A doctor can supervise your tapering progress, helping you manage your cravings and prevent relapse. Overall, getting professional help can improve your chances for long-term sobriety. A substitution taper refers to switching strong liquor for an alternative that contains less alcohol, like beer. Once you’ve changed to a less alcoholic option, you can gradually reduce your drink amount. There are two ways to taper off alcohol—a direct or substitution taper. The success of these strategies will depend on how much you drink and what you drink.
Minor symptoms of alcohol withdrawal can start as soon as six hours after the last drink of alcohol. Tapering is the practice of slowly reducing regular consumption of a substance like alcohol. Tapering can help a person avoid uncomfortable and sometimes https://g-markets.net/sober-living/man-serving-sentence-for-attacking-parents-fails/ deadly symptoms of withdrawal. These are offered to patients with moderate to severe Alcohol Use Disorder, having the goal of reducing alcohol consumption and achieving abstinence, and they can be used in acute withdrawal syndrome treatment.
Healthy Skin, Feeling Better
Besides its positive health benefits, it can help you quit drinking after weeks or months. 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. For people who moderately consume alcohol, tapering off may be a good option.
- These schedules are largely based on my experience of self tapering, what I’ve read on r/dryalcoholics and HAMS Harm Reduction Guide to Tapering.
- The tapering down process can take place for the first several weeks or even months of the alcohol recovery timeline.
- You should talk to a doctor about the safest way to detox if you experience any withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking.
Many treatment professionals recommend using standard beer (about 5% ABV) for use when https://trading-market.org/essential-tremor-alcohol-treatment/. While the choice of drink is up to the individual, beer is considered the safer option, and no measuring is needed – one standard can or bottle of beer is the correct amount to use. Gain the perspective of those who have attempted tapering off alcohol. The more information gained and the more emotional support provided can make a big difference. Personal health, both physical and mental, as well as someone’s current drinking habits, should also be taken into account before deciding on anything. Yes, your tolerance to alcohol can diminish fairly quickly after you stop drinking.
Getting Help for Alcohol Withdrawal
Then come up with a reduction rate you think will be safe, and that you can stick to. With these things in mind, you need to weigh the pros and cons of tapering your alcohol use—ideally with someone you trust—to make a fully informed Guilt and Grief: Making A Living Amends decision. Excessive drinking can weaken the immune system, increasing the body’s likelihood of developing an infection. Diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis are more frequent in individuals who chronically drink.
The problem is that this can drag your taper out for several weeks or even months, depending on how slowly you’ve tapered and how much you’ve been drinking to start. Your chances of completing the taper successfully may be lower, but your risk of withdrawal symptoms may be lower too, since you’re giving your body more time to acclimate to the lower amounts of alcohol. I don’t think I could go through more than a couple weeks of tapering, but you do you. If you are a frequent drinker determined to reduce or stop your alcohol intake, the safest way to do this at home is through a gradual tapering process. Attempting to quit all at once can lead to severe symptoms that can be difficult to manage safely outside of a detox setting. Treatment varies depending on the severity of withdrawal symptoms.
Why Taper?
For those at risk for severe withdrawal symptoms, medically-supervised detox is often the safest choice for beginning their sobriety or moderation journey. Others may discover after consulting with a doctor that it’s safe for them to quit alcohol cold turkey if they choose to. However, they may still decide that tapering down feels most achievable for them. If you’re not sure if cold turkey or tapering is right for you, you can join the Monument Community to hear from others who have confronted similar questions. Whatever method you use to taper down, your plan should also be approved and monitored by a healthcare profession to ensure your safety.
