Here’s how to wean off alcohol—including useful strategies, how to create a tapering schedule, and how to stay safe throughout the process. Slowly tapering your alcohol use can help you manage mild withdrawal symptoms and decrease the risk of AUD. However, you may experience withdrawal symptoms or relapse if you’re not tapering correctly and safely.

If you drink heavily, your doctor may recommend quitting with the help of a medical detox center. In medical detox, you receive around-the-clock care from doctors and nurses to help prevent and treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms and their complications. This can set you up for a safe and effective detox and put you in a good position to continue your recovery in rehab. When you gradually drink less instead of quitting cold turkey, you give your body a chance to get used to smaller amounts of alcohol. This may reduce the risk or severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms, but it will lengthen the time it takes to stop using alcohol and reduce the likelihood of your efforts being successful. People who have alcohol use disorder that goes undiagnosed may have an especially difficult time cutting back on their alcohol consumption.

Reduce Your Number of Drinks Per Day

Each of these challenges requires a unique approach and often the support of professionals, loved ones and support groups. Understanding and preparing for these difficulties can greatly enhance the chances of successful recovery. If you or someone tapering off alcohol you know is experiencing symptoms consistent with DTs, call 911. DTs can be fatal, and a person going through them should have medical support in a hospital or rehab facility. Your body needs time to adjust to the changes it will experience.

• Unlike inpatient treatment, tapering allows people to maintain their lifestyles while improving their drinking habits.
• His JAD Reports survey found similar psychological withdrawal issues, including anxiety and mood swings, in people who had been prescribed the drugs for physical conditions like migraines, chronic fatigue, or pain.
• People with alcohol use disorder can’t stop drinking even when it causes problems, like emotional distress or physical harm to themselves or others.
• Some have the same symptoms as on day one and ask, “How long does this last?” The urge to relieve those withdrawal symptoms with a drink can be overwhelming.
• In Witt-Doerring’s practice, older people take longer to recover than younger ones.

If you drink heavily on a regular basis, it can be dangerous to stop alcohol cold turkey. For this reason, you should not suddenly quit drinking without talking to your doctor. The consequences of quitting alcohol cold turkey can be serious and lead to alcohol withdrawal syndrome, which can be fatal in severe cases. Creating a tapering schedule you can stick with is a crucial part of weaning yourself off alcohol.

Long-Term Impact of Alcohol Use and the Need for Tapering

It’s also important to point out that if you struggle with episodic binge drinking (for example, drinking dangerous amounts every weekend, but not drinking during the week), this may not apply to your situation. Quitting binge drinking may require different strategies than either tapering or cold turkey. Moreover, substituting one kind of beverage for another does not help you taper off alcohol if you consume the same number of standard drinks as you usually have.

Ultimately, you need to decide to get sober for yourself, but if getting sober for someone else or something else motivates you in the beginning, it’s still a step in the right direction. Mixing alcohol with benzos is very dangerous and will land you in the hospital really fast. We have taken the necessary precautions to minimize the risk of exposure and transmission of the Coronavirus to those in our treatment programs, allowing them to focus on their recovery. “The role of GABAA receptors in mediating the effects of alcohol in the central nervous system.” Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, July 28, 2003.

Alcohol Withdrawal Timeline

GABA is a neurotransmitter responsible for your brain’s rest and digest response, which helps to facilitate sleep, relaxation, and anxiety release. However, your body is adaptable, and after a period of regular, heavy drinking, your nervous system will adapt to the presence of alcohol. Alcohol tapering https://ecosoberhouse.com/ is definitely possible, but the question of whether or not it works is not quite as straightforward. In the same way that everyone person is unique and their experience with addiction is going to be unique, the most effective method of recovery is also going to vary from person to person.

If left untreated, withdrawal can progress to complicated alcohol withdrawal. Take the first step toward addiction treatment by contacting us today. Another clue that can be an indication of an unhealthy relationship with alcohol is if you make “rules” around drinking. Therapy can help you understand why you drink and learn new habits so you can live a healthy lifestyle that doesn’t rely on alcohol as a crutch. It can also help you gain a new perspective as you consider how your life will change without alcohol.

Severe Symptoms

A counselor can advise on ways to cope with the mental and emotional aspects of withdrawal. These symptoms generally appear 12 to 24 hours after your last drink. While these symptoms are more severe than Stage 1, they are not life-threatening.