Seeking help as early as possible during the withdrawal process is the best way to stay safe as you cleanse your body of alcohol. You may experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking alcohol. This can happen whether you’re quitting alcohol cold turkey or tapering.

Join a Support Group

Discover the benefits of tapering off and find support for a successful journey. Tapering off alcohol is a step in the right direction, but there’s more to the story. It’s vital in this process to have professional help, so you can stay safe and as comfortable as possible.

Medically Reviewed by

AUD makes it difficult to control alcohol use — it may seem like the alcohol is controlling you. A taper may not be right for you if you frequently drink more than you intended, try to cut back but cannot or feel that your alcohol use is affecting your life. People with AUD may be unable to quit drinking alcohol on their own or have attempted to quit before and relapsed. For most people, alcohol withdrawal symptoms will begin to subside after 72 hours.

Benefits of Weaning off Alcohol

Identify specific situations, emotions, environments, and people that motivate your drinking. Examples of triggers could include stress, social gatherings with alcohol, certain friends, and bars. An example of a short-term goal would be to reduce alcohol consumption by half within the next month. An example of a long-term goal would be to achieve complete abstinence from alcohol within six months. Alcohol often serves as a coping mechanism for stress, anxiety, or other emotional challenges.

Tapering vs Cold Turkey

• Early symptoms include headache, sweating, tremors, vomiting and difficulty concentrating.
• It’s important to remember that tapering off may not be the right approach for everyone.
• If you’ve been unable to quit on your own, you should consider attending an alcohol rehab center.
• Serious symptoms caused by delirium tremens include hallucination and seizure.
• At Legacy, we’re dedicated to fully healing your mind, body, and spirit from the ravages of alcoholism.

Overall, getting professional help can improve your chances for long-term sobriety. If you have a severe level of addiction or dependency, you may need a detox program. Talk to a medical professional to find the best detox option for you.

Treatment Programs

However, medical treatment is necessary to treat major symptoms of withdrawal. The main downside of cold turkey is how unpleasant and risky it can be. 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. Programs such as inpatient or outpatient rehab, medical detox, individual or family therapy and support groups are available. Through these programs, our caring and dedicated staff can help you on your road to recovery.

Severe symptoms of alcohol withdrawal

• Slowly tapering your alcohol use can help you manage mild withdrawal symptoms and decrease the risk of AUD.
• Getting professional treatment for alcohol addiction can give you the tools to create, and maintain, a healthy and happy lifestyle.
• Determine the number of drinks you want to have per day or per week, and stick to those limits.
• A popular way to taper off alcohol is to gradually reduce the number of drinks you consume over a period of time.
• Many other factors go into play with these difficult and trying scenarios.

BetterHelp can connect you to an addiction and mental health counselor. If you struggle to stop drinking, avoid places and situations that tempt you to drink alcohol. You may even ask your friends and family not to drink while around you. Ark Behavioral Health offers 100% confidential substance abuse assessment and treatment placement tailored to your individual needs. Educate your loved ones on dangerous symptoms, too, so they can look out for you and get you medical attention if you need it.

There are multiple health benefits you can experience when you start drinking less alcohol. The exact benefits will depend on how much alcohol you were drinking and on factors such as your genetics, overall health, and how your body responds. But drinking less is always a good choice for your body and health. Most people experience the most severe symptoms from about how to taper off alcohol 36–72 hours after stopping drinking. For people who experience hallucinations as part of alcohol withdrawal, these may begin in the 12- to 24-hour time frame. When that person cuts out alcohol, there is a period when their brain hasn’t yet received the message and still overproduces the stimulating chemicals.

• For this reason, you should always talk to your doctor before attempting to quit drinking.
• It’s not known whether the tablets are safe and effective for treating GAD for more than 4 months.
• This excess glutamate triggers alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which can sometimes be dangerous.
• Because everyone’s body reacts differently, there’s not a lot of research that proves tapering can decrease the effects of alcohol withdrawal.

Health Categories to Explore

This is because drinking heavily over a long period can cause your body to become physically dependent on alcohol. With physical dependence, your body becomes used to the presence of alcohol in your system and begins to adapt accordingly. Tapering is the practice of slowly reducing the regular consumption of a substance like alcohol. Tapering can sometimes help a person avoid uncomfortable and sometimes deadly symptoms of withdrawal. In addition, social pressures can make it https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-make-your-home-more-environmentally-friendly/ hard to quit drinking, especially if your friends or family also drink heavily. Quitting drinking can feel very isolating, making it even more difficult to do alone at home without medical support.

Benefits of drinking less alcohol

Once you’ve changed to a less alcoholic option, you can gradually reduce your drink amount. A direct taper means you continue to drink your regular drinks but slowly decrease the amount over time. Direct tapers are better if you prefer drinks that contain a low percentage of alcohol. There are two ways to taper off alcohol⁠—a direct or substitution taper.