Hedge, I don't have a schedule, per se.....a lot depends on what strength of the drug you are taking and what schedule you are currently on. You can do one of two things:
Begin spreading out the times when you take the drug. If you are currently taking it every 4 hours, for a couple of days make it every 5 hours, then 6 for a few days and so forth until you reduce to one pill a day (usually at bedtime, cuz that's when we seem to need the pain relief most). Then at that point, you can start taking half a pill for a while and then no pill. At that point (no pill), you would take them only periodically when you have pain that over-the-counter medication won't take care of.
Or...you can stay on the same schedule and cut back on the amount of the narcotic with each dose. That can be done by asking your doctor for a lower-strength medicine or by cutting pills in half...or by taking just one pill if you were taking two. Then when you get to the point that you're taking a half pill at each dose time (that's about as small a dose as you can get), start spreading out the time between doses. This approach works if you need the pain medicine still during the day for PT appointments or other activity where over-the-counter meds won't work.
At first as you're cutting back, expect that you may have to use NSAIDS to fill in the gaps for pain....Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, Motrin.
Just be sure you don't try to cut back too fast. You'll feel it if you do and make adjustments accordingly to slow the taper. This can take several weeks, so be patient and make sure you are stable for a day or so before you make another reduction.
Or....you can contact your doctor and ask what schedule THEY prefer you do, but I'm thinking you will do just as well taking care of this yourself. Only YOU know how you feel at any given time. You want to cut back just enough so the over-the-counter meds work and not so much that you get those flu-like symptoms or have pain.
Hope this helps you! Post and let us know how you are doing, okay?
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