goneundone

Hi. After years of active mental addiction to alcohol.. I’m going to try again and I want this to be my last try. I just want to do, and never look back again. I just had 9 months sober under my belt. And I took that first drink and here I am 3 months later neck deep in active addiction. I want to be free again.

I don’t think I need a taper because Ive never had any serious withdrawals.. but I get anxiety easily especially when it comes to quitting and being scared of withdrawals. So I’m just going to taper. Here’s my taper schedule.

Monday (tomorrow) 6 units
Tuesday 4 units
Wednesday 3 units
Thursday 2 units
Friday 2 units
Saturday 1unit
Sunday Final Drink.

I know it’s a little drawn out but I want to be 100% certain I won’t have any physical withdrawals. And then I want to be free for forever.

Thank you.

Be123

Hi goneundone

I'm not an expert on tapering and I'm sure someone else will be able to advise on that. I could never taper because I'm addicted to alcohol, so as soon as I had the first drink I wanted to get blind drunk (funnily enough that's probably still true, the difference is now I don't take the first drink!).

Good luck and keep posting as you get sober

Dee74

Hi goneundone - welcome

I'm not seeing where you asked for advice - but we couldn't give you advice on tapering anyhow if you had, cos thats medical advice under our rules.

I could never make taper work...but it sounds like you've given it a lot of thought and feel comfortable doing it this way.
Don't hesitate to see a Dr tho if you feel you need to.

best wishes - you'll find a lot of support and encouragement for staying quit here

D

goneundone

Just checking in with myself. Today was Monday and I only had two units spaced out many hours from each other.

Thanks to the two people who replied to show support!

Delilah1

Glad you are back and wanting to get sober again!

least

I could never taper, I'd just end up drinking too much. I hope you can make it work and get sober for good.

Coz

Hi goneundone - sounds like you are off to a successful start to your tampering.

I did taper on my first attempt to stop drinking earlier this year. Many to most of the SR community don't think it is a good idea, but I was like you and fearful of DTs and worse. It takes a lot of energy and will power and makes for a very challenging and anxiety provoking time during tapering. And while it might help reduce really bad side effects, it also might not.

I would really suggest you talk to your doctor about your plan and seek some advice on anything that he/she can prescribe to make withdrawal as bearable as possible.

I haven't used tapering for subsequent quitting of alcohol as I now think that it is easier to get that first week out of the way rather than drag it out for the tapering time and then the yuck days to follow. But what ever works for you. It sounds like you are on track, but you have more days to go. Please think about a call to the doc.

Best wishes to you - I look forward to seeing you in the October 2020 class when you are ready to be a non-drinker again!

biminiblue

I quit with a taper, but I just did it in three days.

If you made it past Monday with just the two, that's awesome. How about just one today and zero tomorrow? That's about how I did it and I was an all-day every day drinker of hard alcohol for years prior to quitting.

Really glad you've decided to take back your one precious life.

Erica375

Hi, Goneundone! How are you doing? I always thought tapering was a great idea, but not for me, not with alcohol. I did a medically advised taper off of Valium ages ago. I had fibromyalgia before anyone knew what that was and Valium was all they could think to give me.

I don't recall the taper was difficult but I was so fed up with being on it I wanted to be DONE. It didn't have the same hold on me that alcohol does.

Let us know how you're getting on.

Sober45

You have my support. If you could achieve 9 months sober you can do this. I didn't have a taper schedule but I did set a quit date several weeks prior and scaled back during that time to reduce withdrawals.

YOU made the schedule. It is YOUR schedule. If you think you can do it, you can do it. If you let doubt in, your chances of succeeding goes down.

There are as many ways to sobriety as there are people. Be true to yourself and follow through.

gypsytears

I’ve never had luck with tapering. It looks as though you put a lot of thought into your schedule though and made it through Monday with less. That’s fantastic. I agree with Bimini. Why not just one today and start day one of sobriety tomorrow !

PinnacleOR

Tapering never worked for me, as an alcoholic my response was just to drink more when I started feeling the buzz wear off. What DID work for me was a medically supervised detox in a detox home. That gave me the running start I needed to stay sober.

As Dee and others have said, not medical advice but just my personal experience. However you do it, having a medical professional guide the process and support you along the way can only help.

Bethany57

I don't know anything about tapering. I only know if that is what YOU want to do YOU can do it. You will beat this. Keep strong and keep coming back for support. I know you can do it.

REM700

Glad to see your update. I almost posted on this thread last night to see how things went.

I tapered as well. Ended up cutting usage in half each day. It was quicker and more uncomfortable than I wanted, but it worked for me. From 30 to 12, then 6, 3, 1, stop.

What's the plan for today? One or stop?

I wish you the best

TexanJohn

Best of luck to ya!

Last Saturday night was my last binge, so bad I woke up Sunday and knew I had to stop. I’ve never been able to control my intake. So I just stopped.

Anna

You have my support, for sure. But, tapering didn't ever work for me.

freedomfries

Best of luck with your taper.

goneundone

Thanks everyone. 4 units today, I realize that’s up from yesterday but at least it’s still keeping to my schedule. I had a craving to go get my go to, vodka, but I asked myself.. do I want to continue beIn drunk and fat, or sober and fit? I chose sober and fit so I got the rest of the truly’s I needed for my taper. On my way to sobriety. I know a taper hasn’t worked for most people but I cant go into a medical detox due to my profession. Thanks all.

Dee74

Yeah my problem was if there was alcohol there, I'd drink it.

I understand you feel you have a profession that makes doctor visits for this difficult, but if you drank anything like me, being drunk around others was a regular occurrence anyway?

If you find yourself moving up in units again instead of going down, its not really working -it may be worth reconsidering the idea and seeing a Dr to detox safely instead?

HIPAA is there for a reason.

D

Mizz

I hope this taper works for you.
My alcoholism wants it ALL. There is no way but to the end of the bottle for me.
Please keep posting and letting us know how it is going.