It should not be used to replace the suggestions of your personal physician or other health care professionals. Support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or sober living houses can help you get connected with peers who are going through the same journey as you are. This is a 12 step intervention for alcohol abuse and addiction that can help lead to recovery from alcohol abuse; sober living houses provide mutual sobriety support to help you remain alcohol-free. A final strategy to assist with an alcohol taper is to get a good network of peer support. Substituting a prescription drug for alcohol should only happen with the help of a medical professional.

Withdrawal seizures can be a sign of delirium tremens, which can occur as soon as 48 hours after a person’s last drink. To learn about how our substance abuse treatment programs address alcohol dependence and withdrawal management, how to taper off alcohol please contact us today. These treatments can help ensure that you are able to detox safely and minimize the withdrawal symptoms that you will experience. Alcohol withdrawal can produce both physical and psychological symptoms.

Self-Care Alternative – Medically Monitored Detox

Make sure they’re aware of the severe withdrawal symptoms that can occur and tell them what to do if you experience them (get a drink and possibly call 911). If you have a seizure, the best thing they can do is stay with you, move any hazardous objects https://ecosoberhouse.com/ out of the way, prevent you from falling on anything hard, and call 911. They shouldn’t hold you down and there’s no real need to worry about choking on your tongue. The main difference between tapering and cold turkey is how fast you quit.

• There is no obligation to enter treatment and you can opt out at any time.
• People who want to reduce their alcohol consumption often do not realize how much of their social and daily routines alcohol has become.
• Alcohol withdrawal symptoms usually occur within 6–4 hours6 after stopping alcohol and can last for 2–10 days11.
• There are many factors that can affect how long weaning off alcohol will take.
• If you start to experience significant withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking, a taper can provide a much safer method to detox from alcohol.
• After all, the point of a taper is to avoid alcohol withdrawal.

There is no obligation to enter treatment and you can opt out at any time. As you navigate this question, it can be helpful to think about how you typically prefer to approach change. Metaphorically speaking, do you like to dip your toe in first, or cannonball right in? As long as safety precautions are taken, there’s no wrong way to begin a sobriety or moderation journey. This journey is often non-linear, and your goals can change over time.

About Alcohol Abuse

It includes a logging section you can use to keep track of your daily alcohol intake, along with some withdrawal warnings. 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. You can use an app like AlcoTrack (Android) or DrinkControl (Apple) to keep a log of your daily drinking and see your progression. You can enter in the type of drinks you consume and when you drink them to determine the total amount of alcohol you consume each day. The rest of this guide addresses pre-planning, withdrawal symptoms, planning, creating a taper schedule, and next steps after a taper. I’d encourage you to read them all, but at the very least please read the sections on withdrawal symptoms and the schedule itself.

Finding a different, more healthy way to unload stress may go a long way in helping someone succeed in cutting back on their alcohol use. If you notice severe hallucinations, extreme brain fog, the world slows down around you; you feel drunk when you’re not, you may have warning signs of delirium tremens (DTs). Always have one of your drinks late at night before you go to bed, to prevent this from happening while you’re sleeping. If you can get through a day with no physical withdrawal symptoms, you probably won’t need to taper. If you get moderate tremors or start hallucinating six hours after your last drink, you probably need to taper.