Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I have been able to cut back further without the shakes... Now I'm wondering how much of the shakes was physical withdrawal and how much mental due to feeling anxious and feel like a swig will make me feel better.
Recently was drinking half a bottle of vodka a day, but when I had a half 4 days ago I filled the rest with water and swigged from that, then when it got to half refilled it with more water. It's day 4 and I'm too sleepy to do the math, but I still have half a bottle, it's mostly water by now. I can barely taste the alcohol but it still seems to work to calm me down. I've also started drinking a lot of decaf tea, hoping to replace my desire for alcohol with the taste of tea.
No shakes or other withdrawals, I do have a craving but it actually seems to be more mental than physical. I haven't been sleeping well, but I attribute that to a family of loud crickets moved in outside our bedroom rather than alcohol withdrawal.
I'm glad to find this forum, 4 days ago I was reading other people's posts and literally crying... So many seem to be going through such hard times and I know there's no reason to abuse alcohol but I can see why some of them really feel the need. I seem to have a great life in comparison so it was crazy I felt such a need to drink.
I also felt very inspired by those posting who kicked the habit. I wish we had a AA nearby, nearest ones are an hour away and I really hate driving (been in 3 accidents, one really bad before there was a seatbelt law when hardly anybody wore them and I wasn't wearing one so I was pretty badly hurt... I should add, none alcohol related or my fault, all the other driver's fault).
Anyway, thanks again for the welcome and advice. I'll continue reading posts and maybe sharing how I'm doing, hope to soon be one of you posting how many days sober I've made it.