How I tapered off alcohol
Posted , 8 users are following.
This is how I did it and maybe it'll help someone. first bought enough of my favorite beer to taper off(about 8 cases). vitamin B-Complex supplements. and lastly gatorade.
Wake up if hands are shaking have enough beer to get the shakes and sweats away. once they come back have enough beer til the shakes and sweats go away again and continue til end of day. never drank more then needed. each day followed it got better and better and by better i mean the shakes didnt start once i woke up. so about 4-5 days in i only needed about 3-4 beers to get through. always have more beer than enough just incase it comes back because you don't want to run to the store while you got the shakes and anxiety and all that bad stuff. take the vitamins daily. more than it says to because you basically are burning all your vitamin b in your body with alcohol. drink lots of gatorade and water to rehydrate. and when i say lots i mean a whole lot. but everyday got better and better. less and less beer needed to get the shakes off. just remember youre not drinking to get drunk or even buzzed. the beer is your medicine. This is my 5-6 time going through this and i figured ill try tapering off this time cuz the withdrawals is too much. the hallucinations and tinnitus and all that crazyness. this is how i did it guys. good luck.
Oh yeah and... whenever you have a feeling you can eat something and keep it down. eat. whatever you have just eat.
1 like, 21 replies
Joanna-SMUKLtd phonoodle
Posted
I am a big believer in the idea that if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results. It's kind of hard to argue against it, actually.
So, to have your best chance at avoiding needing to do this again, have you made plans yet for what is going to be different in your life from the other times so that you can get some really good, solid recovery under you?
I hope you contine to keep us updated on your recovery but it sure sounds like you have gotten off to a great start. Great bunch of folks here, all at different stages, so we might be able to help you as well as you helping us
phonoodle Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
I do however know that I can work once I'm 100% so i plan to find a job and go from there. the whole process isn't easy but ill remember if I EVER pick up a drink again i wont be binging. thats what keeps bringing me back to withdrawals. i got my head on straight for sure this time.
vickylou phonoodle
Posted
phonoodle vickylou
Posted
phonoodle vickylou
Posted
vickylou phonoodle
Posted
Taking too much of vitamin B6 can cause nerve damage, too much B12 is not as harmful, but not recommended.
i still don't think it's a good idea, but you do what you like.
i don't understand what you mean in your last post "this is how I did it you can do w.e. helps you off the bottle"
vickylou
Posted
Do you take thiamine at all only you haven't mentioned it. Most dr's recommend it. Drinkers tend to have a poor diet, half the time they don't eat much, and what they do eat is not usually very healthy
RHGB phonoodle
Posted
There are medications that will help to reset your mind and help stop this continuous merrygo around of drinking, detoxing, drinking, detoxing.
You are likely to suffer a process known as 'kindling' which is going to make it harder and harder to detox each time.
From an NHS advice sheet:
Vitamin B compound tablets
They do not stop cravings for alcohol.
tess33005 RHGB
Posted
Today we had a HUGE row and I told him (not for the first time) that surely his wife and children should be more important than stupid cans of beer?????????? Why is the beer NUMBER ONE?
Help me. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND and I've tried to, for so long. Just don't buy the disgusting stuff. Wouldn't that be the easiest way?
RHGB tess33005
Posted
And no, not buying the stuff wouldn't be the easiet way. I am surprised at you, you must know what it is like to be addicted to something? Couldn't you just stop taking them?
No, I'm sure you couldn't and it would be very dangerous for you to try.
tess33005 RHGB
Posted
I haven't dropped dead as a result.
RHGB tess33005
Posted
tess33005 RHGB
Posted
Valium - five months, so far, with expert medical guidance and a slow tapering off programme. I have been addicted to valium and its 'friends' for forty years. Cigarettes, only fifteen years. That's bad enough. My point is that I do fully understand that my husband is ill (and is even more ill now) due to addiction. Goodness, I understand addiction. But I simply don't understand why i am able to use willpower to stop mine and he isn't. Maybe he just wants to get his death over with. it is very sad for me and our children, though.
RHGB tess33005
Posted
Were you present when he was given his prognosis?
If so do you know his Child-Pugh score?
I take it, and I don't like saying this, but you realise that he is probably too far gone to be saved. And if I'm right, you are resigned to this and are fairly angry (I know you have said it) why he couldn't do something about it when he had the chance.
I'm truly sorry for your situation, I hope over the next few days - in your main thread - we can give you some of the answers you are looking for.
vickylou RHGB
Posted
nicole36330 vickylou
Posted
tess33005 RHGB
Posted
Child-Pugh Score was 10 four months ago. He does not really understand it. He was given a new diagnosis, too - Type 2 diabetes - they even started to treat it WHAT A JOKE - were they listening when I told them he rarely eats anything, so giving him metformin would be dangerous?????
Oddly, if he does ever eat anything, he takes 500 mg metformin. Like that's going to help. I have given up with the doctors - they gave up on him years ago - in one rehab they told him to divorce me!!! (Thanks for that - it was SOOOOOO helpful)
Yes, I know he's too far gone to be saved now, and part of him knows it, too. That, I think, is why he's suddenly started drinking more and more and eating almost nothing - and remembering very little - and thinking he's done things when he hasn't and so on. (Why did i ever become a Dementia Specialist Nurse all those years ago - was it just for this???)
Our children are devastated but they have all left home now. They are supportive to me in every way but they simply don't know the daily struggles I face. Wow. I never thought I'd have my own, personal dementia patient. I have no patience with him at all - very interesting, since I have endless patience with my other patients - it has been remarked upon many times. What is happening to me?
Joanna-SMUKLtd tess33005
Posted
If so, that would be a good place for you to ask for help in terms of assistance for you, whatever you decide might be helpful to you.
RHGB tess33005
Posted
Eating just gets in the way of drinking, or it does with alcoholics. That gives a double whammy in that the alcohol kills vitamin B and by not eating, the body can't produce any anyway. This is what leads to dementia.
Yes, I think he probably does know it, for alll their faults, alcoholics can be quite aware, just not have the want to do anything about it.
I'd like to say that his Child-Pugh score is only one point into category C and if he stopped and got help, he could probably pull it back to a B. He wouldn't live to a hundred but he would certainly have a lot more than a year. But, you know the answer to that.
I think what is really affecting you, is having to watch this play out. You're going to have to be very careful, as this could seriously affect your health - more than it already has. You need help from the children, who I assume are all adults. You will need a break.
You became a dementia specialist nurse, because you are a nice person, and people like me, who had an acute cerebellar haemorhhage (bleed on the brain) with 6mm midline shift, may end up with vascualr dementia and will need people like you.