Alcohol Tapering How to Taper Off Alcohol Safely

We recommend Gatorade because it has balanced electrolytes. If you choose to drink water make sure that you get enough salt for electrolyte balance so that you avoid water intoxication. When an individual has developed a substance use disorder or dependence on alcohol, stopping its use outright can seem virtually impossible.

When weaning off of alcohol, glutamate levels in the brain will rise. how to taper off alcohol Why does quitting liquor result in alcohol withdrawal symptoms?

Alcohol Recovery On Your Own Vs Professional Help

It mainly involves symptoms like increased anxiety, abdominal pains and nausea. Stage 2 usually starts to kick in about 1 to 3 days after your last drink. You can expect to feel a bit confused, and to have an elevated blood pressure and heart rate.

• Always start with a professional consultation with your doctor.
• A substitution taper can involve substituting a prescription drug for alcohol.
• Cautious tapering may take longer than medically supervised detox, but it will help you avoid major health problems.
• If you’re not sure if cold turkey or tapering is right for you, you can join the Monument Community to hear from others who have confronted similar questions.
• Tapering off helps reduce uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms and prevent life-threatening complications.
• The absence of alcohol will mean that if you were to return to your former levels of alcohol consumption, you could potentially put yourself in fatal circumstances.

This can trigger alcohol withdrawal symptoms, which can be dangerous in some cases. If you try tapering off alcohol and find that you are struggling with withdrawal and relapse, it is a good idea to seek the assistance of a professional medical alcohol detox facility. Chronic and excessive alcohol use disrupts the brain’s neurotransmitters. Alcohol will increase the effect of gamma amino butyric acid – the neurotransmitter in the central nervous system that https://ecosoberhouse.com/ creates feelings of peace and relaxation. However, chronic alcohol use will suppress GABA activity in such as way that progressively increased amounts of alcohol are needed to produce the desired effects – which is known as tolerance. Chronic alcohol use also suppresses glutamate activity, the neurotransmitter that produces feelings of excitement. In excessive alcohol users, the glutamate system has to function at a higher level to maintain equilibrium.

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Drinking alcohol can take a toll on your physical and mental health, as well as other aspects of your life. So limiting your alcohol consumption is always a good idea. Fortunately, deaths resulting from alcohol withdrawal are a rare occurrence.

This form of tapering would likely involve medications to eliminate withdrawal symptoms. Slowly, to reduce the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms, you will come off the medication with the goal being complete abstinence from alcohol. Significantly cutting back on the amount of alcohol you drink can put your body into shock.

Alcohol Treatment at Serenity Lane in Oregon

These symptoms mostly affect heavy drinkers and long-term drinkers. These symptoms can also cause other health complications to arise. For example, some patients that go through stage 3 will also develop a wet brain. For people with moderate to severe alcohol addiction, utilizing an alcohol detox center is always the safest option. Alcohol detox centers have professionals trained to recognize and treat complications caused by alcohol withdrawal. Because alcohol withdrawal symptoms can sometimes be unpredictable and may escalate quickly, having an on-site medical team that can quickly intervene is the safest way to quit heavy drinking. Some people can just quit drinking alcohol cold turkey without having significant withdrawal symptoms.

• So limiting your alcohol consumption is always a good idea.
• Some people choose to taper more quickly by cutting the amounts in half–for example 20, 10 5, 2, 0.
• A direct taper means drinking the regular substance of choice but lowering the amount that’s consumed every day.
• Consider seeking professional counseling to gain the support of a therapist.
• If your pulse exceeds 100, your blood pressure goes very high, or you have irregular heart beat then this means that you are tapering too fast and you need more beer.
• Neurotransmitters are responsible for sending signals and messages from one part of the brain to another.