Tapering off alcohol. How do i know when i'm done?

[ThatGuyFromMN]

So, I'm trying to quit drinking for good. I wanted to avoid the withdrawals again and also avoid the hospital. I read in several places that this is one way to do it.

First, has anyone here successfully done it?

Second, how do I know when I'm done?

Today I had:

Beer #1 at 11am
Beer #2 at noon - this one came back up
Beer #3 at 1PM

And haven't had one since. Its currently almost 6 PM. I feel good right now Bu i'm worried I just 'reset' the clock and am going to experience WD in 12 hours. I have more beer but i'd rather not drink it if I don't have to. <---- The whole quitting thing. &#55357;&#56835;

Oh, I also took 600mg of gabapentin about an hour ago. I'm holding off on the Benzos if I dont have to.

Thoughts? Advice?

 

[phactor]

Well I wrote a big thread about it years ago, I wasn't ever able to make it stick. At first I could taper off for a few days, but later I couldn't even do that. I'd just try to get my drinking down to a manageable level. I would do it for a few days and then ramp up, then repeat, over and over and over, throw in lots of other drugs in there as well. Lots of my drug use (Alcohol is a drug) revolved around me trying to get my life together. Seems pretty insane looking back on it.

Gabapentin can help with alcohol WD.

Anyways, Alcohol Withdrawal is some serious shit. I have had seizures from it before and almost died. The last time I quit (and haven't used since) I thankfully just happened to do so at a point where cold turkey was not dangerous. It was in one of those periods of "only" have 2-3 drinks a night. I was using other shit on top of it of course. I have had to go to the hospital twice to detox from alcohol.

If you are drinking all day and throwing up, there is a good chance that you might need professional help. The idea of a taper is to maintain a certain level of alcohol in the system and slowly decrease it. Very difficult to do with alcohol. If you feel disconnected, muscles stiff, spasms, out of body, get to the ER immediately. To be honest, it is best if you do talk to a Doctor about this process at the very least.

Focus on getting off booze now, but I will tell you that getting off is the easy part. Figuring out how to live without it is the real challenge. I honestly had to change almost everything in order to do so and I know even more change is required.

Best of luck to you. I wanted to write to you about this in case you had seen my thread (which at times pops up via google searches from what I understand).

 

[ThatGuyFromMN]

I used to do at least 750ml of vodka throughout the day. I had to go the the hospital due to hallucinations about 2 months ago and quit completely for about 45 days. I relapsed about a week ago and cut way back, not drinking every day and down to about half of what I used to do, so like 375ml on the few days I did drink.

I'm just scared that i'll go in to severe WD again.

 

[ThatGuyFromMN]

Oh, and thanks for the encouragement. I was trolling around the before I registered today. You always have good advice I've noticed.

 

[phactor]

Well going through an intense withdrawal does put you at risk of what is called "kindling"... 45 days is a break, but not near enough for things to re-calibrate and there is also research that shows that people predisposed to addiction might experience withdrawal differently (especially when it comes to cravings, keep in mind non-addicts also withdrawal from pain meds and whatnot). So you are doing the right thing. Nobody can really tell you how you will experience withdrawals. Hallucinations are often a bad sign, and can signal the starts of DTs which can lead to seizures. However, "Alcoholic Hallucinosis doesn't always develop into DTs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_hallucinosis

Seizures do not tend to pop until later in withdrawal. When I had mine, I was 4 days in and actually starting to feel better.

If I had to guess, I'd say you will be okay though. But I am not a Doctor, and am very hesitant to give any type of advice when it comes to this stuff. After you get over this, I'd suggest trying to find some outside support. Have you been to treatment? I know you want to hide this, but I can tell you that you and your family will very likely be better off if you get professional treatment. People without addiction issues hardily ever drink to the point of hospitalization.

You are in Minnesota, very strong recovery up there. Try to find a therapist at the very least, and I know in another thread you said you tried one AA meeting and didn't like it. That is okay, but I'd urge you to try a few meetings and likely different programs like NA and/or SMART before you form an opinion. Meetings all have their own flavor, I'd bet you can find some you would like. If you don't want to identify as an Alcoholic and/or Addict then try going to some "open" meetings.

Feel free to PM me. Relapses happen, they are nothing to be ashamed of. Now you just have to ask yourself what you are willing to do to get clean? Because for me, it takes some drastic shit but I can assure you that at the end of the day for me it is more then worth it. In just 14 weeks things feel so much better for me. Even better when I had a year+ clean but still wasn't really committed to staying clean for good.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

Be very careful. People have died from DIY alcohol detox. I know you said you do not want to go to a hospital but is there any way you can go to a detox place, or see a medical professional and tell them what you want to do?