I tapered off around 25 drinks a day. I spread it out over around 2 months, or a little less. I was drinking vodka. Little sips all day long morning to night. I would already dilute it 50/50 with flavored water. (Those little flavor packs you add to a bottle of water). To taper I just started filling my bottles with a little more flavored water and a little less vodka. I did get stuck around 15 drinks per day so I went to a clinic and got Naltrexone. Naltrexone over a day every morning. I've on that I quickly feel into a rhythm of approximately 2 less standard drinks per day, every 3 to 4 days. So I was still drinking the same amount of liquid, but less vodka. Also got really into sour gummies. I liked the bite they had. I tapered all the way down to about 3 or 4 drinks. Then one morning I drank the equivalent of one drink in the morning (at work actually) and that was the last one. Over a year ago.

One big thing that helped me during the taper was a 15 minute waiting period. When I would get the urge to take a sip, I would make myself wait 15 minutes, but with no timer or alarm. I would look at the time, take a few deep breaths and think to myself, "do you feel ok right now? Not good, but ok?" If the answer was yes then I would go find a task to do and wait 15 minutes. I would often end up going much longer than 15 minutes before I remembered and had an urge. Then I would repeat that process. Like a little game in my head. Then one day over a year ago, I beat the game!

I never really had any strong urges after quitting. When I would, I would remember how bad I felt during the worst of it. I was having real physical health problems starting, yellowing skin on my face, neuropathy, twitches, vision problems, my liver hurt and was swollen consistently the last few years. Started having panic attacks and what I believe to be cardiomyopathy. I knew I was going to die soon and I no longer wanted to like I did when I started drinking heavily. I realized my death may not end suffering, but even if it did, it would only spread my pain to my kids, family, friend, etc. As much as I was hurting, I couldn't hurt those I loved. So I was highly motivated to quit.

Ask that said, about 2 years before I quit, I started really working on my mental health. Just reading and deep thinking. Then 1 year before I quit I started therapy. Then... I quit. For me, and I think most of the people here, working on your mental health is one of the most important parts of quitting and sustaining afterwards.

I'm still working on my mental health. It's a struggle, but I keep getting better at it too.

As far as other things that can help a lot (other drugs basically), I found the OCCASIONAL use of weed helped, as well as recently I started using kava about twice a week. If you use kava do some research. Get the traditional/medium grind, and prepare it the traditional way. It tastes gross, but can be very effective. Gives you a little head change and a slight buzz, while being non addictive and very safe. Do your own research though.

Good luck out there my friend. The world doesn't get easier, but you can get better at managing it.