Curbing Alcohol Cravings: Medications, and Home Remedies for Alcohol Use Disorder AUD

In our app we ask people to keep track of the date, time, intensity (1–10), and duration of their alcohol cravings. Taking note of everything allows you to realize that urges increase and decrease in intensity over time. And keeping track over time gives you the chance to see if your efforts to reduce your urges and cravings are working. Handling the urges to drink will determine your ability to shed alcohol cravings. Distracting yourself with healthy alternatives will keep you on the straight and narrow and get the cravings away even sooner. Mental exercises are important defenses against picking up a drink because they’re free and easy.

It means that you will focus on one thing for a while, bringing you back into the moment, and helping you to forget whatever was on your mind. The reality is, though, that once someone is experiencing alcoholism, these (supposedly) carefree times with alcohol are gone. The chances are that the person is seeing these events with rose-tinted spectacles. In this article, we give 7 tips to handle alcohol cravings when they happen and help you to make a plan to reduce their frequency and severity.

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You may feel an uncomfortable pull in two directions or sense a loss of control. Especially in the early days of sobriety, sugar cravings can easily be mistaken for alcohol cravings. Whilst in active alcoholism, it is likely that you will have consumed most of your sugar and carbohydrates from alcohol. Therefore, if you experience alcohol cravings, eating something sweet can be a quick way to resolve the unpleasant urges. Anyone trying to avoid alcohol or break and addiction to this substance should seek professional help via a treatment center like Windward Way Recovery. For example, they may feel having a few drinks per day is okay.

In addition, eating foods that improve your digestion will help the body to better absorb amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, which will reduce cravings. Besides learning to take good care of yourself mentally, you should also pay attention to the physical component of being in recovery. After successfully going through Muse alcohol rehab or dealing with alcohol addiction it is crucial to curb your alcohol cravings. Spinach is a food that stops alcohol cravings due to its high content of fiber, which supports digestive health to improve the body’s absorption of craving-busting nutrients. It also contains essential vitamins and minerals, including magnesium and B vitamins, which can diminish the urge to drink. During an alcohol rehab program, you will learn methods for emotional regulation and relapse prevention.

Handling urges to drink

The same result was not seen in patients who were still drinking at the start of the study. VIVITROL and counseling may be able to help with your alcohol dependence. Continually facing the consequences of alcohol dependence can be a challenge, but you are not alone.

• After Antabuse is taken for a prolonged period of time, it may reduce cravings for alcohol by having the person using the Antabuse feel ill when they drink.
• Still, they’re pretty common, especially if you drink regularly or your alcohol use falls into the “heavy drinking” category (binge drinking 5 or more days in the last month).
• In 2019, 5.3% of people aged 12 years or older in the United States had AUD, previously known as alcoholism.

Another way to stop alcohol cravings is by regularly attending a support group, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Support groups can also promote encouragement and accountability. There is some scientific evidence suggesting acupuncture provided by a qualified practitioner can help cut alcohol consumption and lessen alcohol withdrawal symptoms (11).

Remember how you drink, consequences you’ve experienced.

Checking in with another person in your life who’s trying to stop drinking can certainly help you ride out a craving with someone who understands. But in spite of your goals and no matter how committed you are to changing your habits around drinking, avoiding alcohol might prove a little more difficult than you expected. Examples of medical conditions for which it’s safest to avoid drinking include liver disease (such as from hepatitis C), bipolar disorder, abnormal heart rhythm, and chronic pain.

• You might notice stressful or tense situations tend to fuel cravings more often than not.
• While you have the skills to effectively deal with your emotions, there are other ways that you can make a complete change in each aspect of your life that will promote a healthy life in sobriety.
• Engaging in mindful eating practices allows you to slow down as you eat and let your body slowly digest.
• They are designed to help you “clear away the wreckage of the past”.

Imagine life as a movie, and your drinking gets the starring role. Play a movie through of how that one tasty cocktail would go for you, based on your past experience. You probably would order a few more at the bar, because one has never been enough for you in the past. And then you might stop at a liquor store on the way home, because you never want the party to stop when you leave the bar after a few. You’d end up spending more than you wanted, not to mention that you’d be driving drunk.

It is possible to manage your cravings for alcohol and reclaim your sobriety with dedication and hard work. Taking the time to understand what is causing them as well as exploring natural remedies like herbal teas and supplements can be helpful in managing difficult emotions and reduce cravings over time. When you have a craving for alcohol, it means that your body and mind are responding to an urge to drink. This can be caused by physical dependence or psychological addiction.

You can curb your alcohol cravings by carefully selecting the carbs you eat. Because alcohol contains simple carbs that are quickly digested, your body starts to crave them. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-stop-alcohol-cravings/ But leading a sober, healthy, vice-free life doesn’t have to be hard. It all comes down to making the right decisions on a daily basis and resisting the urges and cravings.

Mental relapse

Antabuse is unlikely to prove effective at maintaining long-term sobriety when it is taken by itself, so it should be taken as part of a complete program of recovery from alcohol. Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) is used for a variety of addictions to different substances to help people maintain sobriety and to reduce cravings. Some people in early recovery don’t have an idea of what they like. They may have been drinking for so long that they have forgotten, or started drinking when they were so young that they didn’t develop any hobbies.

• One such method is the Connections workshop, which was developed by Terry Lige.
• If you are struggling with alcohol cravings, it is best to seek help from a healthcare professional or treatment center in order to get the support and resources needed to overcome addiction.
• Here, we review medications that are FDA-approved, those under investigation, as well as alternatives to medication that can also help manage cravings.
• This will help you to anticipate cravings and plan how to deal with the triggers.
• Carefully expose yourself to common triggers while you’re with someone who’s supportive of you.

Often, when eating, individuals will focus on just getting the job done and finishing their meal to be able to return to life’s demands. Engaging in mindful eating practices allows you to slow down as you eat and let your body slowly digest. This promotes healthy guts and digestion along with reducing cravings. Your eating pattern should be consistent each day and at least three times a day for meals. This allows your body an ample amount of nourishment throughout the day. Often, if you skip meals, your body will go into starvation mode and instead of absorbing the vitamins and minerals, it will turn into fat to protect the body.

Just getting out of your environment can help, the endorphins that come with alcohol boost your mood. Some people find strenuous exercise best, but any is better than none. Euphoric recall can be a very dangerous thing, so ensure you are recalling the truth of what drink did to you and not for you.