While tapering off alcohol can be an effective self-treatment strategy, it’s important to note that what works for one person may not be safe for everyone. Therefore, seeking professional care to develop a customized tapering strategy is highly recommended. In some cases, a benzodiazepine regimen may be used to replace the body’s alcohol needs during tapering.
Avoiding the Symptoms of Alcohol Withdrawal
The search for addiction and mental health treatment can be overwhelming. We created this guide to support you in finding treatment that meets your needs. 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.
- Other tips include not combining medications with alcohol, especially medicines that slow the respiratory system.
- Serenity Lane offers rehabilitation for alcoholism, or alcohol use disorder.
- Weaning off alcohol involves gradually decreasing the amount of alcohol you drink.
- As many as 71% of people who go through alcohol detox experience symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
- Expert strategies to address substance use and spring break concerns with your college kid.
This process involves gradually reducing alcohol intake over time, which can be a safer and more effective method than abruptly quitting. Outpatient treatment can be an option for individuals with mild-to-moderate alcohol withdrawal symptoms. However, when you quit drinking abruptly, your body’s chemical balance will be thrown off suddenly, leading to uncomfortable side effects. You will have an imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory chemicals in your nervous system. This is why many of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms seem to be related to overstimulation, like shaky hands, racing thoughts, and insomnia.
They will be able to help you uncover the underlying causes of your drinking issues and properly diagnose any co-occurring mental health conditions that you may be suffering from. Weaning off alcohol is considerably safer and more effective than going cold turkey. If you are looking for how to taper off alcohol, you can follow these steps. Alcoholism, more correctly known as alcohol use disorder (AUD), impacts more than 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 12. Luckily, there are ways to safely reduce your alcohol consumption and get your life back on track.
Take a Vacation to Boost Your Mental Health
Although I didn’t experience any seizures, I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. In addition to these strategies, it’s important to build a support system and consider seeking professional guidance to increase your chances of successfully tapering off alcohol. With the right strategies and support in place, you can take control of your relationship with alcohol and pave the way for a brighter, alcohol-free future. By tapering off, individuals can gradually break the cycle of alcohol dependence and reduce the chances of experiencing intense cravings or relapses. It provides a more realistic and sustainable path towards sobriety, increasing the chances of long-term success.
Always remember that if the taper is not working for you or if you are having major withdrawal that it is safest to check into a medical detox because alcohol withdrawal can kill you. Quitting alcohol can be extremely hard, especially without medical support. Further, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression are extremely common in those who struggle with drinking, and these disorders can make it even harder to stay sober. 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.
How to Safely and Effectively Wean Off Alcohol
Rather than quitting drinking abruptly (or “cold turkey”), many professionals recommend gradually reducing your drinking (or tapering) over time. This can give your body the chance https://yourhealthmagazine.net/article/addiction/sober-houses-rules-that-you-should-follow/ to adjust, helping you avoid the worst of withdrawal symptoms. You may experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking alcohol.
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. Gradual reduction of alcohol intake or tapering helps avoid severe withdrawal symptoms that can occur when one stops drinking abruptly.
What to Expect When You Reduce Your Alcohol Consumption
- Depending on the amount and length of time someone drinks, they may experience symptoms when tapering.
- For others, simply cutting back the number of drinks can bring on alcohol withdrawal symptoms, making it more difficult to stop.
- A taper might be helpful for those who find they cannot stop drinking without experiencing negative symptoms.
- And the balance of risk and benefit likely varies from person to person, based on individual factors such as genetics and lifestyle factors.
- If you are struggling to stop or cut down through alcohol tapering, this may be a sign to seek more help, Lee said.
Tapering is the process of gradually weaning off alcohol rather than quitting cold turkey. Generally speaking, alcohol home detox is neither the most effective nor the safest method of quitting alcohol. However, it may be suitable for someone with a lower risk of experiencing alcohol withdrawal, or a person who has access to medical professionals at home. If you properly taper your alcohol use, you’re less likely to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Gradually reducing the amount of alcohol you drink can help give your body the time it needs to adjust to the lack of alcohol.
Cutting back your drinking each day can help your body and mind adjust to a new normal. But the idea of alcohol tapering, the gradual reduction of alcohol, might seem counterintuitive. 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. When it comes to quitting alcohol, tapering off is often considered a safer and more manageable approach. This method involves gradually reducing alcohol consumption over time, allowing the body to adjust to the changes.
The most common research technique among those surveyed is an internet search (61%), followed by asking a doctor or medical professional (55%). If you’re relying on internet searches to find potential treatment centers, make sure to ask these ten questions to find a licensed facility that can meet your needs. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that affects your brain. When you quit drinking or wean off alcohol, your body will adjust to the lack of alcohol in your body. For people who moderately consume alcohol, tapering off may be a good option.
Substituting a prescription drug for alcohol should only happen with the help of a medical professional. No one should ever attempt a substitution taper with prescription medication unless their doctor specifically prescribed it for that purpose in a medical detox program. As the Medical Director, Mark works with the staff to coordinate the appropriate level of care for each individual client. He sober house works directly with the clients on management of medical issues both related to and separate from their addiction, ensuring comprehensive health care plans that ensure our clients’ chances at recovery.
PTSD: Not A Life Sentence
In 2015, Corey was given the opportunity to join Amethyst Recovery Center’s Business Development team. In 2018, Corey had the opportunity to partner with Amethyst and USR to open The Freedom Center in his to hometown of Gaithersburg, MD. Throughout his tenure at The Freedom Center, he has strategically built relationship with referring providers, hospitals and local government leaders.
Remember, it’s not about achieving immediate perfection but about making steady progress towards your goal of sobriety. When attempting to understand how to wean yourself off alcohol safely, it’s essential to first comprehend the concept of alcohol withdrawal. Alcohol works by increasing the potency of a neutral chemical in the brain called GABA, or gamma-Aminobutyric acid.