It can help you reach goals and can minimize some of the unpleasant and severe symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Usually, alcohol withdrawal symptoms occur within 12–24 hours after stopping alcohol and can last 2–10 https://ecosoberhouse.com/ days. The amount of time it takes to taper off of alcohol can vary greatly from person to person. Some people can taper quickly and quit alcohol completely, while others may take longer. But deciding to cut back on drinking is much more important than the length of your alcohol taper.
Be aware of your triggers
- Quitting binge drinking may require different strategies than either tapering or cold turkey.
- To avoid or reduce the impact of the withdrawal symptoms, people struggling with alcohol may choose to progressively taper off alcohol rather than quit abruptly.
- By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism.
- It is only advisable to direct taper if the preferred drink is beer with a low alcohol percentage.
- We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals.
In many ways, your life before now has been designed to make drinking as easy as possible. Consciously and unconsciously, you’ve organised your world to maximise drinking opportunities. As you approach the end of the process, it’s time to think about what happens next. Simply walking back into your life unprepared is a recipe for drinking that will get quickly gets out of hand. Depending on the clinical setting, a total of eight or more would indicate that medication may be necessary to control symptoms.
Looking after yourself as you taper off alcohol
If you drink heavily, alcohol withdrawal symptoms can be harsh, dangerous, and even fatal. For this reason, it’s generally best to avoid quitting abruptly, or at bare minimum speak with a doctor first and have someone looking out for you. Remember that weaning yourself off of alcohol is a journey what is alcoholism that requires time, patience, and commitment.
What are the risks of quitting alcohol cold turkey?
Some find tapering is not a suitable option to stop drinking due to various factors such as social responsibilities or peer pressure. For many people, tapering alone is insufficient to help heal their addiction. Talk to a medical professional if you have any concerns about tapering off alcohol. They can provide recommendations to help you avoid harmful side effects.
- AUD can be dangerous, especially when you drink heavily in one sitting, risking alcohol poisoning.
- For over 20 years Dr. Umhau was a senior clinical investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- There are two types of triggers that can set off a person’s urge to drink.
- So if you feel the urge to drink more than your plan permits, give yourself a 20-minute breathing space.
You can read all about mindful drinking in this article by a licensed therapist at Monument. When it comes to weaning yourself off of alcohol, identifying your triggers is a crucial step. Triggers are situations or emotions that make you want to drink, and they can vary from person to person. By taking the time to identify your triggers, you can develop strategies to avoid or manage them, which can help you stay on track with your goals. Remember, weaning yourself off alcohol is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
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. Being exposed to either form of a trigger can result in unwanted relapse. A final strategy to assist with an alcohol taper is to get a good network of peer support. It is important that your recovery plan has a list of people who can support you as you wean off alcohol.
It does this by providing compassionate care and evidence-based content that addresses health, treatment, and recovery. For some people who consume alcohol, tapering just doesn’t work. Maybe they weaning off alcohol don’t have peer support or maybe their alcohol addiction is too severe.