Overview
“Cold turkey” is an informal phrase that references attempts to quit substance use suddenly at once rather than gradually reducing usage over time.
With some substances like alcohol and benzodiazepines, this can be fatal, so it’s almost never a good idea to quit cold turkey. It really is gambling with your life, and most medically-managed detoxification protocols will make your experience vastly more comfortable than quitting at once. If quitting at home or on one’s own, a better idea is to gradually taper off drinking patterns, with a rule of thumb being to decrease the total amount of drinks consumed per day by 2. That being said, I am not a doctor and have no medical training, so I cannot give medical advice and nothing on this page or site should be construed as such.
Even outside of alcohol and benzos, quitting cold turkey can be a miserable experience. Modern medicine has come up with some really helpful solutions to managing some of the symptoms of withdrawal, and I highly encourage you to take advantage of them instead of trying to tough it out. There are no extra credit points given for getting sober on your own without help.