for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

[deus]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Tapering

I drank 12 cans of beer every evening for nearly four years (and managed somehow to function well as a marketing manager in a big corporate, almost impossible it seems). I decided to quit drinking when I concluded that enough was enough - started online gambling as well and lost 5k (when drunk I simply did not have any control). I was terrified by the stories on the Internet on the dangers of alcohol withdrawal (I really did not know that alcohol is such a demon and dangerous) but I did not want to visit my doctor for apparant reasons. So simply calculated in Excel the % of alcohol my body was used to, switched to wine (as beer was part of the psychological addiction) and then I gradually reduced my alcohol intake with 10% a day (the alcohol intake - wine is stronger). I had no probs or side-effects and it was actually quite easy. Withdrawal was minimized and I also could sleep. The rewarding part was that I felt every morning better and it served as a big motivator. And I simultaneously dealt with my physical as well psychological dependence. It takes a strong will however and what works for me does not work for everybody...

[deus]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

I drank 12 cans of beer every evening for nearly four years (and managed somehow to function well as a marketing manager in a big corporate, almost impossible it seems). I decided to quit drinking when I concluded that enough was enough - started online gambling as well and lost 5k (when drunk I simply did not have any control). I was terrified by the stories on the Internet on the dangers of alcohol withdrawal (I really did not know that alcohol is such a demon and dangerous) but I did not want to visit my doctor for apparant reasons. So I calculated in Excel the % of alcohol my body was used to, switched to wine and drank it on other instances - after dinner (as beer when coming home was part of the psychological addiction) and then I gradually reduced my alcohol intake with 10% a day (the % of alcohol intake - wine is stronger; 2 bottles of wine is 12 cans of beer). I had no probs or side-effects and it was actually quite easy. Withdrawal was minimized and I also could sleep (though I woke up as well and had curious dreams). The rewarding part was that I felt every morning better and it served as a big motivator. And I simultaneously dealt with my physical as well psychological dependence. It takes a strong will however and what works for me does not work for everybody...

[mondad]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Questions and hiding withdrawal effects

I know this thread is about tapering, but I have to give a bit of background, I believe it is relevant because tapering is literally my only option.

Questions (if you need more info you can read past them)
* What experience do people have with weening or going cold turkey for a day or two while doing something active (hiking, sawing logs) etc. compared to basically just sitting in front of a computer?

* If you lived in a small town an hour from the nearest hospital, how would you handle the risk if some of the horror stories would happen.

* How would you hide symptoms, as you go through it? Everyone knows everyone here, doors are never locked (just walk in), and everyone talks. I can't really get away with not meeting anyone for 7-10 days for sure, hence weening is my only option.

* Oh, and I can't tell my wife (more on that below), but we both work from home.

For about two years now I have been drinking 2.7 liter bottles of a grain wine, about 20 degrees, sometimes 25 when I couldn't get my hands on the lesser one, but then I always diluted with water to control my amount. That didn't work, as it just went down smoother. a year ago I would be going through about one bottle every three days, eventually two days, and now I have to make sure I have at least two full bottles on hand in case I wake up and the booze shop is closed and I only have a a cupfull left to get me through the morning.

Anyway, I live in a small town. The nearest hospital is an hours drive away. I know everyone here, and maybe only the woman at the only booze shop within 30 minutes knows how much I drink (though I stagger it and buy in bulk when I happen to be at the closest super 30 minutes away).

Wife is not quite supportive. Last time I told her I was alchoholic, she was nice for one day and then anything I did wrong she would scream at me and blame it on my alchoholism (i her defense, *some* of it was) Not exactly the help I was asking her for. I did manage to taper a lot at that time, but would still have a few glasses with dinner (with her permission), and sneak a few swigs in the morning to stave off the shivers. Now I can not tell her that I am drinking even more.

I am lucky to "work" from home, so I don't have to drive, and I am a rather high-funtioning drunk, never look drunk, don't puke etc. so most neighbors don't notice. When I go to a party I have my own bottle that I can drink from in the bathroom, while I nurse my drinks in public. This will change soon though, as I will soon have to start driving.

I can't just go cold turkey because my wife is always at home too and will see. Even if she doesn't suspect it is withdrawl, she likes me enough to worry and want to take me to a hospital after two days of prolonged shivering and dry heaves, where I will be busted. This morning she drove me to the doctors for our health checks. I knew it was coming so I didn't drink the night before and certainly not that morning, lest my blood tests show something.

By the end of the day, when we got home, I needed her to stop the car three times to dry heave out the door. I was *very* visibly shaking, and I could barely walk straight because my legs were wobling. Since the symptoms are all the same as the flu, I was able to cover up long enough until we get home and I could "cure" it.

I have gone off for two days at a time before, and though you can see the shake if I am holding a glass of water, and I loose appetite, feel a bit queezy, I have never had this happen. One thing that is shared by those times was that I was out either hiking, or working on some other project that kept me very busy and meant I couldn't get access to my stash, or I had to drive my daughter someplace.

I considered going hiking where I would not have access to it for a week or more, and set up camp and "just deal with it", but that sounds less than a bit dangerous.

I am frightened about this latest incident because even not drunk, I was in no condition to drive. I can no longer ween to only drink at night and be safe for work in the morning.

[Determinator]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Mondad, thank you for sharing. I'll share more soon. just have to get done being sick first. sorry

[greeneyes]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hi mondad and welcome... I'm sorry your post hasn't gotten attention here; I'm not sure how much traffic the research section gets. I've thought about your quandry and understand your safety concerns. It would certainly be a better situation if your wife was on board with your tapering idea, but I understand the issue of hiding it from the spouse, having done that. If you're drinking 2.7 litres at home now, I don't understand why you can't manage to drink less in order to taper. Can you drink only enough to ward off the symptoms? Meaning do you have enough discipline to not drink more than is essential? Have you read the MWO book and know what to do to support yourself physically - supplements and the like? Have you thought about what IF you can't taper? Just going ahead and telling your wife might be the least damaging.

[Zax]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Disclaimer:

Always talk to your doctor, i am not a doctor nor in the medical field. That being said, i can provide you with my personal experience.

See this for some REAL information, not scare crap:

http : // hamsnetwork.org / taper /

Personal Experience (done this twice, yah i know i suck):

270lbs Male
30 years old
Drank about 12-16 shots of 40% vodka every night
Tapered 12
Tapered 8
Tapered 6
Tapered 4
Tapered 3
Tapered 1
No symptoms, off alcohol.
Take LOTS of VitaminB-100 complex and water

I will say it takes ALOT of willpower to taper. Symptoms were minor anxiety on the first day or two of tapering, decreasing slower helps. The real hard part is the mental game. Just one more, it wont hurt, you'll just take longer to taper, comeon..... shitfaced (crap! start over).

Whether or not you tell your wife, well, thats your call. There are good supportive women, and there are not so supportive women. I told mine and when i slipped up once she divorced me (hence the rebound to drinking). Since met a wonderful girl who loves me for me and doesnt crawl up my a$$ for things. So while it sucked to go through, in a way im thankful for the drinking and im thankful i've stopped.

[Lara Walken]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Reply re: tapering

Zax;1149845 wrote: Disclaimer:

Always talk to your doctor, i am not a doctor nor in the medical field. That being said, i can provide you with my personal experience.

See this for some REAL information, not scare crap:

http : // hamsnetwork.org / taper /

I just found that above ^^ website today and have decided I am going to try it to taper off my drinking. I once detoxed, two years ago, using diazepam for 3-4 days, and that went fine, but I eventually went back to drinking and now I feel it's out of control again (every night, although not *that* much -- about 2-3 shots of scotch, or two good sized glasses of white wine). The one thing I don't like about the advice at the hamesnetwork site is that it says to use beer to taper. Although it sort of sounds like you, Zax, did not: that you used vodka(?) Coz, really, I'd rather use scotch to taper: I can barely stand the taste of beer.

I'm going to try this starting tomorrow. I think. (Lol!).

--Lara

[Prinx]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hi everyone,


I found this website and topic when I searched for "taper off alcohol". I wanted to share my own experience regarding this subject. Before I start I'm gonna copy Zax his words:

Always talk to your doctor, i am not a doctor nor in the medical field. That being said, i can provide you with my personal experience.


In terms of safety, it is always the best and wisest decision to visit a doctor. I did that too, about 5 years ago, but I did experience a little downside to it. It'll be different in every country, but since my visit to the doctor regarding my alcoholism, I'm labeled as an alcoholic and it still haunts me on rare occasions in life. It's a valid label though, I have to agree, but it's also a kind of negative label which interferes in some occasions. That being said, I can fully understand why people choose to taper off alcohol with alcohol itself at home. And I agree with the website in the opening post: it can be done. It's not fun, it can be teasing and annoying, but it can be done without that much withdrawal symptoms. Every body responds differently to alcohol, so always listen to your body. Make a promise to yourself, if withdrawal does occur and is getting too rough that you will visit your doctor. Beer is a good choice. Take little sips, it won't make you drunk and the withdrawal will be minimal, speaking from my own experiences. Also make sure you eat enough healthy food, drink water and a vitamine B pill won't do any harm.

My name will be in the books as an alcoholic for the rest of my life I guess.


- Prinx

[someguy]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

it can be done

i just wanted to post i did this and it can be done and once its done its a wonderful feeling to wake up early in the morning sober look up at the sky and sun and say to yourself what a wonderful day it is to be alive!! Although i did this very very slowly and it took almost a year to slow back down to normal but i love it i could never go back!!

that being said lol i was a daily drinker for close to 7 years so i dont know how i compare with the rest here posting, but that was 7 daily years and i maybe missed only 2 days out of that time that i didnt drink, and the only reason was cuz i had gotten too sick or was very tired

I got to the point where i was hardly eating, maybe just a little cup soup once a day, if i ate more than that i felt ugly, terrible, stomach aches, got very dizzy, sweats, felt like passing out..i would not go to stores, for a few years didnt step foot into walmart, grocery stores, the movies, hardly no where public that involved being inside a building. THe only way i could do that is if i had alcohol in my system. I would literally carry a big plastic cup, the ones they sell at gas stations for fountain drinks, and i would go into public places with that think full of alcohol, thats the only way i could do it.

If i wasnt buzzing I would get really nervous, starts sweating, very bad panic attacks, i walked out many times, my wife understood..many more times I would go grocery shopping with my family and just wait in the car cuz i couldnt get off, even the movies i would wait in the car, i wanted to go in, i missed it, i missed just walking around the grocery aisles. I missed it so much...and i cried, many times i would sit outside and cry to myself cuz i hated it, and i was very scared....

.but i was able to do it and get past it, something i thought impossible, now i can go in to a store and just look around, even at the high celiings and think to myself this is awesome!

just a rundown

i was drinking 10-12 (12oz) cans of beer (budweiser) every single night, i would buy them in 24oz cans so i would buy 5-6 cans. What i did for example to stop, i would plan my week ahead, at the start of the week started by picking 1 day to drink only 4 (24oz cans) of budweiser & 1 can of bud light (lighter beer) but i had to it in advance so i could prepare mentally for it, lets say on wednesday.

I would drink every day as normal and come wednesday I would only drink 4 budweisers and 1 bud light. I did this for maybe a few weeks, , then i eventually added a 2nd day into the mix..so for example mondays & wednesdays was budweiser and bud light.....a few more weeks...then added a 3rd day into the mix.....a few more weeks....then eventually i started doing 3 budweisers and 2 bud lights on 1 day...few weeks....add another day....and basically kept going taking alcohol away by substituting it with lighter alcohol slowly but sure but i was able to get down to weekend only status

It took me about a year to finally get down to weekend status and i love it, now come the weekend i drink and push it to the limit until i cant take it anymore...but on weekdays i lloooooove being sober lol

for anyone that truly wants to stop you can, trust me. I used to think i could never stop because i loved it so much and i still do but when you get to that scary part where you cant even do normal stuff you will want to stop on your own. its no fun at all, its actually scary. Not once did i go to doctor but the good thing is that our bodies will tell us when we need to stop.

Originally, my plan was to stop for a few weeks or even months and get my body back to normal then start again from the top drinkign daily, but after being sober again I dont think i even want to do that anymore.

I posted just my experience on how i stopped drinking but it can be tailored to any drinking plan no matter what you drink and if i can help or whatever ill be glad too. Peace 2 all and enjoy life!! sober or drunk!! lol

ooh and by the way teh first niight i slept sober i woke up at least 15 - 20 times during the night each time i had such intense dreams (good dreams) and i would wake up thinking its morning and only 10-15 minutes had passed since my last dream it was a good experience not bad but intense.

[someguy]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

addition

I juste wanted to clarify something, for me tapering worked slowly over a period of almost a year before i got sober. read my previous post (right above this one)

Im better with ounces than liters, but for example if your drink 1.5 liters a day of a certain brand of liquor, start your normal drinking week, and pick 1 day in advance, lets say wednesday or thursday, where your going to drink 1 liter of normal drink and then 0.5 liter of something weaker. The rest of the days you keep drinking as normal. Then keep doing this for a few weeks,

then add a 2nd day where you will have the 1.25 liter and 0.25 of something weaker, and keep doing that little by little substituting alcohol with weaker alcohol till eventually you will drink less and then not drink at all.

Eventually add a 3rd day,

Eventually drink maybe 1 liter of normal drink and 0.50 of weaker drink on 1 day, then a few weeks add a 2nd day...then a 3rd...and so forth.

with keeping this type of schedule i always reserved 2 days usually friday and saturday where i would have my normal every day drink and drink as much as i wanted

[COSGringo]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Just be careful. I dropped my drinks very quickly and next thing you know I had a seizure and had to go to the hospital. Got some librium after that. I think benzos in general would help. I did not even go cold turkey. I just halved how many I was having within a week and apparently that was too quick.

[someguy]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

what happens is our bodies get used to functioning with alcohol in our blood so when you suddenly take away the alcohol you risk having your body think your clean non alcoholic blood is bad.

for me the solution was to go slow and steady, i had previously dont a little bit of research and talked to older folks and got advice and such and just to be on teh safe side was to go very slow and a year later im waking up sober

[blueblah]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

One thing people should be aware of is that certain medications lower seizure thresholds. Wellbutrin being a commonly used one. People on these need to try to taper even slower.

One trick that I used successfully was to put ice in the glass. Now, I like good craft beer, so when I am drinking something like miller lite it tastes like water to me anyways. Putting some ice cubes waters the beer down and cuts down on the abv. Over time you can get yourself down to basically water with a bit of alcohol in it.

Another suggestion is to buy 24s or individual units if you feel you cannot control your intake. Now, I usually could (I can do it 99 percent of the time now) but I still played it on the safe side. If you can find 16 ouncers that is even better. Switching from one type of beer to a lower abv one can also help. For example drink something like a Heinken 24 and then the next a lite beer (I am trying to use gas station brands). This was suggested by "someguy" and I agree

Getting there took lots and lots and lots of practice. And I eventually just had to stop everything for about a year and a half. I do have a beer or two nowadays but I do not crave having more. I would like to cut this down a bit as I have been slipping up and doing it more frequently. I was a big time maintenance drinker, I do not like getting drunk. I was self-medicating.

Best of luck. I would personally disagree with the "someguy" in the suggestion to binge on the weekend. Drinking until you cannot drink anymore is never healthy. I also strongly urge taking a long period of total sobriety.

Anyways, this is a super important thread. PLAY IT SAFE! ALCOHOL WD CAN BE FATAL! IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT GO TO THE DOCTOR!

[mot1234]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

I too am wanting to ween off alcohol, but very scared of developing DT's. Over the last few years, I have drank a bottle of wine (4-5 glasses) a night. No excuse, but was doing it because of stress and anxiety and it helped me wind down at night and sleep. On the weekends sometimes, I will drink a bottle and a half and if feeling like crap the next day because of it, will have a couple of glasses early afternoon. I made myself believe that if I wait till noon, it is okay. I have gone days in between with not drinking and have somewhat of a hard time sleeping, but manage to get at least 4-5 hours in on those non-drinking nights. I don't really have a question, but just wanted to say that reading what everyone here has posted is helping me in the planning process to ween off. Good luck to all of you!

:new:

[COSGringo]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hi Mot, Welcome. If your numbers are accurate that doesn't sound horrendous. But if you are small build maybe more so. I think you could taper down if you took your time. The Bac might help.