for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Great to still see positive updates! Today I DID IT! Going bed very soon and had ZERO! All day my BP was pretty much 118/79 and I did not take any extra of my medication, just the normal amount of BP meds I am prescribed. My pulse was consistently hovering around 100, sometimes a drop above, but I never saw it above 105 and as low as 82, so that is a huge difference! There were two times today I felt the "pounding heart", but it was just weird. It's like I knew it wasn't as bad as the first 48 hours where I tried going cold turkey and it passed very quickly.

I cannot give any advice, but what I will say is "if" I were to have to do it again, I would definitely make the taper last longer. At least at the start to try and eliminate most of the withdrawals I would take it much slower, but I think when I got to 6 I would not let that last long and would have to immediately drop to 4 then in about a day or two go down to nothing. I guess that's just how my body and mind work though. I do admit these last two times I did it I probably went too quick by cutting each day in half.

But back to the good news, I FEEL GREAT TODAY! I might actually get about 6 or 7 hours of sleep with ZERO alcohol! YIPPEE!

Ok, sorry for the excitement, I know the hard part comes now, but I am ready for the challenge! No plan real plan yet still.

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Thanks all for your latest posts! It gives me encouragement!!! Betterdays - it seems your plan is working out for you and I wish you continued success! I know myself and its all or nothing - I know I have to completely quit as when I tried moderate drinking last time, it ended up not as bad as I was before, but still unable to control my drinking. My hat is off to you!!

Woody - congratulations!!!! Now you must fight every day to resist the urge to drink. I remember that time when I went through it.

I drank 6 tonight as planned. I didn't have any major problems today, except I felt like the heater was on at work for the first two hours today. Luckily I have a fan that helped.
The urge to go out and 'just buy one more' is not as bad as last night. I'm almost tempted to start cutting by 2 like you did Woody, but I'd better stick to my plan although I'm afraid that when I go to just 5 beers tomorrow night the bad stuff will hit me. I hope I can make it through tomorrow night!

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hope everyone is still doing well with their tapers Day 2 of being completely AF is about in the books for me. Everything has been just about 100% today, heck even my pulse was under 100 the entire day. One minor anger spazim, but I'm sure there are more to come and at least it passed quickly.

I still have no definite plans yet, but I'd like to keep this thread going and see how everyone is doing and any hints or things others may have tried as I am becoming more of a taper fan if it is a must it needs to be done. Who knows, it could turn out to be excellent for research, or maybe we will even make our own study! I just know it took me a few times before it finally clicked in my brain and I guess the more we know and hear the more us or someone else may learn to make it simpler and less painful.

All that I know is that it IS possible, no matter how many AF days may come after it. This is coming from someone with high blood pressure and was a daily mega binge drinker.

[paulywogg]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

im glad your taper went well woody it really can work when you stick with it

[Cinders]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Woody,

:goodjob: on being AF after the taper.

I am concerned because you have no plan in place. What do you think you would like to do?

Cindi

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Woody, congratulations on your day 2 AF!!!!

Last night was a bit of a setback for me. Instead of 5 beers, I ended up drinking 8. The mind thing won over. And I know it didn't help that I didn't eat dinner first as doing that usually takes away the urge to drink a lot.

Well, tonight I will do six and then 5 tomorrow night and follow the plan from there (hopefully).

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

You will get back on track ihatebeer, so no worries

As for me an no plan, well, I guess I'm just not sure because I have tried so many different things, lol. Going to bed now so I completed 3 full days. I went somewhere today that is a big trigger, a fun sporting event, but I did not really notice it too much and just enjoyed it without drinking. Crazy, I know, but it was actually fun.

Back to the plan stuff. I think I try to overwhelm myself too much. At least I think I did in the past, especially with 12 step abstinent for life plans where if you accidentally relapsed you would burn in hell forever. So I thought about going for a 30, then got a little scared. Thought about 10 and was not scared at all, but just not sure because I had plans tomorrow night that could include drinking, but I just would make sure I am VERY moderate and have a ton of action plans in place. I know I did have an initial goal of 72 hours. That is now complete. I am not sure how true this is but I thought I heard from someone once that has plenty of knowledge tell me if you can go at least 72 hours AF and then had a moderate amount that you would not go through withdrawal symptoms again. Like I said, not sure how true that is and of course they said you must immediately go back to being AF and never do 2 days in a row.

I know, I know, I keep writing too much, lol. I did want to say though with how today went, my initial plan of having a moderate amount tomorrow is kind of up in the air right now. It just felt so good today to actually get out and do things I enjoy in a social setting WITHOUT drinking! And it was so weird because I never really thought much about it. The only thing that crossed my mind was getting through the 72 hours. So I might just end up not having anything at all tomorrow. Everyone is right though, I probably need to come up with a plan very soon, but I just want to make sure I do not set unobtainable goals! Ok, sorry for hijacking the taper thread, but then again I guess the early days after a taper are relevant to this as well

Night night everyone, it's way past my bedtime!

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Just checking in on the tapers

I did come up with a starting goal for me. The first was over 72 hours, which I completed. Unfortunately I had a couple more drinks than I wanted to last night, but over all I do not feel that horrible today.

Now a big goal, well, at least for me! I'm going to go for 14 days completely AF! I know today is going to be a struggle since I drank yesterday, but once I get through today and the work week starts I won't have any trouble until next weekend. If I get through that it will be smooth sailing!

I'll keep checking back in here but I am going to move my AF goals to different threads. If I ever need to taper again I will post back

[Cinders]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Woody,

Good for you on coming up with a plan.

I have found that no plan leads back into trouble.

Moderation is not for me, have tried and tried and tried. But, if you think you can walk that path, it is good for you to set out on it.

14 days is doable.

We'll keep an eye on your progress.

Cindi

[betterdays]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Ihatebeer - How are things coming along now ? I found out while tapering that increasing exercise is a must. I increased my walking while tapering and that did the trick. Also, a multivitamin tablet will help after you have reduced your intake.

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hi Betterdays! Thanks for asking. Well, it has been quite frustrating this weekend. I keep bouncing back and forth between 8 and 6 beers and can never seem to get below 6. Everyday is not the same as some days are massively stressful and some are ok.

I'm at 6 beers again tonight then 6 tomorrow, then cut down 1 beer every other night. I hope to break the 6 level soon. I really hope this will work as I wake up every morning very pissed off for drinking at all!!

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Betterdays - just curious on how exercising helps with tapering. My body feels the need for exercise because I think about it everyday.

I've managed to just drink 6 beers tonight and getting ready to go to bed.

[betterdays]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hi ihatebeer - I found out that if I took long walks, it was easier for me to taper, so it's clear that my body was not getting enough exercise and I was using drinks to knock myself to sleep. I walked until I started sweating, nothing vigorous or cross country, and it worked.

Don't worry about your bouncing, once you reduce you will feel fine within a few days.

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Thanks betterdays!

I'm still at 6 beers at 3 days now. Going to try to go to 5 tomorrow night. Just need to make myself eat dinner first (and then maybe take a walk like you suggested). Its funny that when after I eat dinner, I'm not really in the mood to drink at all or not much. I guess I'm just scared of the possibility of a seizure.

I'll let you guys know how tomorrow goes.

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

thanks Ihate! i screwed up big time. will post results!