How to Stop Drinking Alcohol Safely Indiana Center for Recovery

An alcohol addiction is dangerous, and the best way to reduce the risks of drinking is to stop using alcohol. Tapering your alcohol intake, or slowly reducing it over time, can help you avoid severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms. When you quit drinking, you should also seek medical advice about any alcohol withdrawal symptoms you experience. This includes early symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, such as mild tremors and anxiety. The reason for this is that alcohol withdrawal symptoms can quickly snowball and worsen.

To avoid or reduce the impact of the withdrawal symptoms, people struggling with alcohol may choose to progressively taper off alcohol rather than quit abruptly. In some cases, it may be necessary to detox in a supervised medical setting, where you can receive the proper care and support you need to safely and effectively overcome your alcohol addiction. It’s important to note that these are general guidelines how to stop drinking at home and that the timeline and severity of withdrawal symptoms can vary depending on the individual. If you are experiencing severe or persistent symptoms, it’s important to seek medical attention. Severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms can include delirium tremens, hallucinations, seizures, and extreme agitation. If you experience these or other severe symptoms, it is crucial to seek medical help immediately.

What happens when you stop drinking alcohol?

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome affects nearly two million Americans each year. Symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome can surface as early as two hours after a person’s last drink. Alcohol addiction rehabs offer a safe, secure and comfortable environment during the withdrawal phase.

This assessment should include an evaluation of the presence of coexisting medical and psychiatric conditions, the severity of the withdrawal symptoms, and the risk of withdrawal complications. The symptoms listed above may be a sign of a severe form of alcohol withdrawal called delirium tremens, or DTs. This rare, emergency condition causes dangerous changes in the way your brain regulates your circulation and breathing, so it’s important to get to the hospital right away. The first step is often to consult your primary care doctor or GP.

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In some cases, acute alcohol withdrawal sets in, characterized by severe symptoms and potentially triggering complications that might require medical attention. Most moderate and mild alcohol use disorders, by contrast, respond favorably to outpatient treatment. Studies show outpatient treatment is just as effective as residential rehab for most cases of alcohol use disorder. Substituting a prescription drug for alcohol should only happen with the help of a medical professional.

The article also discusses how the treatment of AW can be linked to the treatment of alcohol dependence and any co-occurring or underlying disorders. For more in-depth discussions of some of these issues, the reader is referred to subsequent articles in this issue. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Once you’ve cut back on your drinking (so you’re at or below the recommended guidelines), examine your drinking habits regularly to see if you’re maintaining this level of drinking. Some people attain their goal only to find that old habits crop up again later.

Evaluating the costs and benefits of drinking

Prepare yourself for those times when someone is going to offer you a drink. You might also hold onto a nonalcoholic drink instead, ask a friend to support you in difficult situations or simply exit early if temptation gets too strong, the NIAAA suggests. If you turn to alcohol to ease anxiety, try exercise as a healthy alternative. “Once you have a sense of how much you’re drinking, it’s helpful to track how many drinks you’re having per day,” says Witkiewitz. “You could use a calendar, journal or any number of tracking apps.” Drink Control Alcohol Tracker or Less are two examples of free tracking apps available on iOS devices. The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, revised (CIWA–Ar) (Sullivan et al. 1989; Foy et al. 1988).

Most people that drink too much are not physically dependent upon alcohol. When they stop drinking for even one day, they suffer symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Another big factor in how long a taper lasts is alcohol withdrawal symptoms. If you begin to have withdrawal symptoms during your taper, this is a sign that your taper may be going too fast and that you need to slow it down. When you drink heavily, your brain changes the amount of GABA it makes.

If you begin to experience severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms, you are quitting too quickly. Continue drinking at your most recent https://ecosoberhouse.com/ safe level for one more week, and then reduce again. Consider reducing your weekly consumption by 5 percent instead of 10 percent.

If you drink heavily, alcohol withdrawal symptoms can be harsh, dangerous, and even fatal. For this reason, it’s generally best to avoid quitting abruptly, or at bare minimum speak with a doctor first and have someone looking out for you. PAWS is one of the leading causes of relapse for individuals that have completed alcohol addiction treatment. Many people experience symptoms of PAWS in cyclical waves – one day you feel fine, and the next you’re plagued by low energy and intense cravings for alcohol.