You might want to have a conversation with your specialist if it's not controlling your pain well and it's time for the taper. My rheumatologist had me keep a daily log with my level of pain in the morning when I first woke up and the dosage I took for the day. He always let me decide the pain I could tolerate and for me that was a 2 or less on a scale of 0 to 10. If it was higher than 2 and it was time to taper to the next lower level, I stayed at the current dose for a few more days to see if it was just a minor flare. Each of us are different when it comes to tapering and there really are no set rules like the discussion I mentioned above says.