I was in a similar position, tore my ACL/MCL Completely had no insurance so no physical therapy and ruled out surgery due to being young (18) and little money at part time job. Had a great doctor/family friend who found way to prescribe me oxy 20mg and loritab 10/500.

I was like you terrified of the medicine, especially after seeing first hand what it did to some family.

The best way I think is to talk with your doctor about your dosages and pain level. And to be honest with yourself. I still slipped a couple of times, Not very proud of myself those days. After a few years even though I'm still on pain meds, I found a good balance of my dosage s and only loritab after several years. It sucks to be dependent on it but not much I can do about it.

A lot of people have the same issue so do not think you are alone with this predicament, pain tolerances vary from person to person the rough part is just getting through the healing process with a lot of pain. After that just try to find a balance. Sorry for my long story/post. I just know the feeling you are having. I wish you the best and a healthy recovery. Just take it one day at a time. Be well and take care.

Sorry if I did not help much but I Hope this helped even if it's a little bit, you being in therapy helps a lot as well it helped me alot. Feel free to Pm me if you want someone to talk to while dealing with this. Best of luck and be well.

TLDR: Talk to your doctor about pain levels and how much you take, and most important in my opinion be honest with yourself. It's not a guarantee surefire way to avoiding addiction it's just my experience and being honest seemed like a major part to me.