I’m basically not a doctor, so heed these words as informational and not in lieu of professional medical advice. Check with a healthcare professional before following any health related actions.

Quitting “Cold Turkey” doesn’t just make you sweat through your clothes and bedding during your restless nights, it can literally KILL YOU.

It makes you wonder even more so how you got caught up with a vice that could take your life if you try to leave it. That is some controlling shit right there. Your body and brain become so accustom to the poisoning, that they can shut down without it.

Is that an excuse to keep drinking? No… It is a reason to taper.

You want to ease your mind and body into sobriety. You do this by gradually reducing the number of drinks while increasing the time between them until you reach your 1st day of no alcohol consumption.

Withdrawal is not something to be taken lightly.

In years past, I had once again tried cold turkey thinking I just had to get through the standard few days of sweaty clothes and irritation. That wasn’t the case. I remember one morning waking up feeling like all life and strength were drained from my body. It was a scary, strange and hard feeling to explain. At the time I didn’t realize what was happening. I remember barely being able to lift my arm to pick up my phone and struggling for the strength to talk. It  felt like I was about to fade away. Later I learn that I was suffering some severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Luckily, I am obviously still alive, but I think of how it could have gone in the other direction and kept that feeling with me to hep in future attempts to quit drinking. So many attempts, it’s crazy.

There are plenty of articles out there on how to taper off of alcohol to avoid serious withdrawal symptoms, and I encourage you to read up on those techniques. Remember, I am pretty much not a doctor, so seek out more reputable sources.

When tapering, steer clear of hard liquor or anything with elevated alcohol content like malt liquor, IPA, or anything else above 5% content. Stick with good old 12 ounce cans of “regular beer”, aka “piss water”. The reason for this is that you don’t want to get a spark that will engage your alcoholic mind to drink more. You can try with higher content, but chances are that will get you stuck in what I call the “Taper Trap”. Remember, you are quitting drinking, so these drinks are not your last hurrah, they are only to be used as a tool to wean off your physical dependency.

So now you are at the store ready to get some sparkling piss, but how much should you buy? It makes sense to save time and money by getting a case or 2 of beer to get you through all the days, BUT, that would put extra alcohol within your reach and give added temptation to have a bit more. If you have help from a friend or loved one that can keep the additional beers away from you, maybe that could work, but if you are going at it alone, it’s best to just get what you need for the day.

How many taper drinks per day depends on your baseline, which is the average amount that you currently consume in a typical day. You want to reduce your intake by 10%-20% (around 2 less drinks) each day. Don’t stretch it out too long and don’t cut it too short. Listen to your body. If you start by reducing 20% and you feel like it’s too much, change the strategy to 10 or 15%. If you feel ok with a few days of tapering but then 1 step was too much, go back to the amount that felt ok for another day or 2 then continue to decrease.

For help with calculating your taper drinks, you can also use this taper calculator: https://alcoholtapercalculator.com/ (I don’t recommend selecting the slow taper option as that takes so long you could lose your motivation to quit)

Consume no more than 1 drink per hour on the first day, and increase that by an extra half-hour to hour as the days go on. This is getting you used to having less in your system and avoiding getting a buzz.

Plan your schedule, avoid added temptation and keep focused on the goal of safely getting to zero drinks, aka Day 1 of sobriety.

If you slip up, correct the course and continue ahead. Keep trying and you will get there.

Nobody Likes a Drunk. Don’t be that person.