Oh yeah, I also take Prozac. It reduces the number of triggers I have to deal with.

So, my sobriety is made up of a little bit of a lot of things:

Medication.
Professionals (psychiatrist).
12 step support groups (AA).
Reading AA literature or other books that don't glamorize alcohol.
Watching TV and movies that don't glamorize alcohol.
Doing something for my sobriety everyday.
And, a little bit of soberrecovery.com.

Hi Hanker and Welcome!

It's easier for me to have 0 drinks than it is 3...... :)

All the best on your journey...

It's never made sense to me when people want to keep drinking to quit drinking.. but I also remember how little sense I made when I was active in my addiction(s) and scared to death to really really (really!) quit for good. I held on tight to my substances like my life depended on it, rationlizing how and why I was still using all along the way.

If your plan doesn't work, we probably have lots of ideas of what might!

Because if you just quit, theres a real possibility of death...

Benzos and Alcohol both affect gama the same way. Thats why doctors can use librium, ect for detox to replace the alcohol and then taper them down..

Before that, you would have no choice but to taper the alcohol down to avoid death..

Either way its done, it should be under a doctor's supervision.

I tried it enough times to know that after about 3 beers my counting skills go right out the window.

I came to this forum back in 2007 because I thought I might have a problem. I've been trying to moderate since then. Oh look, I'm still here!

Moderation doesn't seem to work for me. I've had some successful periods, but always seem to slip back into old habits without even noticing. Tricky Tricky alcoholic brain!!

I believe each person has their own path to follow and choices to make. I don't think any one plan for one person will work for another. There are so many variables and triggers. You have to explore what works for you and with the help of professionals if neccessary.

Best of luck!

I think the consensus shows that yes, medical supervision is incredibly important, but continuing drinking while being your own treatment facility and program is not wise.

I'm well aware of detox dangers. Safe detoxing is important to decrease the chances of medical complications from withdrawal. Continuing to drink to do that, is playing with fire, and ridiculous in my opinion.

That is what detox and medical supervision are for. I'm pretty sure that doctors who detox people don't make it a practice of weaning them down with beer or vodka over a period of days or weeks, but who knows.. I went the detox route that didn't involve any medication but very close monitoring and fluids. I suppose we each have our own experience.

I used tapering off to lessen the danger of a bad detox for two weeks before I stopped completely. I had almost no bad withdrawal symptoms and I credit it largely to tapering down. Had I gone from the 15 or so beers I was drinking every day to none I probably would have had complications.

However you decide to do it, quitting is the easy part. Never picking up again is the test you will likely take for the rest of your life.

Tapering makes sense to me if you're not going to use a doctor. It's actually what I've been doing for the last week to prepare to quit for good at the end of this week. We'll see how it goes for both of us, I guess.

It's probably different for different people. Some people could stop instantly, get the shakes for a couple of days and then be ok.
I did that for years but it came to a head when I had withdrawal seizures. Some people might never get that tho, so it's different for everybody.
So overall the safest option must be simply to see your doctor.
I don't know what the hell I was on when I was in hospital, but I had drips going into me, morphine etc.