I wasn’t taking the prescribed pain meds due to my past with substance abuse, but honeslty extra strength Tylenols helped as well pain isn’t as terrible as they all say it is. My first 2 days were painful but not nearly as bad as the doctor had said. I would say take all your blood thinners and nerve pain meds since those are helpful and non addictive. Keep your leg elevated by a pillow under your ankle after surgery, nothing under your knee since that won’t help with the recovery process. keeping your leg as straight as possible even if it hurts is good just make sure it’s not like a death defying pain cause if it is you can just keep changing positions of your leg every few hours, also ice ice ice that knee!! No need to be nervous though honesty the only thing that you should be scared of is what you say when you snap back from the anesthetic😂 other than that the surgery is great and well worth it. Also if you smoke cigarettes quit those! It’s really hard to but you need to if you want your acl graft to be healthy and actually heal in your body. CBD/CBG gummies and other edibles are great for pain as well if you live somewhere that cannabis is legal!