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If you’re trying to quit cold turkey and need help, please find professional help from an addiction rehab center. Even if you think either option sounds like something that could work for your situation, we still recommend talking to a doctor before proceeding. Stopping alcohol use is the first step of the recovery journey, but staying sober for longer and longer periods is the http://zonemed.ru/polnyx-detej-nelzya-ogranichivat-v-ede/ goal. Getting professional treatment and long-term support are two of the most valuable strategies for avoiding relapse. People who want to reduce their alcohol consumption often do not realize how much of their social and daily routines alcohol has become. Tapering alcohol may be uncomfortable, and there may be subconscious triggers that stimulate the desire to drink alcohol.
With physical dependence, your body becomes used to the presence of alcohol in your system and begins to adapt accordingly. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms usually occur within 6–4 hours6 after stopping alcohol and can last for 2–10 days11. In medical detox, doctors and nurses provide around-the-clock care while helping you wean off alcohol.
Free Support Group: Beginning a sobriety or moderation journey
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. You’ll need to stick with gradual reduction every day and not revert to previous levels of consumption, otherwise it won’t work. If it’s too hard to control how much you drink each day, weaning might not be the right strategy.
When done under medical supervision, tapering off alcohol has few downsides. However, if you attempt to taper on your own without a doctor’s knowledge, tapering can sometimes be unsafe. For example, if you start to suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms despite an attempt to taper, your symptoms may worsen before you have the chance to seek medical attention. For this reason, even at-home tapers should be done under a doctor’s care. Whether you’re a daily imbiber, heavy drinker, or frequent binge drinker, you’re likely to experience withdrawal symptoms when you quit. Unfortunately, there’s little to no evidence that tapering off reduces the effects of alcohol withdrawal, some of which can be severe or even life-threatening.
Is it Better to Taper Off Alcohol or Quit “Cold Turkey?”
However, it should not cause someone to become stuck on a step, which would defeat the purpose of a taper. A person is free to increase the taper speed (e.g., lower by three drinks instead of two) as they see fit. A direct taper means drinking the regular substance of choice but lowering the amount that’s consumed every https://madeintexas.net/flax-seed-in-folk-medicine.html day. Someone should only direct taper if their drink of choice is beer with a low alcohol percentage. Although it may seem like the best way to stop alcohol use is to stop drinking right away, this is not the case. Quitting cold turkey can shock your system since it has become used to functioning with alcohol.
What are the 4 types of drinker?
Generally, people drink to either increase positive emotions or decrease negative ones. This results in all drinking motives falling into one of four categories: enhancement (because it's exciting), coping (to forget about my worries), social (to celebrate), and conformity (to fit in).
There are two types of triggers that can set off a person’s urge to drink. 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. If you are ready to stop drinking, meet first with an addiction specialist who can guide you toward the proper method of detox.