Alcohol tapering

[CindyinCR]

Hello,

I haven't been here for awhile. I am so happy that bluelight.org is still here!

I am beginning an alcohol taper. I plan to drop from 6oz of vodka a day to zero in a kind way. No cold turkey.

I have supplies if needed. I am prescribed .5 clonazepam and 20mg furosemide if I have high BP, HR or jitters. And I am on regularly prescribed high dose gabapentin for a crushed sciatic nerve so I have that buffer on board.

Is dropping an ounce ok every two days or is this too aggressive? Suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Jung and Stoopid]

Are you male or female? Have you already tapered down from a larger amount? 6oz of vodka per day shouldn't cause significant withdrawal, but might for a petite female.

Have you tried to cold turkey?

You can really tackle this in many ways without the much looming danger.

Personally, I find it damn near impossible to taper below 6 drinks, I just cold turkey at that point. But everyone is different.

 

[CindyinCR]

I am can elder female. I weigh about 168lbs. Please help me understand why taper below 6 hasn't worked?

 

[Jung and Stoopid]

I am can elder female. I weigh about 168lbs. Please help me understand why taper below 6 hasn't worked?

Considering you are bother elderly and a female please disregard my initial post. Both of these factors increase the complexity of the situation and dependency on alcohol.

Have you talked to your doctor about this? Or is it something you are keeping close to the chest? This is really something that needs doctor's supervision, particularly in your case.

However, you do have the tools needed to detox relatively safely at home, but I can't conscientiously encourage you to to that without consulting a doctor first. Some other things you are going to want are B complex vitamins (especially thiamine), and antioxidants.

Personally, I cannot taper below 6 because I have been a severe alcoholic in the past. If someone gave me 3 or 4 beers then cut me off I would punch them in the neck. But that's just me, it's a psychological thing. That doesn't mean you can't successfully taper. It's just something I can't do.

 

[CindyinCR]

I do have b complex and additional thiamine. Thank you. I live in the remote mountains of Costa Rica. And I am poor, and would need cash for medical support - so that's not happening.

I understand that you or others are not Drs. here.

What I am trying to get to is the absolutely safest taper cycle that we know of: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 oz every three days or some suggestion like that. I have withdrawn easily before but I am now 71 (which isn't old, old), and want to be careful. My biggest concern is managing fluid retention. The rest I know how to do, like BP elevation which never happens to me. Because of fluid retention my BP can actually trend low. Aldesterone. So I want to go snail slow with this.

So if anyone knows what a clinic might advise, and feels ok with loose suggestions I would appreciate it.

 

[Jung and Stoopid]

I do have b complex and additional thiamine. Thank you. I live in the remote mountains of Costa Rica. And I am poor, and would need cash for medical support - so that's not happening.

I understand that you or others are not Drs. here.

What I am trying to get to is the absolutely safest taper cycle that we know of: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 oz every three days or some suggestion like that. I have withdrawn easily before but I am now 71 (which isn't old, old), and want to be careful. My biggest concern is managing fluid retention. The rest I know how to do, like BP elevation which never happens to me. Because of fluid retention my BP can actually trend low. Aldesterone. So I want to go snail slow with this.

So if anyone knows what a clinic might advise, and feels ok with loose suggestions I would appreciate it.

I am going to PM you. I can help you through this.

 

[CindyinCR]

Hello,

I haven't been here for awhile. I am so happy that bluelight.org is still here!

I am beginning an alcohol taper. I plan to drop from 6oz of vodka a day to zero in a kind way. No cold turkey.

I have supplies if needed. I am prescribed .5 clonazepam and 20mg furosemide if I have high BP, HR or jitters. And I am on regularly prescribed high dose gabapentin for a crushed sciatic nerve so I have that buffer on board.

Is dropping an ounce ok every two days or is this too aggressive? Suggestions are appreciated.

I would REALLY appreciate some help. I haven't been unable to jump off. I finally got down to 1.5 oz without issues, but the next day I was back up to 4oz, then 6oz the next. I guess because alcohol in the end stresses you out with rising cortisol, I keep having upsets and the cortisol makes it easy to stress me out. And this time the tension also raises my BP. Also I have developed a stubborn headache that follows any elevation in my BP, but goes away when I reduce it with meds. Because I don't have to worry about low BP this time, I have increased my clonzapam as of today. I took 1mg extra. And I will try to drop the vodka again to today to 2oz. If anyone can help, that would be great. Part of this is that I have withdrawn at least 5 times, so there is that burn factor at play (I forget what it's called).

 

[lost weekend]

Hello,

I haven't been here for awhile. I am so happy that bluelight.org is still here!

I am beginning an alcohol taper. I plan to drop from 6oz of vodka a day to zero in a kind way. No cold turkey.

I have supplies if needed. I am prescribed .5 clonazepam and 20mg furosemide if I have high BP, HR or jitters. And I am on regularly prescribed high dose gabapentin for a crushed sciatic nerve so I have that buffer on board.

Is dropping an ounce ok every two days or is this too aggressive? Suggestions are appreciated.

Good luck to you
Must be great everywhere apart from the uk where doctors actually prescribe medication for people with addictions ,I was told because I was an alcoholic they couldn't taper me for an extreme clonazepam addiction
Unless of course your a heroin addict then you get all the meds you want