Hi Everyone,

Many of you already know my story and how my sister confronted me on my 20 pill per day habit of Norco 10's... well I just filled my last RX with an online service, one of many I have used and these 120 pills will be my last forever! I want to know the best way to wean off of them? If I usually take 20 or so, should I drop my does to say 15? Or is this too much to start? Do I stay on the lower dose for a few days then cut down again by 2? I just need some help with this, i am so determined to finally get this damn monkey off my back and live a happy life, the way it was before these stupid pills took over. I want to have money, I want to buy gifts for my family but all my money goes to pills, what a waste...

Hey there. I sure hope this is your last bottle. Personally, I was not able to stick to a taper schedule. That is just me. There have been some people on here who have successfully tapered and I am sure will provide better advice than I can give. Why not quit today and check into detox?

OK I've successfully tapered and have a fair amount of experience I can share.

Rule of thumb is not to taper at a greater rate then 10% every 4-5 days. Some prefer a 5% taper rate as this is even easier with the slight withdrawal you will experience during your taper. One thing to know is during a taper you will experience some level of withdrawal, the point of a taper is this withdrawal is very much tolerable vs. going cold turkey (CT).

Tapering requires incredible willpower and discipline. It’s very difficult to stay to a taper plan when you know all it will take is a few extra pills to take away the withdrawal or provide the abundance of energy you’re used to having with the pills, or the high you used to have with the pills. Most people fail a taper because they cheat it, that’s just a reality. I think I’ve read somewhere that less then 10% of those that taper do it or complete it successfully.

So if you are committed to tapering (weaning) then your first step would be to only take 18 pills a day (instead of 20) for 4-5 days (10% taper), then just keep reducing at 10%. 10% of 18 pills would be 16.2 but that’s hard to break a pill down to .2 so you either drop to 16 or 16.5. If you dropped to 16 that’s a 12% reduction and then you could drop to 14.5 which would be a 9.4% reduction, etc......... I think you see where this is going.

The other thing is and I'm not sure how you take your pills, if it’s through the day (4 or 5 times) or like 10 pills taken in the morning and 10 pill taken at night (that’s how I once used to take that many) its better to take your pills on an even schedule during a day, like every 3 or 4 hrs. It’s easier to taper that way in the long run.

If you are on an even (every 3 or 4 hrs.) schedule then there are very detailed tapering plans that can be worked out and provided. If you search here for "taper schedule" I would think you could find a few examples I've done for some here.

Good luck, you are at the brink of turning everything about you around, all for the better. You just need to take the first step, be committed and follow through. I can say without reservation that once you’re off the pills your life will be remarkably more wonderful.

Take care

phil

Thank you so much, this really helps me in knowing how to reduce my pills, I take them every 3hrs not all at once. I am giving them to my sister to hold so I cannot cheat ( I am sure I would). Wish me luck, I started today and I do feel okay for the most part, the pain will eventually fade I hope!

Philster I have a question for you, should I reduce my pill intake each dose or just wait out the time? Meaning so I take 2.5 dose instead of 3.5 dose or take my usual 3.5 dose (uggg) every 4hrs instead of 3? Let me know what you think is best,

Thanks so much again!

So you take 2.5 pills every 3 hrs I take it?

Try this schedule and if it doesn't make sense ask questions and I'll try and explain it to you better. The idea is you use increasing time in between doses to effectively taper.

Luck to you

phil

I’ll try and help and given the info you supplied give you a taper schedule that I would use if I was in your situation. Sound OK?

Here is the schedule I’d use to taper from 20 pills per day:

Initial dose, 2.5 pills each interval
Day Interval Dose
1 3:00 2.5 pills
2 3:15 2.5 pills
3 3:30 2.5 pills
4 3:45 2.5 pills
5 4:00 2.5 pills (25% reduction)
6 4:20 2.5 pills
7 4:40 2.5 pills
8 5:00 2.5 pills
9 5:20 2.5 pills
10 5:40 2.5 pills
11 6:00 2.5 pills (50% reduction)(10 pills per day)
======================================== ==========
now reduce the dose to 1.25 pills at each interval and begin with day 12 below having a 75% reduction at the end of 22 days and only taking 5 pills per day.
Day Interval Dose
12 3:00 1.25 pills
13 3:15 1.25 pills
14 3:30 1.25 pills
15 3:45 1.25 pills
16 4:00 1.25 pills
17 4:20 1.25 pills
18 4:40 1.25 pills
19 5:00 1.25 pills
20 5:20 1.25 pills
21 5:40 1.25 pills
22 6:00 1.25 pills (5 pills per day)
======================================== ============
now reduce the dose to 1/2 pill at each interval and begin with day 23 below. At the end of the third period you will be down to 2 pills per day and 88% reduction.
Day Interval Dose
23 3:00 .5 pill
24 3:15 .5 pill
25 3:30 .5 pill
26 3:45 .5 pill
27 4:00 .5 pill
28 4:20 .5 pill
29 4:40 .5 pill
30 5:00 .5 pill
31 5:20 .5 pill
32 5:40 .5 pill
33 6:00 .5 pill (2 pills per day)
======================================== ==========
now reduce the dose to 1/2 pill at each interval and begin with day 34 below. At the end of the fourth period you will be down to 2 pills per day and 94% reduction
Day Interval Dose
34 3:00 1/4 pill
35 3:15 1/4 pill
36 3:30 1/4 pill
37 3:45 1/4 pill
38 4:00 1/4 pill
39 4:20 1/4 pill
40 4:40 1/4 pill
41 5:00 1/4 pill
42 5:20 1/4 pill
43 5:40 1/4 pill
44 6:00 1/4 pill (1 pills per day)
======================================== ============
for the final taper down, take 1/4 pill taking the interval from 6 hours to 12 hours by 1/2 hour increment a day.
day interval Dose
45 6:30 1/4 pill
46 7:00 1/4 pill
47 7:30 1/4 pill
48 8:00 1/4 pill
49 8:30 1/4 pill
50 9:00 1/4 pill
51 9:30 1/4 pill
52 10:00 1/4 pill
53 10:30 1/4 pill
54 11:00 1/4 pill
55 11:30 1/4 pill
56 12:00 1/4 pill
DONE (no more pill taking hooray!!!!!)

The key to the table above is 3:00 is equal to 3 hrs. 3:15 is equal to 3 1/4 hrs. etc.... You increase the time between dosing till you get to 6 hrs intervals. Then back to 3 hrs out to 6 hrs, etc......

Hope that explains a bit more.

Thank you so much! This is great what you have done for me, I am printing it as we speak... I thank you again for your time! I will check in to let everyone know how I am doing, so far I am having slight stomach issues, nothing too bad...

We are really pulling for you, trust me when I say that. Probably an understatement lol

I have a saying that my good buddy told me when I was in the peak of my troubles and that is:

"Slow and Steady Wins the Race"

It took time to get where you are now, it will take time to get to where you want to be. You really can't rush the getting there or the healing process.

All will be great, just stay focused, you can win this race!

phil