The clinical side
Tapering protocols, medication-assisted options, and what the research actually shows.
An independent voice since 2009
Getting off painkillers isn't a willpower problem.
For sixteen years we've written one honest letter at a time about the hard, human, profoundly under-discussed process of stepping away from prescription opioids — with the medical structure that actually works.
"I read this site from start to finish in my first week of taper. It was the first thing that didn't talk down to me."— Reader letter, 2023
16 yrs
publishing on this topic
120+
articles & letters in the archive
50 states
and 30+ countries reading
1 promise
no spam, ever
What you'll find here
A library, not a sales pitch.
No miracle product. No referral fees. Just long-form, plain-language writing on the parts of recovery from prescription opioids that clinicians rarely have time to walk through in a fifteen-minute appointment.
The human side
Letters from readers, family-member guides, and the small comforts that get people through.
The long arc
What the first ninety days, the first year and the second year off painkillers actually look like.
A note from the editor
"I started this site in 2009 because the writing I needed when I was tapering didn't exist. Sixteen years later, I'm still embarrassed by how often that's still true."
The internet is loud about painkiller addiction and quiet about prescription painkiller dependence in people who did everything their doctor told them to. This is a small, slow place where the second group can read without being lectured at.
— Andrew P. Brock, Aliso Viejo, CA
Latest writing
All articles →
From the archive
Understanding Prescription Painkiller Dependence
Dependence isn't a moral failure. It's a predictable physiological response to a powerful class of medication. Here's what's actually happening in the body.
What a Medical Taper Actually Looks Like
Cold-turkey almost never works. A slow, supervised taper does. Here's the framework most clinicians use and what to expect week by week.
Rebuilding Sleep After Opioid Dependence
Insomnia is the most common reason people relapse. Here is a slow, boring, deeply effective protocol for getting sleep back.
Have a question about your own taper?
We answer reader email by hand from Aliso Viejo, California. We're not clinicians and we don't pretend to be — but we read everything that comes in.