Other than “how does it work,” the top question I get from my clients is “Should I taper?” It’s an excellent and important question. And I can say that I’ve seen first-hand just how impactful tapering can be, having worked with so man people at this point. So, what is tapering, and why should you care?

Firstly, I want to say that even if you’ve already quit your addiction, the science behind tapering is worth learning about—especially if you have the chance to help someone else in the future (kind of like me right now). Tapering isn’t the same thing as “cutting down.” Cutting down implies a continuation of drug use, just at lower doses. Anyone who’s tried that approach to managing an addiction knows how difficult that can be. 

Tapering is the steady, structured lessening of your drug intake in anticipation of being fully clean by a set date. 

Full disclosure, I have never tapered. I always went cold turkey when I quit my past addictions. Before I invented Quit Kit, I put myself through several worsening levels of hell as a result, and even though I got clean, I suffered immensely for it. But the things is: I didn’t even know tapering was an option. I wish I did. 

Because tapering can make quitting much less painful. 

When you quit a substance cold turkey—especially one you’ve used for a while—you’re forcing your nervous system to adjust instantly. Your dopamine levels crash (killing your motivation and energy), your cortisol spikes (significantly increasing feelings of stress and anxiety), your sleep quality collapses (due to overactive neurotransmitters and an imbalance in serotonin levels), and your brain has no “safety net.” Going cold turkey essentially is like throwing your brain into the cold, rough ocean and yelling, “Now swim to shore!”

In contrast, tapering is like giving your brain a lifeguard and a life jacket for the swim. The ocean will still be cold, and the waves rough, but the experience will be significantly less overpowering. This is because tapering, or lessening your drug intake steadily over time, induces what we can call “miniature” withdrawals each day until you’re fully clean. Miniature withdrawals can be tremendously easier to sit with than the severe withdrawals from going cold turkey. Your brain doesn’t have to rebalance all of its neurochemistry at once. Instead, it can do so tiny chunks. 

Also, crucially, as you tapering, you will start to realize that you didn’t actually need all that substance in your system to survive and thrive. The more addicted you get to a substance, the more you take, and the more you take, the more you delude ourselves into thinking that you have to have that much drug in your system to “get by.” Tapering demonstrably shows you that this isn’t the case. And this can be incredibly empowering. Once you see that you are still the one in charge of your mind, and not the drugs, you start to regain confidence and self-accountability. You start to enjoy the process of getting sober, because you see the process as one of clear and present self-improvement. Anytime we can connect self-improvement to an anti-drug or even drug-free activity, the smokescreen of value we place on using drugs starts to clear. 

Finally, tapering isn’t some home-remedy or “alternative” medicinal approach to getting sober. It’s encouraged by all the major addiction support groups and associations. Tapering is recommended by:

• SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
• NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
• Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School for prescription drug withdrawal
• Countless MAT programs and rehabs

So what does tapering look like?

Meet Chris. Chris is struggling with a five-year addiction to kratom. Chris takes 50 grams per day (gpd) of a red/green vein kratom blend. He uses five times each day: in the morning, at work, before lunch, after work, and before bed. He’s made a goal to quit in 21 days. He’s tried to go cold turkey in the past, but the withdrawals were too intense, and he relapsed after two days. So, Chris is going to taper. 

If Chris is using 50 gpd, and needs to be clean in 21 days, he will decreases his consumption by 2-3 grams per day. This process could take three different forms: a) lessening the consumption across all five daily doses (morning, work, lunch, after work, bedtime), b) cutting one of the doses out completely, or c) a combination of the two. 

For example, let’s say that for the first week, Chris decides to cut his worktime and bedtime doses by half, and then, at the end of the week, cut out his worktime dose altogether. Then, in the second week, he cuts out the afterwork dose, and only has kratom in the morning, before lunch, and before bedtime. Then, cutting further in the third week, Chris only takes kratom before lunch and just before bed. Finally, on the last day, he only takes 2-3 grams—one last time—prior to bedtime, and the next day is his first day clean in five years.

Throughout the tapering, Chris may feel mild flu-like symptoms. He may have low energy on some days. His sleep may suffer towards the start of the taper, as the body begins to get used to the constant readjustment in chemicals in the body. And after the taper finishes, there may be a few days feeling “rough.” But throughout the three week taper and in the first week clean, Chris went to work, hung out with his kids, went on dates with his wife, and did all the things he normally liked to do. This upkeep of good habits showed him that he didn’t need kratom to enjoy his life. Further, he saw what kratom was actually doing to his body as his skin cleared up, his hair stopped falling out, he started eating more, and his constipation disappeared (all common symptoms of excessive kratom intake). 

And now Chris is sober and happy and saving thousands of dollars a month that he can blow on fun times with his wife and kids. 

I didn’t make up this story, by the way. This is the story of an actual Quit Kit client. Chris (no this real name) had been weighing the pros and cons of tapering versus going cold turkey, and decided to give tapering a try. In the second week of his taper, he started taking Quit Kit. Since Quit Kit has a 3-week supply, he was able to take the edge off any induced withdrawals from the taper, and help his brain rebalance its neurochemistry, and, crucially, get good sleep as he fully transitioned into recovery. 

This is a very common story for my clients. They tried to go cold turkey in the past, but the withdrawals were too brutal, so they tapered down with the help of the ingredients in the Quit Kit, and, suddenly, they found themselves clean and sober. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but they avoided the worst of the withdrawals by a mile. Then…they were sober. And happy. And proud of themselves. And that is the best dang feeling in the world. 

To anyone who is still struggling out there, just know that Chris’ story isn’t unique. My story isn’t unique. The stories of my clients who’ve quit aren’t unique. We don’t have anything that you don’t have. You have what it takes inside you right now to quit. You really, really do. If there’s anything I can do to help, please send me an email at matt@tryquitkit.com. We can discuss a plan for you to quit, or create a tapering schedule for you.