any thoughts on weaning ?
 

I'm at the point where I seriously need to stop drinking. I abuse alcohol heavily. Every day I go through withdrawal symptoms until I have a drink. It has become a serious problem. I want to quit but the withdrawals are so horrible. Shakes, nausea (would be vomiting if I didn't have a drink I bet), hot and cold sweats.. Generally it feels like I have a terrible feaver..

Anyways, does anyone have any thoughts on weaning my self off alcohol? I intend to drink less and less every day until I can make it through the day with just a shot or two of vodka. Then I'll go cold turkey. I've read on some websites that weaning doesn't work for alcoholics because they just start drinking heavily when they try to wean. An ideal situation would be checking myself into recovery, but that isn't possibly.. because of reasons I won't go into detail here.

I'm going to try this no matter the responses I get in this thread, but I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.

I tried many many many many many times.

At some point in my 'weaning period' I would just say "F it, I will start tomorrow- and got drunk"

Happened every time.

If you want my opinion it follows:

If you are an alcoholic. You will not be able to successfully do it.

Just my opinion. Good luck.

The way I see it is that is really my only option.. I'm scared that if I try to quit cold turkey I'll have a seizure. Unless there is some sort of non narcotic medication that helps.. I won't take benzos, or opiates because I used to have a problem with them (actually I kicked that habit by weaning myself off and having gone back since).

Stop now. Go to the hospital.

I think your in a scary spot! You should seek medical help, at least talk to a doctor. Alcohol and pills will kill you...I am sorry If this does not help.

Why not go to Detox or the Emergency Room? Get some help and some peace.

good luck with it, I hope it works, in the very least, you will be reducing the poison and harm that drinking full out does. At least until you can see your way Clearly to go to the hospital or rehab. God Bless.... and do pray Lots right now

My experience is weaning does not work but since you are going to do it no matter what I wish you better luck than I had.

Can be done...probably shouldn't
 

I'm a very heavy drinking alkie myself, so I know the desperation you're feeling to quit.

I've quit many times over the years; done it medically supervised, and just plain quit at home.

The stuff you describe is worrisome: withdrawal symptoms within 24 hours, etc...As much as I've drank, I've never experienced those myself, so my physical symptoms were mild compared to yours.

But to answer your question about weaning: I've planned it, mapped it out, convinced myself I was on top of the solution...and it's simply never worked. For me, drinking is either on, or it's off; there's just no slow drip!

I'm right where you're at, right this very evening. We Must Quit, otherwise we die...am I right??

I don't know if you've ever quit before, and I hate giving advice under the influence, but you'll read it here over and over: detox can kill. So far, it hasn't killed me yet...and detox is better than death by alcohol...and I know that's why you wanna quit...just seriously be careful, okay?

Totally behind your desire to stop,
Arp

Thanks for your comments/support guys. It is nice to be able to talk with other people going through (or have been through) the same thing. If the symptoms get extremely worrisome I will definitely seek medical help.

To those that said I should just check myself into a hospital.. It isn't that easy, I have to support an elder family member. I am both her physical and monetary support. I can't just leave, it isn't possibly.

BTW my plan is as follows: The next three or four days I'm going to drink two drinks a day each with two shots in them. One I already had at around 6:00. The next I will have at around 11:00 or around there (about an hour before I'll goto sleep). Then the next three or four days after that I'll try to narrow it down to one drink with two shots a day. And then the next 5 or 6, maybe even 7 days after that I will narrow it down to one shot a day. After that I'm going to eliminate drinking completely.

I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes.

I actually "weaned" myself just prior to quitting, I had an awful detox at home, but I did it. That was in 2003.

Keep 911 on speed dial, tell a friend or family member what you are planning, so they can keep an eye on you.

God bless you.

Seren

I weaned myself off a few times. I would just drink really slowly and make sure I ate good meals. I wouldn't just get up and grab the next drink immediately.

It worked well for me.

Cold turkey from drugs can make you feel like you are going to die but you don't.
Cold turkey from Alcohol can kill you and should be done under a DR's care.

My "opinion" and experience on weaning... it works for a few days but then I would go right back where I started in a days time.
The opinion part...Rather then less and less each day... each day go for minimum needed. If you can get by with one go for it.

5
4
3
2
1
would be a controled weaning and hard to sustain.
Doing a
5
1
2
1
1
1
would be a forced weaning and as said... my opinion...would be better.

No matter what...check with your Dr.

I never tried to taper
Good Luck
:)
Welcome to our Alcoholism forum
Please do read the top sticky post

Yes, please do.
What you are describing however is "Controlled Drinking".
Can you really control your drinking????

It is not possible for me to "wean". To me, the first drink is the one that gets me going. It is much easier for this alcoholic to not drink then it is to limit myself (even if the limit was 10 beers).

Best of luck. You can do this.

Ah, I see.. I've always heard people refer to it as weaning (ie: when people gradually decrease their intake of drugs/alcohol in order to get off it with having the minimal withdrawals possibly). I think I can control it, but only time will tell.

Honestly, I have no choice. I have to quit..

BTW I used this same method to get off of a heavy addiction to pharmaceuticals , and it worked quite well. And that was years before I developed a drinking problem, I didn't just end up substituting alcohol for pills right afterwards (that would have been cheating :D).

So far its going good. Another hour until my second drink of the day. I have had a few symptoms.. Some hot/cold flashes, negative thoughts, a bit of nausea, and I'm a bit shaky.

I was able to wean myself off oxycontin and oxycodone, but never alcohol.

Withdrawal sucks, and like someone else posted dangerous. I honestly don't know how i survived all on my at home detoxes....

Good luck to you.

Eat, often and healthy, protein and complex carbs will keep your sugar levels on an even keel.
Drink water, lots of it.
Rest as much as you can, be very gentle with yourself.
Please call 911 ASAP if you need to.
I went from a bottle of vodka a night, to two beers a day in the last days of my drinking career. Please do this very gradually.
I was throwing up, sweating, shaking so hard I couldn't hold a cup of water, I was throwing up blood and blood was in my stool too, it was very hard.......please call for help if you need to.

Seren

The reason I'm asking is that if you can wean down to one shot a day and then quit, why don't you try weaning down to one shot a day and not quitting? That way you can have your cake and eat it too.
Can you drink one shot a day and maintain that frequency for any lenght of time? If so, then you may just be a heavy drinker that needs a little discipline in your habits.
If you're an Alcoholic, I'll bet my money that the Vodka is the winner in this test.
Just something to think about.