The Recovery Village Atlanta offers comprehensive addiction treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and co-occurring mental health conditions. Educate yourself on potential withdrawal symptoms and have a support system in place. Evaluate the pros and cons of tapering and consider quitting with medical help instead of trying to do it yourself. Once alcohol is stopped, your brain continues to be hyperactive until it readjusts to the absence of alcohol. This process is often referred to as detox and often causes withdrawal symptoms. Over the long term, many health benefits occur throughout your body.

Evaluate Your Drinking Habits

Then come up with a reduction rate you think will be safe, and that you can stick to. At Ria, we offer weekly meetings with certified counselors to help members stay on track and build skills for long-term change. Quitting alcohol completely can be a challenge, but there are more ways to do it than ever before. John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine. 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). Alcohol withdrawal can cause many symptoms, some of which can be fatal.

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. When an individual has developed a substance use disorder or dependence on alcohol, stopping its use outright can seem virtually impossible. On top of this, quitting immediately — or “cold turkey” as many users and professionals call it — can be dangerous. Withdrawal symptoms are generally uncomfortable to deal with, but they can be fatal. 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.

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As you begin your alcohol tapering process, talk to someone you trust about your plan. Consider sharing your process with Living in a Sober House: Fundamental Rules a friend or family member so they can offer helpful support. Ultimately, you shouldn’t taper off of alcohol unless you’ve checked with your doctor first. Because of the risk of a lower success rate and prolonged alcohol exposure, most healthcare professionals will recommend a professional detox over tapering. If you are tapering off of alcohol, the time it takes depends entirely on how long the taper is and how well you adhere to it. One of the reasons that medical professionals tend to avoid tapers is that they can be difficult to follow and may be more likely to be unsuccessful than faster options.

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Severe withdrawal symptoms, called delirium tremens (DT) can be fatal. Alcohol tapers are strategies to stop drinking by slowly decreasing the amount of alcohol a person consumes. Did you know most insurance companies will cover the cost of drug and alcohol detox? Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs.

How Alcohol Addiction Is Like an Abusive Relationship

Tapering can sometimes help a person avoid uncomfortable and sometimes deadly symptoms of withdrawal. The best way to taper off alcohol is to find healthcare professionals who can assess one’s current intake. This will be the basis of the protocol to taper off the substance to increase the chances of success. With a Master’s Degree from Tufts School of Medicine and Emerson College in Health Communication, Laura has continued to find excitement and challenge in her chosen field.

• Tapering off alcohol involves gradually reducing the amount of alcohol you drink.
• But if heavy drinkers cut back on their average number of drinks too quickly, they may be at risk of life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.
• It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider.
• However, more research is needed to better understand the effect size in different populations.

This can taper you off alcohol while still helping you keep up with your normal drinking routine, making the process easier. Before you begin an alcohol taper, a little preparation can go a long way, especially when it involves handling your triggers and tracking how much you drink. Remember your motivation for cutting back and set realistic goals. There’s no set time frame for tapering off alcohol that works for everyone.

To successfully taper your alcohol use, finding what works best for you is important. Alcohol proof is the amount of alcohol found in distilled spirits or liquor. Smaller drinks with a higher percentage of alcohol are stronger than the same size drink containing a lower-proof liquor.

• That’s why we have a comprehensive set of treatment providers and don’t charge for inclusion.
• People attempting to quit may turn to drinking again to prevent withdrawal symptoms.
• Quitting cold turkey allows the shortest detox period and a rapid transition into the next recovery stages.
• Alcohol is likely the most widely used recreational substance in the world.

If you were to suddenly stop drinking alcohol, your receptors would become hyperactive because they are no longer being depressed. This is why you should taper off alcohol, or use a prescribed medication like benzodiazepines, during detox3. It’s vital to do this under the supervision of a medical professional to ensure the process is safe and smooth. The Recovery Village Cherry Hill at Cooper offers comprehensive addiction treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and co-occurring mental health conditions. Usually, alcohol withdrawal symptoms occur within 12–24 hours after stopping alcohol and can last 2–10 days. This condition most often occurs when someone who has long-term alcohol dependence stops drinking cold turkey.

Reduce Excessive Activity Levels

If you suddenly quit drinking, your body can struggle to catch up. Because alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, quitting drinking can cause your body to have too much of an excitatory substance called glutamate https://appsychology.com/living-in-a-sober-house/ as it tries to rebalance. This can trigger alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which can be dangerous in some cases. Quitting cold turkey is the preferred method of withdrawal, but only if done under medical supervision, where symptoms can be treated as they occur.

Within 5 minutes, you’ll receive an email with these details – free of charge. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website. The authors of a 2020 review suggest that there isn’t enough evidence to say that small amounts of alcohol have a cardioprotective effect. Your blood pressure is elevated if it is 120 to 129 systolic and 80 to 89 diastolic. All amounts caused an increase in heart rate within 6 hours of consumption.