How Long Does It Take to Detox from Alcohol? Timeline and More

Your healthcare provider will recommend and encourage treatment for alcohol use disorder. But treatment varies based on the severity of alcohol withdrawal and the likelihood that it could progress to severe or complicated withdrawal. To learn about how our substance abuse treatment programs address alcohol dependence and withdrawal management, please contact us today. An effective tapering schedule may include cutting out one drink at a time at regular intervals. It might help to set goals and reward yourself when you reach them. Most people recover from alcohol withdrawal within a week, but people with severe dependency may experience withdrawal for multiple weeks.

How Long Does It Take To Taper Off Alcohol Safely?

Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website. Alcohol can stay in your system for several hours depending on how much you drink. Once it begins to leave your body, early symptoms of withdrawal begin. You should start by determining how much alcohol you drink per day in terms of standard drinks.

Alcohol Tapering Schedule

In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues. If you’re having difficulty sticking to your goal or just want some extra guidance, consider reaching out for professional support. It’s common to have a difficult time when making big changes, but good self-care practices can help you manage overwhelming feelings and take care of your mind and body.

Avoid Places or Situations that Involve Alcohol

• Dietary guidelines recommend that if you drink, men limit daily drinking to two drinks or less per day and women limit their drinking to one drink or less per day.
• If you’ve been drinking consistently for a long time, it’s a good idea to consider the safest way to stop when it’s time to cut back.
• By gradually drinking less instead of stopping cold turkey, your body has a chance to adapt to smaller and less frequent drinks.
• It’s common for the first symptoms to appear within a few hours after your last drink.
• If you’re unable to reduce how much you drink, you may have a disease called alcoholism that requires professional addiction treatment.
• This can help address the habitual aspect of drinking, like having a beverage in hand at social events without the alcohol content.

There are multiple health benefits you can experience when you start drinking less alcohol. The exact benefits will depend on how much alcohol you were drinking and on factors such as your genetics, overall health, and how your body responds. But drinking less is always a good choice for your body and health. The exact symptoms you experience will depend on factors such as how much alcohol you’re consuming, other medical conditions you have, medications you take, and your body’s response to the taper. This method is safer than abruptly stopping alcohol consumption, especially when switching from hard liquor to beer. Drinking beer can also help maintain hydration throughout the taper.

This is because when you drink heavily for months or years, your body can start to depend on alcohol to function normally. When you are physically dependent on a substance like alcohol, your body adapts accordingly. An alcohol taper is a way to wean yourself off alcohol and avoid withdrawal symptoms. Although all forms of alcohol cessation should be done with medical guidance, tapering your alcohol intake may allow you to self-wean from drinking at home. These include direct tapers, where you regularly decrease the amount of alcohol you consume, and substitution tapers, where you replace alcohol with another substance. These strategies work in different ways to help you quit drinking, and one may be more appropriate for you based on your needs.

• Because the body usually works to maintain balance, it will signal the brain to make more neurotransmitter receptors that excite or stimulate the central nervous system.
• For many people, tapering alone is insufficient to help heal their addiction.
• The success of these strategies will depend on how much you drink and what you drink.
• It can mean more time for your other interests, and even new interests.
• Sometimes, they may experience seizures and delirium tremens (DTs).

If you are tapering yourself off alcohol for the first time, it can be helpful to know what symptoms to expect during the process. Although the symptoms can vary for each person based on personal factors, many people share common experiences during this process. It is sometimes possible to taper your alcohol use at home if your AUD isn’t severe.

This means that there is little data about the best way to taper your drinking. However, some groups have published tapering examples to assist those trying to quit drinking. Symptoms outside of the anticipated withdrawal how to taper off alcohol period or resumption of alcohol use also warrants referral to an addiction specialist or inpatient treatment program. If the drink of choice is liquor, it is difficult to measure amounts and easy to binge drink.

Comparing the emotions that come up when you have a drink with the feelings you experience when abstaining also helps you recognize when drinking doesn’t fix the problems you’re trying to manage. Maybe you’ve never been interested in logging your innermost thoughts, but journaling can be a great tool to track your feelings as you work on quitting alcohol. There’s no set time frame for tapering off alcohol that works for everyone.

• If you drink alcohol and are thinking about quitting, it is important to make sure you do so safely.
• The kindling effect is an aspect of alcohol withdrawal that makes repeated attempts at withdrawal less safe.
• Minor symptoms of alcohol withdrawal can start as soon as six hours after the last drink of alcohol.
• A standard drink is a term used because different alcoholic beverages have different concentrations of alcohol, giving you varying amounts of alcohol depending on the fluid you drink.
• If you’re keeping up with this average (or less), the damage from alcohol is most likely minimal.
• If don’t have much of an appetite, you may want to take a multivitamin or drink a beverage high in electrolytes, such as a sports drink.

Symptoms and Causes

You may not need to completely reinvent your life to quit drinking, but making a few changes in your surroundings to help avoid alcohol triggers can make a big difference. You may receive medication to ease withdrawal symptoms—such as anti-diarrheal medicines or over-the-counter pain relievers. A doctor may prescribe a benzodiazepine as part of the tapering process. About 10 percent of people experience more severe symptoms, such as fever, fast breathing, and heavy sweating. All of these withdrawal symptoms are common during acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome. For example, depression could cause suicidal thoughts, and eating poorly can weaken your immune system.