readyforlife

Well, lets see I will try not to bore anyone with too many details but here goes.

I am a 39 year old single mother of 2 great kids and for the past year and half I have been drinking between 10-12 beers a night(I have never gotten up and drank) with actually the past 6 months being in that range and I need and want to quit for my kids. I know you can't give medical advice but I was wondering if anyone had luck on tapering.

I went yesterday and admitted to my doctor what has been going on (I have been going to him forever) I told him I did not believe I needed rehab as I can control my drinking to an extent and as a single mother I just can't leave. I have neck issues and really feel that I was self medicating with alcohol. I also told him that I for the past couple days I am down to 8 beers (that sounds bad, down to 8 beers, ugh) I do have an addictive personality so I also told him I really didn't want to trade drinking for pills. He agreed that I could try to taper off by cutting out one beer a day and I go back to see him in two weeks.

Like I said, she looking for words of wisdom.
Thank you for listening.

Opivotal

Welcome readyforlife! I know I tried to taper my drinking. It didn't work for me. Oh sure,maybe for a week or so but... then I was back to the same amount. Besides it was like torturing myself. I knew I had to stop...tapering just delayed the inevitable. For me it was easier to just stop all together. I was tired of the merry go round.

Good for you, seeing your Doctor. Many people self medicate with alcohol for other health problems. Pain, depression, or life's problems. We always wind up in the same place, facing those problems and adding another...alcohol!!



Best Wishes To You!

desire2befree

I'm the same way as far as an addictive personality. In my opinion, I don't think that tapering will work. I wish you all the best, readyforlife. I love this site. Lots of support here. Keep posting.

readyforlife

Thank you for replying.

I am not sure about the taper thing either but I think I can do it if I set my mind to it. I just want to minimize withdrawal as much as possible although I know I will have some. Reading some other posts I realize I may not have been drinking as much as some(but still alot) and at this point my hands aren't shaky in the morning but I am still scared to just quit cold turkey.

yogaisland

Tapering down is probably the safer thing to do, and since your doctor agreed, that's what I'd do. I didn't quit drinking all at once - I went from 3-4 glasses of wine on work nights and 5-8 on days off to 1 on work nights and 3-5 on days off. Then none on work nights and 2-3 on days off. Now none at all. I had no intention of quitting totally when I started cutting back, but I was already all the none/2-3 stage when my marriage counselor suggested I drop it entirely, since it was the root of almost all my problems with my husband. I balked at first but then I realized she was totally right and that I didn't need the potential for problems. I don't think I would have been able to taper at that point, like if I was still drinking my max and she told me to quit totally and I agreed, I would want to stop completely. Since once you get your mind fixed to stop it, you want to take away the temptation completely (like when you go on a diet and throw away all the junk in the house - hardly anyone tapers down from 10 twinkies to 8 to 6, etc!) But of course you don't get withdrawal from junk food, so just stick with your doctor's advice. Sorry for the rambling! :P

readyforlife

yogaisland, I didn't think you were rambling at all and thank you for the response. I do think I am going to give the taper a real effort. My doctor is so amazing that now that he knows everything I want to be able to go back in 2 weeks and tell him honestly that I'm down to 2 or none. He agreed that I was self medicating and asked if I was in a better place now or did I want to go to counseling. At this point I said I didn't think I needed a counsler but if I feel at some point I do I will let him know. I was teary talking to him and when I was leaving his office he just touched my arm and said "it is going to be ok, you have not passed the point of no return and admitting that this could progress to bad things is the first step. I am right by your side and together we will get through it" Of course that made me cry harder!

ttbp

Hello

Tapering didn't work for me, I hope it does for you though..

Good luck xxx

readyforlife

I have also wondered how dependent I am. I am going to say at that amount I was drinking I am sure there is some level of dependancy but I would have thought my hands would shake or something. When I went to my doctor it had been about 15 hours since my last drink and my blood pressure and pulse were still perfect even though I felt like they would be sky high. Maybe I have addressed this problem in the nick of time so maybe I would have been able to just stop cold turkey but my doctor said why risk it if I thought I could do the taper. I will definetely post on how the taper works or doesn't work as the week goes on.

If anyone has had success with the taper I would appreciate any advice on what I might expect as the taper goes on.