You may be wondering how to begin the process of ridding yourself or your loved one of alcohol use once and for all. This involves directly reducing the amount of alcohol you consume regularly. For example, if you typically drink five beers a night, you might cut down to four, then three, and so on.
– Read a book.
Alcohol withdrawal usually lasts for a https://appsychology.com/living-in-a-sober-house/ few days, but some effects may linger for months. Symptoms are most severe around day 34, and the total process can last for 2 to 10 days. There are two types of triggers that can set off a person’s urge to drink. External triggers are people, places, things, or times that offer opportunities to drink and remind a person of alcohol. Internal triggers are thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations that cause a person to drink.
Set Aside Time to Focus on The Detox
- You may feel you’re in control of your addiction, and that it’s okay to have a cheat day and drink a little more.
- They monitor you, provide what you need throughout the process, and administer medications to help slowly wean you off of alcohol.
- Getting professional treatment for alcohol addiction can give you the tools to create, and maintain, a healthy and happy lifestyle.
- This 20-minute break allows the alcohol to hit your bloodstream and reduces the cravings for another drink, preventing you from overdoing it.
- Most people recover from alcohol withdrawal within a week, but people with severe dependency may experience withdrawal for multiple weeks.
It’s vital to speak with a medical professional before you begin weaning off alcohol to ensure you have a plan to do so safely. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Online Therapy Can Help
The kindling effect is an important reason to approach quitting and seek professional guidance seriously. The medical provider will give you feedback based on their assessment as well as treatment recommendations. Sometimes detox involves medication such as thiamine, which can help reduce the risk for Wernicke’s encephalopathy; a thiamine deficiency causes this life-threatening disease. If you start to experience significant withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking, a taper can provide a much safer method to detox from alcohol.
Often, people are tempted to turn back to alcohol to ease the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms. Going “cold turkey” means abruptly stopping drinking entirely, leading to uncomfortable withdrawal effects. The intensity of the withdrawal symptoms depends on the severity of the alcoholism. Although it is possible to taper your alcohol use alone, professionals highly advise that you seek medical attention. Detoxing from alcohol can be dangerous if you don’t do it properly.
After all, you’re trying to stop or lessen drinking, not continue. However, using this method can help you avoid severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms and decrease the risk of a relapse. It can be tempting to just “rip off the Band-Aid” when getting sober, but tapering off alcohol is often much safer—and much less stressful. Rather than quitting drinking abruptly (or “cold turkey”), many professionals recommend gradually reducing your drinking (or tapering) over time.
How to Taper Off Alcohol Safely
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 Sober House Rules: A Comprehensive Overview a doctor to ensure your plan is a safe one, and won’t cause dangerous withdrawal symptoms. The kindling effect refers to the increasing severity of withdrawal symptoms each time you go through alcohol detox. If you’ve tried to quit multiple times, each subsequent withdrawal can become more severe. This means that an unsuccessful tapering attempt isn’t just a failed attempt; it can actually be harder to try again in the future.
I’ll be honest, your chances of staying sober on your own are slim to none. 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.
- Although all forms of alcohol cessation should be done with medical guidance, tapering your alcohol intake may allow you to self-wean from drinking at home.
- If you’ve tried to quit multiple times, each subsequent withdrawal can become more severe.
- The second is alcohol detox treatment programs that work to remove alcohol from your system safely.
- These programs offer more flexibility than residential rehab, while still supporting a healthy lifestyle for people in recovery.
This can give your body the chance to adjust, helping you avoid the worst of withdrawal symptoms. You may experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking alcohol. This can happen whether you’re quitting alcohol cold turkey or tapering.
- You’ll likely face the urge to drink more than you’ve planned each day, but there are some good tricks to help you delay that next serving and keep yourself honest.
- Detoxing from alcohol can be dangerous if you don’t do it properly.
- Instead of quitting alcohol cold turkey, you can steadily reduce your consumption so that your body has time to gradually readjust to absence of alcohol.
- There are several ways to taper your alcohol consumption without therapy.
- Tapering can help you overcome alcohol dependence, which is a side effect of chronic alcohol use that causes cravings and withdrawal.
How To Wean Off Alcohol: A Step-by Step Guide
Slowly tapering off alcohol is the safest way to naturally overcome alcohol withdrawal, and many at-home remedies can help you cope with mild withdrawal symptoms. However, medical treatment is necessary to treat major symptoms of withdrawal. The purpose of tapering off alcohol is to avoid major withdrawal symptoms so you can achieve sobriety safely.
There is a residential inpatient treatment program with medical supervision. During rehab, you will have the opportunity to participate in group therapy. Serenity Lane offers rehabilitation for alcoholism, or alcohol use disorder. We offer safe medical detox for those withdrawing from alcohol.
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.
