for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

The stuff that Cinders talks about scare me. Man, if I was fearless I would just go cold turkey. Its Friday night and I've had 6. Major dissapointment. I seem to keep bouncing around - 5,5,6,5,8,5,6,7,6, etc. It gets totally frustrating!!!!! I'm trying to get to 4.

Woody, thanks for all you have posted! I can relate to a lot that you have said, especially on how the mind works on us.

Hang in there! We have to defeat this so that we can live FREE!!!!!

I've been there! It is the BEST life ever!!!

[some-dumbass]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

ihatebeer,

diving in as a relatively newbie to the forum, although I have a long & (in)distinguished career as an alcoholic ...

you're on nowhere near what Cinders's son was on. if you're on 5-8 beers a night, then you've been sober for hours before you start drinking again, so you've already proved you're not going to get acute withdrawal

'tapering', in the context of this thread, is controlled drinking to ward off the physiological symptoms of acute AL withdrawal. what you're doing is, for want of a better word, 'reducing', which is more of a psychological thing (been there, done that)

I've just tapered down off 70cl+ (a fifth+) of 40%ABV (80% proof) per day, including drinking during the day to manage uncontrollable shakes/sweats, to a bottle of wine per night, which I guess is equivalent to about 6 beers, so roughly the same as you. today's my cold turkey day & whilst I'm not expecting to feel the greatest (I've done it numerous times before), I'm also not expecting it to be horrendous

anyway, please don't take the above as judgemental or whatever, just my thoughts

day1 here I come ...

SD

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Well, back at stage one! I do have good news though that I will get to. On a side note, sumdum (I'll call you that for short, lol), please keep going with it. As for ihate, well, no matter what we are drinking try to give everyone encouragement, but I know what you mean and glad you through in the last sentence.

As for me, ROUGH weekend. All possible triggers happened at one time. The good news is even thought I did "binge" the last two days, the "binge" consisted of 11 and 15. I am mentioning the count because the binging before would consist of 16 to 24 standard drinks. And yes, the 11 and 14 got me totally smashed beyond belief! I am going to take that as a positive.

Today I restarted, went to 10.5. Still eating pretty decent an will get back into the good eating and vitamins an go down to 8 tomorrow. Going to bed soon so will have a good nights sleep.

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

And a quick FYI sumdum, if you are coming off the hard liquor tapering, you WILL still feel some withdrawals. This is not advice of course, but I mentioned recently when I started loading up on the vitamins and healthy eating it seemed to give me the least amount. The main thing was my pulse rate as I do not have medications for pulse. Everything else you should be able to handle. Blood pressure might rise slightly, but nothing like attempting cold turkey, and of course you will wake up a few times in the middle of the night, but I had no shakes or sweats every time I have attempted it.

Keep posting if you can! I know we are all different and I would like to hear your progress and what you did and what you think might have worked!

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Crazy thing this tapering is, and even more crazy if you try it. It works, no doubt, but you must be 100% focused and understand you are not going for any kind of buzz really and it is your medicine. Easier said than done. That is my note for the night as I do not want to discourage anyone, this is meant to be encouragement. It is tough though, really tough. Definitely the thoughts of "oh you aren't going to get smashed" have been getting to me, as well as my main triggers and lack of support group. I will not make my standard drinks tonight, but keeping with the positives I will not go over the 10.5 of last night. It will be more around 10 or 9.5, and if I can continue to go on without going over that I will be fine and can focus my mind much more going for cutting off more each day. I do know for sure I cannot do the slow taper. No way no how. My mind won't allow the "teasing" for that long, so I definitely need to keep it around where I'm at and get my head focused and just start dropping about 2 drinks a day. I might feel a couple more sides, but mentally, wow, a hell of a lot easier! I will shut up for tonight

[some-dumbass]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

hi woody,

I have a slight confession to make - I ended up extending my taper as I *did* get some side-effects, although nothing life-threatening

I went for day1 AF on saturday. I'd had a pretty crappy night's sleep the previous night, so I went to go for a nap in the afternoon & experienced Hypnic/Myoclonic jerks. basically every time you nod off, your body physically jerks you awake again. I had this a dozen or more times & just wasn't able to get off to sleep

in the end, I had a couple of beers before bed on sat & sun nights which seems to have done the trick. I'm day1 AF today & had a nap this afternoon & the symptoms have gone. I'm generally feeling pretty good, eating better (it helps when you're sober & can drive to the supermarket to buy food!), taking supplements, drinking loads of water, etc.

anyway, I hope the tapering works out for you. do try to be honest with yourself though - if you're still tapering, slipping & starting over in a week, or a fortnight, or a month, then maybe it's not for you. as they say "insanity is doing the same thing over & over, & expecting different results"

take care & good luck

SD

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Thanks some-dumb!

I'm actually kind of experenced at it, the only problem is what is going to happen on say day 3 AF. I need more of a plan to get to zero when I do it, lol. And yes, I was going to say, last night my sleep sucked, I am sure it will suck tonight, lol, and there were 2 or 3 times today I felt my pulse quite out of control. I did just come on here to post because I will be down to around 8.2 or 8.3 standard drinks tonight and I wanted to make something very clear. Some-dumb I know we are all different, and I am not sure how many years or how many detoxes or hospital visits you have been through, but I do sort of agree with you on when you get down to the 5, 6, 7, 8 you can safely just stop if you really want to. However, I keep track of everything and do my vitals all the time and when I get down to 7 or 8 my pulse can still go to 137 to 147 while resting for quite a while. I just want to make sure everyone that tries this and might be into jogging, exercise or sports realizes that yes you feel much better getting down to 7 or 8. Your sleep will suck but you might feel much more "hyper" maybe. Well, if I took my resting pulse at say 142 and did not realize it was that high and went out to do anything cardiovascular, heck even mowing the lawn, gardening, shoveling snow in the winter, YES, it can cause a stroke asap!

I will admit with all of my attempts I have not tried staying at 7 or 8 for say several days or even weeks before going down more, as I usually go down a full drink or two daily, or might go back up higher. So you may be right about those used to 18 to 20 standard drinks and get down to 5, 6, 7, or eight and stay there for a while, they might just be able to stop with no sides. I would highly recommend check your vitals often though as alcohol is no joke from withdrawal. And again for those that don't want to read the previous pages, trust me I am one, lol, I have extra blood pressure medication to help me and I think I have a good plan to use it, but my first few attempts were CRAZY! Pulse is my main culprit now, but my BP did get insane at times (from tapering fast).

I keep on rambling, lol, but the good thing is I actually feel good, this is the first time in I would say 10 years I can be happy going down to 8 or 10 drinks and be satisfied, and also I have not been anywhere near 18 to 24 standard drinks. I am making progress as of now for sure. I just need to solidify my plans for how I am going to finish this taper and FOR SURE when I am done with the taper. I definitely feel much better though and satisfied right now knowing I cannot have an unlimited amount and have to stick with "x" amount.

We will all get there though! I'm just going to keep going and trying as long as I do not get worse results. The last two times I went to rehab I took myself because I new I lost total control and just could not function/think/anything! Not even there yet and making progress.

[ihatebeer]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Hi all! OK - so are you guys saying that if I have been drinking an average of 8 beers a nite for 3.5 months, that I should be able to just quit cold turkey and not be in any danger? Is that what you guys are eluding to? That would be great, b/c I have been trying to cut down the last 1.5 months to where I am at 2 beers a nite so I can just drop it off from there. Please tell me what you guys think!

I am so freaking tired of drinking and playing around with the mind games that A plays on me. Maybe tapering is a trap? Who knows! All I know is that about a year ago I had to be detox off of 22 standard drinks per night and it was not fun.

I'm open for any suggestions.

Thanks all!

[some-dumbass]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

hi IHB,

I'm not a medical professional, & I can only speak from my own experiences, but I would think that you could go cold-turkey fairly safely

as I said to woody, if you're on 8 beers a night, you're going to have been fully sober for at least several hours before you start drinking again the next night. if you're not getting any acute withdrawal symptoms in that period then you'd probably be okay. it mightn't be a whole lot of fun for a few days, but I'd think you'd be unlikely to suffer anything life-threatening

also, if you've been trying to taper for a month and a half without success, I would suggest that maybe tapering's not for you & that you're just prolonging the agony & the mind games

in spite of the above, it would be safer if you could have someone keep an eye on you for a day or two whilst you're going cold-turkey, & for them to have access to some beers just in case you do start having acute withdrawal symptoms - see Cinder's post a few pages back

take care & good luck

SD

[paulywogg]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

woody,i applaud you on cutting back your al consumption,however a true taper should only last a week or two,high pulse for me usually only lasts 4 or 5 days on and off,you say youve been "tapering"for 3 months to me thats moderating and theres nothing wrong with that youve made tons of progress from where you were,however when i first came to mwo i was looking for advice on tapering off,im afraid if a newbie reads this they may think 7,8,10 beers nitley is a true taper and be in trouble,please dont be offended,again you are doing a good job at harm reduction,take care

[betterdays]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Update : My taper was going pretty well but I'm stuck at the same level, reason being insomnia. I've hardly slept through the night the past couple of weeks, and I can't reduce any further. Anyone else has the same problem ? What worked for you ? I'm walking for exercise, and yes, I'm drinking way less than I used to, but this insomnia won't let me reduce.

Any insight appreciated.

[betterdays]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Update : I tapered yesterday and had a heck of a night, was up mostly. I tried walking at night and found my heart fluttering, and I sweated like anything. Just a couple of hours till I take my evening dose now. The body feels as it did when I first tapered, though I am more foggy. I've consulted a dietician and he says to increase the fruit/vegetable intake.

Now I need some goodluck, hope it's not as nasty as last night.

[betterdays]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Update : In my fourth day of taper now, and things are getting better. I was able to get some sleep last night and my mood is better and I'm not biting other people either Let's see what happens today.

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

It's been a while, I'll have to go back and read through this later tonight.

I can say I am on day 2 COMPLETELY FREE! And I have somewhat of a plan this time or at least ideas.

Went on a little binge there especially with the holiday weekend. I knew I was done for and could not start the work week so something had to be done. I got up to 14 to 16, which might not sound like much, but I think the withdrawal symptoms you get might be tied to how many times you have medically detoxed before. That's a whole different subject and I need to go exercise and eat.

Last Sunday is when I knew I needed to start. I started the extra BP meds a couple days before, but of course I do not have medications for pulse. That Sunday I had the shakes and racing heart pretty bad around 1 p.m., which was about 14 hours after I quit the night before of having around 15 or 16. I did not want to check vitals for fear it would freak me out, and I was trying to hold off as long as I could as I knew on Monday I had to get into work and could not start drinking until 4:30 p.m. that day.

My spouse was going out to work and saw me and made me check my vitals before they left. This was Sunday still. BP was elevated, but not insane with the extra medication kicking in (148/102). Pulse on the other hand, and this was with me laying in bed resting all day, not good. Resting pulse of 141 and I could feel the anxiety and heart racing. We discussed the ER, but I said let me give this a shot. We went and got the equivalent of 9 standard drinks, the spouse went to work with my keys and wallet. I knew I needed to stop so bad that I did not bother trying to hide any money or alcohol. Also, my decision of dropping to 9 so quick was because I was going to go with the plan I did on my first successful attempt. Basically just getting it over with as quick as possible.

I started sipping slowly and as soon as I got that beer all seemed at ease and peace. I could not stop thinking how I did not want that racing heart feeling again, and of course how I did not want my pulse to get worse than it was ever again, because, well, basically, I WOULD DIE. PERIOD.

I did not check my vitals the rest of this taper as I did it so much with the other tapers I actually was almost spot on guessing what they would read with how my body was feeling. It was pretty crazy. The one thing I do know is if I am ever feeling worse than I felt on Sunday, then yes, that is an absolute trigger to go to ER. On a complete side note, for those wondering if it is not on a previous post, I used up all my "FMLA" time and other time due to 3 previous detoxes in the last year. Plus as you can guess, I cannot call off anymore this year. That is why I studied the home detox like crazy and tried to make it work as good as possible.

Anyway, back to Monday and work. Believe it or not it was not horrible. There was an hour around noon where I had the racing heart, but it only seemed to last about 30 to 45 minutes and as long as I did not stand up and have to talk to people it was manageable. Cutting to the chase, 6.9 Monday night, felt ok, slept pretty good, woke up Tuesday feeling a little different already. Tuesday night, FIVE! Rough sleep Tuesday night, but head much clearer, maybe one tiny hand shaking heart racing thing around noon Tuesday but not long at all. Moving up to Wednesday, ZERO! I was think 3 or 4, but I didn't even stop at the store and just went directly home. I felt pretty good all day Wednesday so I said why even bother? Measured vitals, BP 123/82, Pulse at 90. I was very satisfied and did not feel anything Wednesday night, other than I could not sleep of course. Today, Thursday, am home, I will not have the chance to drink (especially NOW after typing all of this, lol), feel very energetic and actually am meeting up with an old sports group shortly! I did warm them I am taking it easy, at least for today. While I feel great, I know I am not near 100%. Had maybe one urge today but that was it.

A lot what helped me was preloading with the right foods and liquids, and foods and foods again, healthy ones, but I had to make sure I was eating. Vitamins as well.

Anyway, I really got to run, but I must say for me the half a day to at the most up to two days of hell is the way to go at a taper! The quicker I do it, the quicker it is done and over with and the less I let it get to my head!

I'll check back in later tonight, I probably won't go on one of my rants, lol, but I will go back and read what's been going on the last week or so!

[woody13]

for home-detoxers: How to Taper off Alcohol

Wow betterdays, that's great to hear! And also about the fruits/veggies thing! That's actually what I increased a ton about two days before I started the taper and continued on. Not sure if I mentioned it in here or not, but when I was in rehab we had a dietician come in to talk to us and they explained the "x" amount better chance you have if you are eating a healthy diet. Either way, it's great to hear you are noticing a difference!

And Ihate, of course I'm not giving dr's. advice, but if you are not feeling any major withdrawal throughout the day at all then I am guessing you should be fine trying a completely AF day. I know for me I can tell I am in trouble when between noon and 2 p.m. I get the shakes and the heartbeat that is just pounding through your chest! That does not happen to me on 8, but several days or weeks or months or whatever of maximum amounts, yup, that's when I feel it and know it is not safe to just stop. When I am not feeling that I know it is safe with minimal side effects. Maybe take a day down to 6 like you did before and then try an AF day just for the heck of it. I am pretty sure you should not feel much other than it will be difficult to sleep at night.

Speaking of sleep I better get going there now! As I have done with alcohol in the past, I did a little too much of a workout with the guys today and know i'll be paying for it tomorrow!

Night Night everyone!