weaning off meds

I have a new hip and feels like New life. I'm tapering down off the pain meds. Anyone else do this? My doctor is taking 1 pill away a every 2wks- month. It is working really well, until they pulled the Norco that worked the best for me, but now it's back and I'm on track. I won't be completely off due to back and neck and nerve issues.

Hi delilah,

Until about 6 months ago, I was taking 15mg oxycontin x2, 5mg oxycodone x4. While it did wonders for the pain, I found myself too foggy and forgetful. So, over the summer, I tapered down, taking about 2 months to move from 50mg per day to 20mg.

I then convinced my PM to switch me to hydrocodone 7.5mg x4, though I sometimes will use one of my older oxys instead, especially in the evenings (PM is aware).

As the winter weather has hit, my pain levels are definitely up, but I'm still holding to my lesser regimen. During the wean-down period, I had a lot of stomach issues as well as a few weeks of flu-like symptoms. It is definitely tough, but once you make your way through it, you'll feel much better.

Let me also suggest regular exercise. I bought a treadmill this summer and found that even a short jog (10 minutes), enough to break a sweat, helped relieve the withdrawal symptoms and increased my overall energy. Of course, with a new hip, something else might be more suitable.

I too am thrilled to hear your new h hip is working out for you and all too often as Cpers we go so long in pain and then get a replacement surgery and no one thinks to or we're too scared too, come off o our meds or down to see if the repair worked or not. There's no way to adequately evaluate pain with narcotics onboard. I also titrated down and eventually off methadone after over a decade and a knee replacement and it was the hardest yet best decision I have made since starting this journey. Good luck to you and hang in there it takes time and patience for your body's ability to return to its own defense ability at fighting pain after years of having chemicals altering it.