Has tappering helped anybody
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1,981
Originally Posted by Dee74 
I'm very discliplined.
I had no control over what happened after I took a drink tho.
D
I had no control over what happened after I took a drink tho.
D
There is a difference between a detox taper, and moderation which often gets confused.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 514
Hi Prosper.. I tried tapering once and failed miserably. However, stopping alcohol cold turkey can be extremely dangerous. Tapering can be successful if done correctly -- google HAMS harm reduction network. It gives specific instructions on how to do it. But as another person said, I would ONLY recommend this if sobriety is your real goal and you plan to enter a treatment program of some kind afterwards.
If in the end you do choose to taper, PLEASE do not make my mistake: I did not have anyone monitoring me. You MUST have someone there to monitor your intake or I can almost guarantee you will feel the buzz and keep going until you black out.
Detoxes can be tricky; I was turned away from once as well with no BAC but the shakes like crazy. They literally told me I had to be "practically dead" to get in there. So I went to the ER instead, where they have to take you... not ideal, but they gave me fluids and monitored me so I didn't have a seizure. I would suggest you do the same rather than tapering, to be honest. GOOD LUCK!
If in the end you do choose to taper, PLEASE do not make my mistake: I did not have anyone monitoring me. You MUST have someone there to monitor your intake or I can almost guarantee you will feel the buzz and keep going until you black out.
Detoxes can be tricky; I was turned away from once as well with no BAC but the shakes like crazy. They literally told me I had to be "practically dead" to get in there. So I went to the ER instead, where they have to take you... not ideal, but they gave me fluids and monitored me so I didn't have a seizure. I would suggest you do the same rather than tapering, to be honest. GOOD LUCK!
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,366
Originally Posted by Forward12
Keep in mind alcohol tapers are the recommended method of detox by doctors in the UK.
Naturally if someone presents to their Dr, is honest about their alcohol problem and tapering is recommended they should either follow that advice or get a second opinion if they feel thats warranted.
There is a difference between a detox taper, and moderation which often gets confused.
Do it yourself tapers are often ill-researched, the end aim misunderstood, often they do not work and they may even be dangerous for some of us.
I know several of mine were - and they were taper attempts, not moderation attempts.
D
Last edited by Dee74; 01-04-2018 at 07:59 PM. Reason: typo
Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 37
I'm currently in the process of sort of 'tapering' by accident more than anything
3 days ago I woke up with a hangover as usual and said the obligatory "I need to quit drinking and sort my life out". My plan as always was to start tapering by drinking 10 units instead of the usual 15, this never worked because as soon as I got the taste for it I couldn't stop.
I managed to last until about 3pm before cracking the first beer, at the same time I started watching documentaries on alcoholism, YouTube videos of some of the celebrities that I respect for their sobriety and reading the SR forums.
Because of my desire to quit and the content of what I was watching, in 8 hours I had only drank 3 light beers or the equivilant of 4.5 units (less than a third of what I would usually drink). That was the benchmark for which I have drank the exact same amount over the same time period both yesterday and today.
I've had a few cravings to keep going but because I have been drinking so slowly and still had my senses, I have been able to overcome those cravings with logic and reasons of why I need to quit. I have also been having headaches and feeling irritable which I believe to be due to reducing the consumption.
The plan now is to do the exact same thing for the next few days with a hope to minimise the side affects of quitting completely. The reason I have some hope for this method of tapering is because I haven't got the constant battle of reducing the amount every day, all I have to do is do the same thing tomorrow. I also feel I will be quitting from a position of strength after having a few small victories and experiencing some of the benefits, I am already sleeping better, no hangovers etc.
It'll be interesting to see how things go, I will be putting a post up of my journey up in the next few days if anyone's interested.
3 days ago I woke up with a hangover as usual and said the obligatory "I need to quit drinking and sort my life out". My plan as always was to start tapering by drinking 10 units instead of the usual 15, this never worked because as soon as I got the taste for it I couldn't stop.
I managed to last until about 3pm before cracking the first beer, at the same time I started watching documentaries on alcoholism, YouTube videos of some of the celebrities that I respect for their sobriety and reading the SR forums.
Because of my desire to quit and the content of what I was watching, in 8 hours I had only drank 3 light beers or the equivilant of 4.5 units (less than a third of what I would usually drink). That was the benchmark for which I have drank the exact same amount over the same time period both yesterday and today.
I've had a few cravings to keep going but because I have been drinking so slowly and still had my senses, I have been able to overcome those cravings with logic and reasons of why I need to quit. I have also been having headaches and feeling irritable which I believe to be due to reducing the consumption.
The plan now is to do the exact same thing for the next few days with a hope to minimise the side affects of quitting completely. The reason I have some hope for this method of tapering is because I haven't got the constant battle of reducing the amount every day, all I have to do is do the same thing tomorrow. I also feel I will be quitting from a position of strength after having a few small victories and experiencing some of the benefits, I am already sleeping better, no hangovers etc.
It'll be interesting to see how things go, I will be putting a post up of my journey up in the next few days if anyone's interested.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: United kingdom
Posts: 360
Tapering never worked for me either, I remember giving up once before and after 3 days of abstinence and headaches saw a Doctor who basically told me to start drinking again and taper it down- I got the start drinking bit down to a tee but not the tapering.
I think tapering is far harder than going cold turkey with the caveat that if you are a long term heavy drinker its always worth considering a doctors advice and explaining to them if you feel you cant do it
I think tapering is far harder than going cold turkey with the caveat that if you are a long term heavy drinker its always worth considering a doctors advice and explaining to them if you feel you cant do it
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 37
Thanks for the advise. I would love to go to detox but they won't take me. Maybe someday soon I will just wait for the shakes and go to ER instead of grabbing a drink. It's all fun and games until you wake up with the shakes, right? Lol
Originally Posted by VigilanceNow
Hi Prosper.. I tried tapering once and failed miserably. However, stopping alcohol cold turkey can be extremely dangerous. Tapering can be successful if done correctly -- google HAMS harm reduction network. It gives specific instructions on how to do it. But as another person said, I would ONLY recommend this if sobriety is your real goal and you plan to enter a treatment program of some kind afterwards.
If in the end you do choose to taper, PLEASE do not make my mistake: I did not have anyone monitoring me. You MUST have someone there to monitor your intake or I can almost guarantee you will feel the buzz and keep going until you black out.
Detoxes can be tricky; I was turned away from once as well with no BAC but the shakes like crazy. They literally told me I had to be "practically dead" to get in there. So I went to the ER instead, where they have to take you... not ideal, but they gave me fluids and monitored me so I didn't have a seizure. I would suggest you do the same rather than tapering, to be honest. GOOD LUCK!
If in the end you do choose to taper, PLEASE do not make my mistake: I did not have anyone monitoring me. You MUST have someone there to monitor your intake or I can almost guarantee you will feel the buzz and keep going until you black out.
Detoxes can be tricky; I was turned away from once as well with no BAC but the shakes like crazy. They literally told me I had to be "practically dead" to get in there. So I went to the ER instead, where they have to take you... not ideal, but they gave me fluids and monitored me so I didn't have a seizure. I would suggest you do the same rather than tapering, to be honest. GOOD LUCK!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 37
Nice job. Let me know how things are going.
Originally Posted by Drillbit
I'm currently in the process of sort of 'tapering' by accident more than anything
3 days ago I woke up with a hangover as usual and said the obligatory "I need to quit drinking and sort my life out". My plan as always was to start tapering by drinking 10 units instead of the usual 15, this never worked because as soon as I got the taste for it I couldn't stop.
I managed to last until about 3pm before cracking the first beer, at the same time I started watching documentaries on alcoholism, YouTube videos of some of the celebrities that I respect for their sobriety and reading the SR forums.
Because of my desire to quit and the content of what I was watching, in 8 hours I had only drank 3 light beers or the equivilant of 4.5 units (less than a third of what I would usually drink). That was the benchmark for which I have drank the exact same amount over the same time period both yesterday and today.
I've had a few cravings to keep going but because I have been drinking so slowly and still had my senses, I have been able to overcome those cravings with logic and reasons of why I need to quit. I have also been having headaches and feeling irritable which I believe to be due to reducing the consumption.
The plan now is to do the exact same thing for the next few days with a hope to minimise the side affects of quitting completely. The reason I have some hope for this method of tapering is because I haven't got the constant battle of reducing the amount every day, all I have to do is do the same thing tomorrow. I also feel I will be quitting from a position of strength after having a few small victories and experiencing some of the benefits, I am already sleeping better, no hangovers etc.
It'll be interesting to see how things go, I will be putting a post up of my journey up in the next few days if anyone's interested.
3 days ago I woke up with a hangover as usual and said the obligatory "I need to quit drinking and sort my life out". My plan as always was to start tapering by drinking 10 units instead of the usual 15, this never worked because as soon as I got the taste for it I couldn't stop.
I managed to last until about 3pm before cracking the first beer, at the same time I started watching documentaries on alcoholism, YouTube videos of some of the celebrities that I respect for their sobriety and reading the SR forums.
Because of my desire to quit and the content of what I was watching, in 8 hours I had only drank 3 light beers or the equivilant of 4.5 units (less than a third of what I would usually drink). That was the benchmark for which I have drank the exact same amount over the same time period both yesterday and today.
I've had a few cravings to keep going but because I have been drinking so slowly and still had my senses, I have been able to overcome those cravings with logic and reasons of why I need to quit. I have also been having headaches and feeling irritable which I believe to be due to reducing the consumption.
The plan now is to do the exact same thing for the next few days with a hope to minimise the side affects of quitting completely. The reason I have some hope for this method of tapering is because I haven't got the constant battle of reducing the amount every day, all I have to do is do the same thing tomorrow. I also feel I will be quitting from a position of strength after having a few small victories and experiencing some of the benefits, I am already sleeping better, no hangovers etc.
It'll be interesting to see how things go, I will be putting a post up of my journey up in the next few days if anyone's interested.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 131
Yes that does seem odd that a detox unit would ask you to be sober for 48 hours. Although from the general alcohol withdrawal timeline for alcohol dependence i guess in a strange way it could make sense, maybe?! Quite shocking actually. Hope you doing ok.
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