You did it just fine! Welcome to you and your son!
I've cut back dramatically on meds to about one over the counter pill a week, maybe 2, like a single ibuprofen or aleve (naprosen), when I am doing something physical on weekends that is going to challenge my right knee. This keeps it from getting wobbly as fast. For instance, last week we went skiing (at age 50, I am a very green run skiier at this point ) and I can ski mostly turning and edging on my left knee but sometimes the right needs to carry some of the load and it gives out much more quickly if it's not, unfortunately, medicated. I've tried tylenol and it does absolutely nothing so why bother. It's not a pain thing, both knees feel about the same, it's a function thing.
When I was in my twenties and first flaring up badly I took a lot of NSAIDS. I was on the prescription merry-go-round as I got older, and had to stop as my kidneys just absolutely cannot tolerate processing prescription strength NSAIDS. Go to the doctor and complain. What do they do? Just give me another NSAID. Bleep that. Crappy family history, vulnerability to infection, and some other neuro things going on with me make me a poor candidate for the newer biologicals.
I feel better off the meds than I did on them, they were making me feel very sick and were giving me balance issues, which I cannot tolerate. Because I have been physically active all of my life (read that "have done many fun but dumb **** things with horses") I cannot tell at this point how much of my basic creakiness is just old age, AS damage, and how much is injury and wear and tear. (except that right knee. that is definitely HORSE related ) All of my adult life I've woken up stiffer than a normal person and taken longer to loosen up, so I don't have a comparison. My husband is the same age as I and does not have it and he's feeling pretty creaky some days too, he's getting regular osteoarthritis in his shoulder, I'm pretty sure.

I don't know what to say. Ideally we all want to be off of all meds. Meds do damage the stomach, intestines, kidneys, liver. I know the side effects from the drugs are as bad as the disease sometimes, but I also know that feeling of immortality as younger person, and that feeling that taking something temporarily that might harm us is worth it to do something that we love and that keeps us mobile.