Talk with your doctor. Always talk to your prescribing doctor before making medication changes. This is the first step in any opioid tapering …show more content…
Plan to start your taper when life is relatively calm. Avoid the holidays or times when work or family stress are particularly high. Remember that you want to set yourself up for success. Since stress creates challenges and worsens pain, you want to start your taper when you are least likely to be challenged with pain.
Opioids should be your only medication change during the taper. Many people fall into the trap of trying to change more than one medication at a time. They decide they will taper opioids, start an antidepressant, and go off their sleeping med all in the same month. This is a setup for failure. Think of your taper as an experiment. Then, when things are calm and you are clear about the result from that change, you can consider making changes to the next medication.
Go S-L-O-W: The turtle wins this race. Some doctors will suggest a quick taper of 1–2 weeks. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. By tapering slowly, you can prevent symptoms of withdrawal, stress, and anxiety. Going slow is especially important if you have anxiety, such as panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, or generalized anxiety. Ask your doctor to make small reductions (decrements) in your opioid dose about every 2 weeks. Even if you feel good, stay on a slow taper schedule and make it easy for your