first time actually wanting to quit alcohol
 

I went to see my doctor few weeks ago & explained that the help that I have always been offered & refused I now want to accept as I'm at the point in life where I'm sick to death of drinking every day I have forgotten what it feels like to feel normal without feeling hungover or to have withdrawal day after day..

I'm 23 have a family business & have a weekend job, anyway.. my business is not going so great so i have been stressed and drinking a lot more the past few months I'm sick of drinking & want to change my life.. been drinking 150-200 alcohol units a week for about 6 years now & now I finally want to stop completely.

Anyway my doctor put me in touch with some alcohol specialists and i had a meeting and asked for a detox.. they turned round to me & said they would rather me taper off alcohol than to have a detox because of my age.. we worked out an alcohol plan, I start at 7 pints of beer a day and after every three days I minus a beer so the pattern looks like this

777-666-555-444-333-222-111

I personally would rather just quit & get it out the way with but I guess this is worth a try,

So far I have had one slip up where on the last day of drinking 7 beers I had 15 but apart from that I'm back on track, also I have gone from 6 beers to 4 a day which I'm on now to speed up the process..

Withdrawal symptoms so far have been nothing out of the ordinary that I'm use to apart from my heart beat seems to be alot harder, still shaking Abit and feel sick when I wake up & anxious

I'll be fine after the withdrawals pass

But hopefully I can beat this illness & after Christmas I can be clean from alcohol altogether and start my life again!

Well done bigjim, I must say the plan sounds unusual but it's great it's working for you, good luck & yes it's good when you get sick & tired of drinking!

Hang in there BigJim! You clearly want to kick this addiction, so that's the first step :)

I am doing the same thing. I started off at 12 beers a day about a week ago. I cut down from 12-6-5-5-4-4 and now I am on 3 now. Whereas 12 beers got me buzzed a week ago, 3 did the trick today. I couldn't even take a nap sober a week ago because of nightmares and shakiness. I am gradually acclimating...eating a lot healthier and taking vitamins as well. I can nearly get a whole night's sleep now sober. I am at a point where I am thinking it is going to be very hard cutting down more than where I am at now...but being able to actually begin sleeping sober...it's awesome to the point words can hardly describe. Keep it up.

Welcome to SR, keep us posted on how you are doing! :)

Glad you're getting help BigJim. I know the support in the UK does lean towards tapering but do let them know if you're finding it difficult and don't feel bad about it. I could never do it and it made me feel really bad for failing at it but I just couldn't control my drinking well enough to taper. I think few people here can. I hope it goes well for you though x

Hey jim another uk dude here...When I wanted to quit they also put me in touch with one of those groups and they also wanted me to taper...I was drinking about 15 pints of lager a day and I just could not taper....I hope it works for you mate...Lots of good advice and help here though bud...Take care...

Gort to be honest and say my experience with tapering was similar as these guys ^ Big Jim...

but I wish you well....hope you make it work.

I know you'll find a lot of advice and collected wisdom here :)

welcome :)

D