If you'll still need pain medicine after you get off the Duragesic patches, they may change you to another CII. I was on the patches for ....maybe 5 months? I can't remember exactly. They stopped the patches and switched me to another CII and I had no problems at all. No withdrawal of any kind, except 2 days of going to the bathroom, but not often. I found that I simply couldn't step down off of the Duragesic. I don't know why, but a step down sent me into big-time anxiety and a lot of pain. I want to say we went to Methadone at that time for 2-3 months (30mgs a day, at 10mg doses at a time). Then we switched to low-dose Opana with 120 breakthrough meds (first 7.5 percocets, then 5mg IR Opana). Don't worry. Your doctor won't just yank the patch and say Have a good day. They will titrate you down slowly unless you need pain management after the patches. Everyone on CIIs worries about withdrawal but doctors won't stop them abruptly because it causes high blood pressure, anxiety, and a host of other problems (sleepless nights, etc.). If they are compassionate enough to give you 75mcg patches of Fentanyl, they aren't going to just abruptly stop. Just trust your doctor, and if the medicine they give you to step down with isn't working, you call the doctor immediately and they'll change it. I've done it before. Good Luck and don't worry. You'll be okay.
