Alcohol works by increasing the potency of a neutral chemical in the brain called GABA, or gamma-Aminobutyric acid. 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. Central nervous system depressants are a class of drugs that includes several prescription medications like benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and sedative-hypnotics. Depressants are so-called because they depress activity in the central nervous system. In other words, they slow down chemical communication in the brain and body.
What Is the Best Way To Cut Down on Drinking Alcohol?
You can master the necessary life skills to maintain your sober lifestyle through treatment. Quitting alcohol cold turkey is not recommended and can be dangerous. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that leads to an increase in brain neurotransmitters that slow down your brain’s functions, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). When you drink heavily over a long period, your brain and body adapt to expect this. If you are struggling to stop or cut down through alcohol tapering, this may be a sign to seek more help, Lee said. There are a variety of resources to explore, including 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or SMART Recovery, Lee explained.
- A healthcare provider can give you a better idea of the timeline for your specific situation.
- If you or a loved one is suffering from an alcohol use disorder, it can feel like being trapped in a tunnel with no way out.
- Dependence is often accompanied by tolerance, which is when it takes more and more alcohol for you to achieve the same effects that you experienced when you first started.
- Withdrawal symptoms can vary in severity and depend on many factors, such as drinking history, metabolism, age, medical condition, what other substances or medication you take, and more.
- If you drink heavily on a regular basis, it can be dangerous to stop alcohol cold turkey.
However, it increases the risk of not completing the taper or relapsing afterward. This is because each withdrawal attempt increases the severity of the next. Now that you’ve successfully completed the detoxification process, it’s time to build your sobriety toolkit through treatment. Studies show that those who receive some type of formal treatment after detox are more likely to maintain sobriety8. An Orange County center treating addiction and dual diagnoses with a whole-person approach to care, evidence-based therapies, and reintegration support.
Identifying Drinking Habits
In more severe cases, you may need a medically supervised detox program. Alcohol Tapering is a method of decreasing alcohol intake slowly and in a manageable manner. Rather than quitting cold turkey, which could lead to severe (maybe even fatal) withdrawal symptoms, tapering is a slower reduction of alcohol over time. Drinking less each day can help you eventually achieve alcohol abstinence or drinking moderation. This depends on several factors, including how much alcohol you typically consume, how long you’ve been drinking, and your overall health. For some, the process might take a few days, while others may need several weeks to safely taper off alcohol.
How Long Does It Take to Break Nicotine Addiction?
With tapering, you start slowly to minimize the chances of severe withdrawal and relapse, avoiding the shock quitting cold turkey can cause. Alcohol tapering should be personalized, based on how much and the length of time someone has been drinking. Creating a tapering schedule you can stick with is a crucial part of weaning yourself off alcohol.
When Should You Seek Medical Advice?
Although tapering down has many advantages, it is critical that you consult with a medical or addiction treatment professional first. In many cases, medically-supervised alcohol detox is the only safe way to stop drinking, especially if you’re suffering from AUD. This is why it’s always best to find some form of long-term support in sobriety. Support groups, from Alcoholics Anonymous to SMART Recovery, are one free way to find a community of people on the same journey. There are also a number of anti-craving medications to help you avoid drinking again, or even help with your tapering process. Finally, finding a therapist or a Sober Houses Rules That You Should Follow recovery coach can help you develop new coping mechanisms and move forward in your life.
You can read all about mindful drinking in this article by a licensed therapist at Monument. After prolonged alcohol use, your body can come to rely on alcohol for normal functioning, and suddenly going without it can cause potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms. This phenomenon is often described as “alcohol dependence.” The most common more mild withdrawal symptoms include headaches, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. Some find tapering is not a suitable option to stop drinking due to various factors such as social responsibilities or peer pressure.
Through our programs, weekly house gatherings, employment support, money management, family outreach, and a solid foundation based on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our admissions team is available 24/7 to listen to your story and help you get started with the next steps. Delamere describes the different stages that you go through while detoxing from alcohol6. Weaning off alcohol is a hard process, but it is something that you should be immensely proud of. That’s why it’s important to remember that relapse is not failure.
If your medical history includes other conditions like seizures, liver problems, or mental health issues, you should not attempt to quit alcohol without the help of medical supervision. A medical team can help you manage these symptoms and stop them from developing into a life-threatening emergency. Tapering off alcohol is generally https://yourhealthmagazine.net/article/addiction/sober-houses-rules-that-you-should-follow/ safer and more effective than quitting cold turkey.
Offers evidence-based, step-down care from residential to outpatient to aftercare. Reducing the amount of the chosen substance consumed daily is known as a direct taper, but it may not be effective for everyone. It is only advisable to direct taper if the preferred drink is beer with a low alcohol percentage. You might be surprised to find that you don’t need alcohol to enjoy certain events and previously would drink out of habit. “Replacing time or events spent drinking with other enjoyable activities is helpful.
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. Some symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, especially Delirium Tremens (DT) and seizures can be fatal, and hundreds of Americans die every year as a result. Depending on how much you drink, tapering off alcohol can take one to several weeks. It’s best to reduce your drinking by a small amount each day to avoid the shock to your system. So, if you normally have 6 beers a day, you could be done tapering within one week.
If you’ve decided to taper off alcohol, you’ll need to be prepared with some strategies to make the process easier. 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. It’s a good idea to talk with a medical professional before you begin a taper. They can help you decide if it’s the safest way to start your recovery, and they can help you make a taper plan.
As a result, quitting alcohol might become more dangerous than necessary. Keep in mind that there is no medically recommended tapering schedule. But if you do plan on tapering, it is wise to discuss your tapering schedule with a doctor before attempting it. Just like every person’s experience with alcohol addiction varies, so does their experience with quitting. The best method for quitting depends on your unique medical history and dependence level.
Early symptoms of alcohol withdrawal usually start about six hours after the last drink. Early symptoms include headache, sweating, tremors, vomiting and difficulty concentrating. If you’ve been unable to quit on your own, you should consider attending an alcohol rehab center. It teaches you healthy ways to cope with stress and techniques for overcoming the underlying causes of alcohol addiction.
