Author: Gary Jackson

Quitting Alcohol Timeline: What to Expect in Weeks 1-3

There are times when cutting back on your drinking can be helpful, but there are times when quitting alcohol altogether is the best solution. If you want to stop drinking for good, don’t let past relapses discourage you from trying to quit. It is normal and even expected for people to try to quit at least once before achieving sobriety. Dr. Streem says that if your goal is to stop drinking altogether, you’re more likely to have success quitting all at once, rather than weaning off alcohol. But that advice changes if you’re living with alcohol use disorder.

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  1. Professional treatment for an alcohol use disorder can involve outpatient therapy, residential treatment, or inpatient hospitalization.
  2. If you answer “yes” to two to three questions, your symptoms align with mild AUD.
  3. We aim to help you stop using alcohol and empower you to maintain lifelong sobriety.Quitting alcohol may seem daunting; however, you can do it!
  4. The level of care you need often depends on the severity of your condition.
  5. People with alcohol use disorder can’t stop drinking even when it causes problems, like emotional distress or physical harm to themselves or others.

One of the best things about giving up alcohol is that you may find yourself feeling happier overall. This is because alcohol can cause depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems. Drinking alcohol can contribute to a variety of cognitive issues, including poor memory, slow reaction time, impaired impulse control, and poor concentration.

Your Blood Pressure Will Decrease

If you’re living with alcohol use disorder, quitting drinking is important for your health. But quitting on your own can pose risks to your health and is unlikely to be successful. Rehabilitation facilities can help you on your path to sobriety by addressing alcohol withdrawal symptoms and becoming involved in sober living support groups, like AA. As early as one week after stopping alcohol, you will likely begin to see benefits. The physical symptoms of withdrawal will be past their worst for most people, and the benefits of quitting alcohol will start to be noticeable.

Remind yourself of why you want to cut back, talk to a friend about it and distract yourself with a hobby or exercise, the NIAAA suggests. “Once you have a sense of how much you’re drinking, it’s helpful to track how many drinks you’re having per day,” says Witkiewitz. “You could use a calendar, journal or any number of tracking apps.” Drink Control Alcohol Tracker or Less are two examples of free tracking apps available on iOS devices. But Dr. Streem knows that it can be hard to recognize signs of alcohol abuse in ourselves. Often, people with alcohol use disorder find that other people in their lives spot their addiction long before they do.

Take some time to explore your relationship with alcohol

While there are some short-term withdrawal effects, the long-term benefits are well worth the effort. If you drink in excess, cutting out alcohol for a period of time can help your liver, heart, and body composition. Having a plan to quit and exploring resources that can help you give up alcohol successfully can improve your chances for success. Dietary guidelines recommend that if you drink, men limit daily drinking to two drinks or less per day and women limit their drinking to one drink or less per day. Consuming more than that can lead to liver damage and heart disease, and increase your risk for some cancers.

Tips for quitting alcohol

However, the nature and intensity of these effects can vary depending on how much and how frequently you drink. While occasional social drinking may not result in significant changes when you decide to quit, you may experience more significant effects if you have been drinking heavily for an extended time. If you’re a heavy drinker, your body may rebel at first if you cut off all alcohol. You could break out in cold sweats or have a racing pulse, nausea, vomiting, shaky hands, and intense anxiety. Some people even have seizures or see things that aren’t there (hallucinations). Your doctor or substance abuse therapist can offer guidance and may prescribe medication like benzodiazepines or carbamazepine to help you get through it.

“The bottom line is, protect the heart with a low amount of alcohol, but increase the risk of cardiovascular disease with high amount of alcohol,” Dasgupta said. Cirrhosis of the liver (severe scarring of the liver) can occur over time in those who drink excessively. Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy.

Alcohol can cause inflammation and damage to your liver when used heavily over prolonged periods. After stopping alcohol, inflammation in your liver caused by alcohol will subside. Most of this inflammation will be gone by your fourth week of abstinence.

Symptoms can range from headache, elevated blood pressure, heart palpitations, and nausea and vomiting to tremors, hallucination and in severe cases death. As you prepare your plan to quit drinking, make a list of the barriers that might be standing in your way and brainstorm ways to deal with these problems. Potential solutions might include looking for low-cost treatment options, joining a support group, and talking to a mental health professional.

The Recovery Village Atlanta offers comprehensive addiction treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and co-occurring mental health conditions. Alcohol can worsen depression and be an emotional crutch, making it difficult to experience true happiness outside of drinking. Stopping alcohol can make you feel happier by allowing you to experience positive emotions without alcohol. Quitting alcohol can help reduce the depression and anxiety that alcohol can bring and significantly improve your situation in life, increasing your overall happiness.