Does Tapering Off Alcohol Work? (Spoiler: no. Here's why.)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
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Alcohol withdrawal is hard. But so is maintaining your sobriety. So what's the best strategy for quitting the drink?
In this video, I discuss my personal experience with tapering off after a relapse, and share why it didn't work for me, and why it probably won't work for you.
email me here: batcountryyt@gmail.com
Chapters:
00:00 intro
06:56 What is alcohol tapering?
09:50 Does tapering work?
12:57 Why doesn't tapering work?
21:47 In conclusion
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24 years gone, 12 of which drunk almost EVERY day. The best I can contribute to the discussion is that in the end, it seems to me the only way to stop drinking alcohol is to not drink any more alcohol.
Very profound.
This is some of the most authentic sobriety content out there
Thanks Zeuskazoo. That's an awesome name by the way.
Love your content. I'd always wished there were more detailed descriptions of DTs since watching delirium dirk. My brother has gone through them twice from Xanax addiction--it causes the same withdrawal syndrome.
I got addicted to opiates as a teenager, went through a year long, agonizing withdrawal syndrome in my early 20s and seemed over it. After so many years, I couldn't even remember what an opiate felt like. No cravings.
Then a bad hurricane hit my town. Wife and I both lost jobs due to businesses shutting down, tons and tons of debris in my yard, damaged house. I remember looking out the window and thinking, I'll never be able to clean this up. I got some opiates and took them occasionally. Then started a new job and went right back to constant daily use and relapsed, more than 15 years of being off them. It's crazy how it's always there, waiting for a moment of weakness. It's demoralizing.
One more thought: having experienced opiate withdrawal but hearing these descriptions of alcohol withdrawal, I've no doubt alcohol withdrawal is much worse.
Getting off opiates is a long stay in purgatory, while alcohol withdrawal is an acute visit to hell.
Tapering worked wonders for me. Best way is to not drink for the first 24 hours. then the second day drink half of what you were drinking. A 2nd way that worked was to take a full day off then get a 12 pk of lite beer and only drink a few at a time for the 36-72 hour window.
Thanks for another important video my friend. Day 14 for me tomorrow, it was a horrible withdrawal this time. Not quite the full DT's but the worse night terrors, sweats, all that jazz, for well over a week. This will be the last time I put myself through that. Good luck to one and to all! :)
Thanks Krispy, congrats on 2 weeks and good luck with the rest. Keep us posted!
Tapering worked for me. Was drinking a bottle of whisky and a small case of beer a night after I lost my child. I couldn’t deal with the reality of the situation and figured I was only doing it til some time passed and the pain eased off. Well that was never going to happen and I realised I had to stop for the sake of my family. I stopped and went into severe withdrawals before the first day was over. I went straight out and bought a bottle of whisky and made a plan to taper off. I used my family as motivation, was very determined but just unable to fight the withdrawals- and the grief, so tapering was the only way I could do it. Everybody is different I guess ✌️
As cynical as I am about tapering, the only thing that matters is that you're safe and healthy. The strategy doesn't matter.
I'm doing it right now, down from vodka to cider. Don't want to end up back in hospital. They're sick of the sight of me at ALL the hospitals and my hallucinations and vomiting.
How's it going today?
I'm grateful to have found this channel! I'm currently binge-watching your content as I withdraw from what I am determined to have as my FINAL RELAPSE. Once the brain fog clears up a bit more, I'd love to come back to a few of these videos.
I didn't taper from this one, but I also didn't go to any medical detox. For me, tapering keeps me drinking for a longer period of time, and it wouldn't take much for the addicted side of my brain to throw it to the wind and just go on a full-on binge. After all, I'm still drinking, and it's within easy reaching distance, so why not? My drinking tends to be very all-or-nothing - I'm either working on sobriety without alcohol physically near me, OR I'm drinking to get absolutely plastered. So long as I don't go out and buy it, I'm working on sobriety.
All-or-nothing for me too. Sorry for the slow reply, I was travelling. How have you been holding up?
Thank you for your videos. It is amazing how much my drinking is alike with yours. I binge...currently sober for a month. I will go months without drinking, then wham! Drinking 2 to 3 fifths of vodka a day. Been doing this for years and have never been to the hospital. I wean off myself. It works for me. I go from less then a fifth of vodka to around a pint to half pint, then I'm off the booze and will be sober for 3 months to a year. The recovery is getting alot worse though, I'm 55yo and you are right it is hell, I will feel like I'm going to die. Ps the weaning also includes a lot of supplaments and forcing myself to eat 2 meals a day...
The only tapering that I could do is with tapering off with benzodiazepines. First day of my medical detox I failed the breathalyser test and they made me wait several hours until my alcohol levels were low enough to start the benzos. I’m someone who has one drink and is in it until black out. There was no drinking 9/10s of a large bottle of vodka and then screwing the lid on and going to bed, then the next night doing 8/10. It was all or nothing, and with nothing, e.g cold turkey, it’s dangerous withdrawals. Benzos for me were my parachute.
One of the biggest problems was that after blacking our I would wake up the next day with brand new bottles of vodka, beer and wine that I don’t at all remember ordering.
It’s crazy how similar are trajectory of alcohol abuse is, from the weeks and months of sobriety to outright self destruct drinking vodka night and day for relapses, not to mention having a frontal lobe injury.
Tried tapering multiple times and it has only ever prolonged the agonising withdrawals for me.
Aiming for purgatory but stuck in hell.
Thankyou so much for putting out such insightful and well produced videos.
All the best
Thanks for the comment mate, it means a lot. You have a frontal lobe injury too, huh? I see a pattern emerging.
I’m currently in hospital detoxing. It is all or nothing.
Thank you so much for your insightful videos. My pattern of drinking is so similar to yours that it's scary.
Having been through the hell of withdrawal at least 10 times, to various degrees of severity, I have used tapering to good effect on many occasions. On occasions it has meant the difference between full on DT's with visual hallucinations, to mere auditory hallucinations. I can only speak from my own experience that it has been a useful strategy for me.
I agree that a medical withdrawal is preferable, but the last place I want to be when withdrawing is a hospital or clinic. I want to be in the comfort of my own home.
Keep up the good work.
Hey Bantu! Thanks so much for the thoughtful comment, I appreciate it. Glad to hear it has worked for you, and yeah, I feel you about wanting to go through it at home.
Greetings from Athlone, Ireland,I love the way you articulate and describe scenarios,it's very entertaining.Would you chat about the dry reaching and projectile vomiting of bile,I understand it's rather disgusting,as I said you're twist on it would be something to look forward to,Kind regards, Shane.
Yeah ok, I'll do a video on all the gross stuff in the near future.
I’m starting to be in the holds of withdrawals again, I’ve been through detox twice and been sober for 6 months, 1bereavement and I’m almost back to square one, this time I can recognise it though. I don’t want to go back into medical detox unit again, and have asked my gp if I can have diazepam on a short prescription to help me to stop this, I don’t hold out much hope, but I know I can’t go down this road again! I’ve only just discovered your channel, and am happy I did, thank you 🙏 x
Keep the good information coming.
Thank you Angela, I will.
Also if people would like to know the HALT method for quick identification if one is drifting or becoming complacent.Check if you are
H=Hungry
A=Angry
L=lonely
T=Tired
These can trigger people subconsciously,so just stop and think if you are in any of these states,have your favourite food, escape from people place's and things to resolve a temper,Make a call to a friend and tell them you are having a tough time,when we have lethargy we make poor decisions.Hopefully one person or more might just click with the HALT.thank you for all your gregarious tuition my friend,Shane.
Very well said.
Thank you so much for your videos. You have no idea how helpful your channel is.
Thanks Harry, I appreciate that!
Hi again, so I’m catching up with your content as a new subscriber. Funny how I’ve been doing this same method and doesn’t seem to be working very well for me. It’s controlled chaos because even drinking less than before does not solve the issue. You’re extremely knowledgeable on the topic and appreciate your input.
There are a couple of comments in the replies like, "tapering off has worked for me several times" And I'm like, if it's *several times* did it actually work?
We all have to find our own way eventually, it's our own responsibility. But tapering is a false economy for the majority of people.
What else are you doing?
@@_BatCountrythat’s right, I’m trying to stay busy. Just focus on the day, I won’t drink today. Then if I fail just get back to not drinking. In other words I don’t allow myself to just continue because I messed up. You mentioned you would drink to the point of hospitalization and then would go months and even years without drinking until you finally gave it up. How long have you been sober if you don’t mind me asking?
@@Micru866 I first got sober four years ago, but I've had a few relapses. My last one was a few months ago. And I think it might truly be my last one.
@@_BatCountry keeping the focus on all the consequences of drinking is key. I’m so new to this but ensuring I stay healthy is one of the most important things for me. Drinking does not help with that. Anyways, stay vigilant and don’t let your guard down is the message I’ve been hearing.
I think you make an extremely important point in this video. Even if you can't afford to go to the hospital, you should go anyway. Sober you will make better decisions. Sober you will not be as overwhelmed by the thought of money. You will be able to start making moves, start putting the pieces in place to solve some of the problems you're facing. The days before I went to the hospital were some of the worst of my life-- the days after were some of the best, even though I had just accrued an uncomfortable amount of debt (that the hospital, in the meantime, has backed down from).
Exactly! Glad to see that point wasn't lost in among all the more opinionated stuff in this video. Really glad you faced it, and I hope you're doing good now.
And this is going to be my 5th night without sleeping. Wish me well Stuart because im going to need it.
I wish you well.
@@_BatCountry Thanks Stuart and keep up the great videos. I've re-watched them after my recent relapse. Hey man you know the score. When i can't sleep I've been learning as much as I can from channels like yours. Again thanks 👍
@@cjh0751 Welcome back mate.
Tapering saved my life. You turn up at A&E in acute withdrawal and you’ll sit in a waiting room shaking and hallucinating for 14 hours. Hell is empty and all the demons are where you currently are
My dad had the alcohol. He put me on a tapering regime in my childhood bedroom and i stuck to it.
Whisky to strong beer to weak beer to sober
It worked
That sounds rough as hell, I'm happy you made it through. Sounds like you did it the hard way
Now comes a wall of text here: While i agree with you on alcohol and some other substances (like even nicotine), i have to disagree about other drugs. I know, your video is about alcoholism, but i was a polytox that also did heroin and benzos. Now, with opioids, tapering is a very different thing when you get methadone or subutex (or morphine etc.). Because you still got opioids in your body, but you don't get high. It will prevent withdrawal-symptoms without getting you the kick. This is very different from alcohol, because there's no substitution for alcohol around. With the opioids, i was able to get from heroin to methadone and then i worked my way down step by step until i was on a placebo dosage, then i kicked it off without any withdrawal-effects at all. But that doesn't work for alcohol, because you can't have something like methadone as a substitution drug.
In some cases of certain drugs, like the benzos like flunitrazepam (rohypnol), lorazepam (ativan, temesta, tavor) or diazepam (valium), the full stop will lead to seizures that are life-danger and you can't go this way, you need to reduce the dosage to be safe, no matter how and if with or without a doctor.
So, that was about other drugs, i agree with you on alcohol. Don't get this wrong. Still, there is one point left about alcohol and tapering: The damage it does to your body. If you drink a bottle or half a bottle of vodka, it is a 50% difference for your organs, like the liver. It will reduce the damage, when it comes to the danger of cirrhosis and other bad stuff. With the liver, it's also a big deal between beer and liquor, because of the alcohol volume you take with every glass. Then, like you said, you'll have to go down anyway because detox clinics won't take you in when you are still drunk, so there's still that need to get it down somehow, it can't be completely avoided in the end.
I'm just writing this, because maybe some other users are like me, addicted to multiple drugs at once. There, the withdrawal is different, as each drug will interact with the other and maximize the effects. It gets a lot worse than alcohol withdrawal alone and don't do it alone, don't think you could face this enemy without the help of experts and meds.
I hope you are not angry because i got a little bit offtopic here, i know your channnel deals with alcoholism, so maybe i'm going offroad here. Please don't take this wrong as a criticism.
P.S. A last thing, when someone stops with a drug, even with alcohol, they should not underestimate the half-life time of the drugs in the body. Some make the mistake to think "Well, i'm feeling fine", but in fact, they still have drugs in their system and it takes some time until these get out. Some benzos can get up to 200 hours half-life time, so it can take 8 days until the withdrawal even really starts.
I mean it absolutely does, that’s how I quit. I went from being a party binge drinker in my late teens early 20s to where I’d go weeks without drinking at all then felt I had to go ham when I was out with my boys. To not drinking at all in my early to mid 30s maybe once or twice a year I’d have a single drink at a social get together. To literally drinking everyday once I started working construction for over a full year, I’d get off drink a tall boy on the way home followed by 2 or 3 more till bed, then on days off I could easily smash a 12 pack throughout the day, realized I had a problem and started trying to only have two a day, sometimes I could sometimes would get a case of the fuck it’s and tell myself I’ll do better tomorrow, was finally able to get down to two consistently then 1. Now it’s been around 3 months I think since I’ve had anything. The thing is it’s easy to tell yourself there’s always tomorrow when trying to ween down because it lowers your inhibitions so much.
Sounds like you have some pretty good self-discipline. Stick at it, and keep us posted. Thanks for the comment!
Can totally relate to everything you said. Keep up the good work
Currently struggling, withdrawed before and it's hell
Completely agree that tapering draws out the suffering but it might save your life if you can’t access a detox for some reason.
But every time I have tried tapering I just resort to cold turkey before long or keep drinking because it really doesn’t make sense when you’re doing it.
The last time I tried it, I just used it as an excuse to keep drinking. For some people I fear that might be inevitable, we'll always abuse it even if our intentions are good.
@@_BatCountry That feeling of drinking less than your tolerance requires whilst still having severe withdrawals is absurd. When you're that far into the dependency you never actually feel "well", you're just trying to pass back out again.
Thank you for your work, I used your content to stop a serious craving earlier today. Powerful stuff💯
@blde_grypr
I'm sober 3 + yrs but anxiety can still try to push me to relapse, but watching Eckhart Tolle videos has been a life saver,
he reminds me to notice the voice in my head, not to wrestle with it, just noticing the stressful thoughts & imagery the mind creates & knowing that i don't have to believe that what the mind is _imagining_ is true.
🙏💜🕯💧🌱🐾👣🌿🌎🕊 Carl
@blde_grypr
I'm sober 3 + yrs but anxiety can still try to push me to relapse, but watching Eckhart Tolle videos has been a life saver,
he reminds me to notice the voice in my head, not to wrestle with it, just noticing the stressful thoughts & imagery the mind creates & knowing that i don't have to believe that what the mind is _imagining_ is true.
🙏💜🕯💧🌱🐾👣🌿🌎🕊 Carl
@@words4dyslexicon "Don't believe everything you think".
Yes mindfulness and meditation are great tools. I am doing my best to practice them now. I have about 3 months of sobriety currently and the temptation to relapse is quite strong. Thank you for the reminder 🙏
I tried to taper because I couldn't get the medical care that I needed at that time. No amount of willpower got me to complete the tapering schedule. Eventually, I got sober by other means. Now that I am sober, I have to remind myself every day that staying off the first drink may be difficult, but staying off the second drink will probably prove impossible.
Some topic suggestions for future videos: your experience with treatment methods, e.g. therapy and 12-step programmes, and self-help groups (if any); your own history of alcoholism; and your strategies for avoiding relapse. A practical suggestion: I would keep the videos to between 13-17 minutes, that seems to work well for the content you are producing (but maybe that's just my personal preference). Thank you for the work you are putting into this. This is really good stuff and I hope it can get more views! :)
Thanks Peter, and congrats on making it out the other side.
I'll hit all your suggestions in time, they're all on the list. I can't guarantee they'll be shorter though: I'm professorial by nature :D
Thanks again!
@@_BatCountry
thank you for being honest, telling real life experiences, I call those dark spiritual states that accompany the deep end of alcohol _dread, doom & gloom_ .
when I watched OJ Simpson on TV when he was first being arraigned in court pleading not guilty to murder, I knew he was guilty because I recognized that aura of dread doom & gloom around him, like how Sylvia Plath describes in "the bell jar".
I'd like to write more comments when I have time, I've got some DT stories, from 2011, only I thought I was having a psychotic break, 10 days of being hospitalized with "wall to wall hallucinations".
it was only from watching youtube videos in 2022, of a man describing his own DT experiences that I understood I had had DTs, mixed in with lack of sleep, being bi-polar & living in a house with some known "spiritual disturbances"..
@@words4dyslexicon Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it, and I truly look forward to reading your experiences, and your interpretation of them. Most importantly though, congratulations for making it out.
Tapering didn't work for me. I intended to taper using beer when I stopped drinking a bottle of Tito's Vodka or more every single day for 5 years. I still went into delirium tremens, had my own hellish experience, and ended up in the hospital in a medically induced coma. I'll be a year sober in May following that experience. I should say I still craved alcohol after that experience; it wasn't until I had a life-changing mushroom trip that I stopped being drawn back to the "cycle" of relapses that you describe in this video.
Seriously buddy, massive congratulations on your year. That's huge. I'm glad you found a way out.
Fully agree, the idea of tapering to avoid acute withdrawal is an inherently risky one. A supervised hospital total withdrawal is the only logical way. However one doctor and one support worker recommended tapering. I have the alcohol in the cupboard for that plan but haven't needed it. Do I tip it down the toilet after 4 days clean?
Yeah get rid mate. Plenty more in the shop if you REALLY need it, but to me, that sounds like opening the door to going back into the bottle properly. Bin it.
I drank enough so I could take a shower and make it to the hospital
But the hospital I go to doesn’t hand out Ativan too much so I just gotta suffer there and suffer I do 😢
How's it going today?
I watched your video about you cycling across deserts etc and I was wondering if you made that decision to undertake that perilous journey whilst you were very drunk. The reason I ask is because I've undertaken journeys on a whim whilst intoxicated. One was suddenly deciding to take a bus to Heathrow airport and just take a flight anywhere. When I got there I thought I'd just pop off to Hong Kong not realising it was a 12 hour flight. I was so sick on the plane after imbibing more wine. Anyway, I woke up in a hotel in Hong Kong and realised I'm doing stupid things again. I'm very impulsive and alcohol makes me worse... 3 weeks sober tomorrow having quit suddenly. No withdrawals because lately I has only been drinking 4 beers every 3 days however, I recognised it was hijacking my brain to an extent where I felt it was going to be a worse problem. Good luck all.
It's a good question, I've wrestled with that ever since. The answer is I'm not sure, because the idea for the journey occurred to me years earlier. The decision to actually do it though, that came after months of drinking and a head injury. It's safe to say I wasn't in a rational state of mind in general. But I don't know if I regret it. It gave me a lot.
Congrats on your sober time, how are you feeling? Is this just a pause, or are you goig alcohol free long-term?
Tapering would never work for me. Ridiculous for any heavy duty alcoholic to think it would or could. Picture a marathon runner being handed a bottle of water as they cross the finish line - that’s the way I drank vodka. And I know I’d drink it that way again if I ever went back. I’ve been through pretty much everything - hospitals, jail, withdrawals, rehab, and the final boss: DELERIUM TREMENS. oof. That last one man, that was something I have a hard time even thinking about.
I’ve been sober a few years now because I finally stopped drinking completely, but if I’d tried tapering, I’d currently be saying “I’ve been tapering for a few years now…”.
Because that’s how it is and that’s how it goes.
The marathon thing is a powerful analogy, I can relate. Congrats on your sober time, and thanks for the thoughtful comment!
Tapering has worked for me multiple times. It does prolong the withdrawal but it has undoubtedly alleviated the worst symptoms of withdrawal for me. But hey, we're all different and find our own approach to situations. Stay strong.
Do you know the german Sucht & Süchtig Podcast? I think you would be an interesting guest, if you talk german …
I do know it! My German isn't good enough, but I appreciate the compliment.
@@_BatCountry Please try anyway. John Cook from Sucht & Süchtig is half Irish and, in any case, I am confident these guys (John and Hagen) would be up to try something new, i.e. have an English-speaking guest. You’d reach a lot of still suffering alcoholics/addicts out there!
Tapering Didn’t Work For Me, I Had To Go To The Emergency Room, I Don’t Wish Withdrawals On Nobody
Glad you made it out!
what music is in background? good video!
I'm trying tapering again. I've realised that doctors are called practitioners because they don't always get it right. In the UK we have to follow their advice. I've had better results with diazepam for a week. Tapering doesn't work but what choice do we have in the UK? We are treated like second class citizen who don't know their own body or physiology. They think we are going to get addicted to diazepam. They are wrong.
I tried it, it doesn't work, you still go into withdrawl and it's drawn out. I had to quit cold turkey and themn go to the emergency room once the withdrawls started thats how little help there is here in Canada. I know the ER is also under strain but they druged me up gave me some prescriptions and sent me home and Im ok that was 6 days ago.The private detox places are super expensive and the public health ones are all full of lunatics.
I'm usually one of the lunatics in those places. I prefer it to the alternatives.
A fan of Mitch Hedberg I see.
Actually I am yeah, did I plagiarise something?
@@_BatCountry No. But he had that joke about blurry Bigfoot which was similar to your opening.
@@jo18533 wow no you're right, that's exactly where I got it from :D
Everyone is an expert
@@pannitalmadge7464 I went to great lengths to assert that I was not one.
It have tried and it doesn't work for me. I did help and watch a person in my life do it. But like you say she couldn't at the time maintain permanent sobriety. I don't know if she finally achieved it. When I knew she would refuse medical help and would cold turkey and suffer three to five days. She never had a seizure but was fearful she might. I did my own video on tapering.
I appreciate your content and just wanted to let you know your actually being heard because if you helped me get through it after 14 years of 100 proof tavarski and DTs. Your Definitely help Others. But can you take her off? Yes, not everybody, but I just did. Would I suggest it to anyone hell No, it's not safe. I've been in the Ic u so many times. And not many people talk about alcohol withdrawals nor study it too much. They should. They never told me about it before I started drinking. It was all fun and games.
I tried tapering 1 million times as long as I put the class to my lips the bender carried on and on and on
yeah, me too.
Tapering worked for me, but go on……
How many times?
We don't have a choice in the UK. The NHS sees you for 8 hours and monitors you. They are very against giving you librium or diazepam because they are scared that you may have problems stopping. They are trying to make it harder for you to punish you. It's being cruel to be kind. I've personally had better outcomes with diazepam or librium to treat my withdrawal. I then can see the light at the end of the dark tunnel to plan my abstinence. This country have not idea about alcohol treatment.
All or nothing
Exactly.
I’m a binge drinker too I can stop for months and then boom 💥 is crazy shit but the withdrawal are the f worst completely hell is a living nightmare but we can do it !! Never give up my brows never ever and tapering it may work for a few the problem is that next time u may do it again and u relapse maybe even worse and then tapering probably most likely will not work .. cause we are addicted to booze think 💭
It sucks, I don't really count days, but i REALLY hate resetting the clock.
The only tapering that I could do is with tapering off with benzodiazepines. First day of my medical detox I failed the breathalyser test and they made me wait several hours until my alcohol levels were low enough to start the benzos. I’m someone who has one drink and is in it until black out. There was no drinking 9/10s of a large bottle of vodka and then screwing the lid on and going to bed, then the next night doing 8/10. It was all or nothing, and with nothing, e.g cold turkey, it’s dangerous withdrawals. Benzos for me were my parachute.
One of the biggest problems was that after blacking our I would wake up the next day with brand new bottles of vodka, beer and wine that I don’t at all remember ordering.