How To Taper Off Alcohol

It has a lot of water and you can find them in the 4.5-5% range. I wouldn’t recommend getting anything above 7% for your taper. If you don’t like beers, drink beers (find ones with lower alcohol, some have high concentrations). If you mess up once or twice and drink more than you intended to, don’t be too discouraged.

Alcohol Detox at Home

Medical professionals will often, however, recommend a professional detox in which withdrawal symptoms are treated instead of avoided so that you can get off of alcohol as quickly as possible. The main downside of tapering off is that it requires discipline. You’ll need to stick with gradual reduction every day and not revert to previous levels of consumption, otherwise it won’t work. If it’s too hard to control how much you drink each day, weaning might not be the right strategy. That said, there are now several medications that can help reduce your cravings and make weaning off alcohol easier. The main difference between tapering and quitting alcohol cold turkey is how fast you quit.

• Gradually reducing alcohol consumption can be achieved through a substitution taper.
• If you can get through a day with no physical withdrawal symptoms, you probably won’t need to taper.
• Choosing to taper off alcohol is an admirable decision and a step in the right direction.
• When you call our team, you will speak to a Recovery Advocate who will answer any questions and perform a pre-assessment to determine your eligibility for treatment.
• Typically, alcohol withdrawal symptoms happen for heavier drinkers.

Why Alcohol Withdrawal Occurs

• Once they appear, acute symptoms may continue for around a week.
• More serious alcohol withdrawal symptoms may require medical attention.
• Alcohol withdrawal is potentially fatal, especially for people with an alcohol addiction.
• BetterHelp offers affordable mental health care via phone, video, or live-chat.
• The alcohol withdrawal symptom delirium tremens (DT) is estimated to kill up to 5% of those attempting to quit suddenly after chronic usage.

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. Alcoholism, or alcohol use disorder, is a mental health issue. You’ve been conditioning your brain to work on alcohol, and over time, its structure has physically changed[2]. Overcoming this with sheer willpower is going to be difficult, but it can be done.

You Have a High Risk of Addiction or Complications From Drinking

• It is important to monitor withdrawal symptoms closely and make adjustments to the tapering plan as needed.
• If you’re cross-addicted to harder drugs like stimulants or opiates, you need to stop using those.
• This is especially true of heavy drinkers who are surrounded by the triggers that encourage drinking and lack the support needed to encourage change.
• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive alcohol use can lead to significant health risks, including injuries, violence, liver diseases, and cancer.
• Medications such as benzodiazepines, gabapentin, or valproate may be used adjunctively to manage persistent symptoms and support the tapering process.

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. It is important to note that alcohol tapers are generally not recommended as the best way to stop using alcohol. Most healthcare professionals recommend a medically-assisted detox as the best way to get off alcohol. Many people can recover by going to a specialized rehab center that uses proven treatments.

Creating a tapering schedule you can stick with is a crucial part of weaning yourself off alcohol. The best schedule varies based on how much you drink each day and your overall health. As mentioned above, we strongly recommend speaking with a doctor to ensure beer taper your plan is a safe one, and won’t cause dangerous withdrawal symptoms. The HAMS tapering guide suggests dropping your consumption to 16 drinks the first day if you were drinking more than that, and then reducing your consumption by two drinks per day.

Minimized Risk of Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

If you must get drunk during your taper, do yourself a favor and just get buzzed, not completely trashed. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms are more likely in heavy drinkers. Withdrawal usually begins 6 to 8 hours after the last drink and peaks within https://ecosoberhouse.com/ 72 hours. There are several ways to taper your alcohol consumption without therapy. You should not begin a tapering plan before talking to your doctor. Based on your medical history, your doctor can advise you about the safety of the taper.

Establishing new habits and routines, and dealing with the underlying causes of your drinking habits, are essential to lasting recovery. Alcohol also changes your brain chemistry, which can result in higher levels of anxiety and depression for the first several months. Finally, just because you’ve gotten past the withdrawal phase doesn’t mean you won’t continue to face psychological aspects of addiction—including alcohol cravings and drinking triggers. Risky withdrawal symptoms are not limited to the above.3 Learn more about alcohol withdrawal here and, once again, speak to a doctor first.