before, or if you’re older. You need to make your own schedule and determine what’s best for you. If you try a slower taper, you risk dragging it out too long and decreasing your chances of quitting. If you do it too fast, you increase your chance of severe withdrawal.

Gradually decreasing alcohol intake through supervised tapering can make quitting safer and ease withdrawal severity. If you regularly drink a handle of liquor (around 40 standard drinks) or more per day, please seek professional help. If you’ve been drinking heavily for a long time and think you might experience withdrawal symptoms, it’s best to talk with a medical professional before you begin a taper. They can help you decide if tapering is the safest option for you. Depending on how much alcohol you drink to start with, the amount of time an alcohol weaning schedule takes may vary.

Sample Alcohol Tapering Schedule

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. Only people who are tapering down from very large quantities of alcohol such as a liter of vodka per day will need to start drinking https://appsychology.com/living-in-a-sober-house/ in the morning in order to taper.

When to Seek Medical Attention

You might select a light beer instead of a harder liquor, like whiskey. To sober house curb habitual drinking, alternating between alcohol and water is useful. Substituting a prescription drug for alcohol should only happen with the help of a medical professional.

• For example, if you start to suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms despite an attempt to taper, your symptoms may worsen before you have the chance to seek medical attention.
• As long as safety precautions are taken, there’s no wrong way to begin a sobriety or moderation journey.
• Remember your motivation for cutting back and set realistic goals.
• Long-term alcohol use can lead to alcohol use disorder (AUD) and physical dependence.
• Your doctor can determine if tapering alcohol is safe for your unique situation and help you create a plan to quit drinking alcohol.

Remember, you can always slow your taper, drink more alcohol, or seek medical help if needed. The idea is to religiously take this like medicine for the next week or two. As a general rule, if you’ve been drinking an average of 10 drinks or more a day every day for more than a couple of weeks, you will need to taper.

Since alcohol depresses central nervous system activity, quitting drinking can cause an imbalance of an excitatory neurotransmitter called glutamate. This excess glutamate triggers alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which can sometimes be dangerous. When you taper your alcohol, you slowly reduce your alcohol intake over time.

If you suddenly quit drinking, your body can struggle to catch up. Because alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, quitting drinking can cause your body to have too much of an excitatory substance called glutamate as it tries to rebalance. This can trigger alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which can be dangerous in some cases. Quitting cold turkey is the preferred method of withdrawal, but only if done under medical supervision, where symptoms can be treated as they occur. The idea of detoxing or tapering is to prevent the more severe withdrawal effects. You may still experience some of the less severe withdrawal symptoms.

Eventually, after a period of time, you will have tapered down to zero drinks. If you’re interested in medication-assisted treatment, medication to curb cravings can be a helpful tool for reducing your consumption. Long-term alcohol use can lead to alcohol use disorder (AUD) and physical dependence.