I've been on Sub for about 10 years and have to either get off now or switch doctors, as my provider is retiring. I tapered with little or no discomfort from 8 mg daily to 4 to 2 to 1 over a period of about 3 years. It was getting lower than that where it was difficult. I got down to 1/4 of a 2mg strip, or 1/2 mg, per week, taken once every other day and managed to get reasonably comfortable, then the next drop, to 1/4 mg per week, I hit a wall. I went into pretty severe withdrawals that seemed to never end. So I went back up and have been taking 1/2 mg per week, for several months.
My issue is that I'm more or less terminally ill. I have advanced lung disease that is aggravated by any other disease process going on in my body, including withdrawal. Also, with so little time left, it seems unfair to force me to spend the rest of my life in withdrawals, and I went as far as three weeks completely Sub-and other opiate-free without the w/d getting any better. I even tried switching to kratom on the theory that it was short-acting and when the time came to kick it, it should only be a few days, but it didn't work that way. The point is, that if you really want to be successful, and stay clean after you get off Sub, it's really worth it to taper slowly.
I was amazed at what a couple of days of withdrawals did to me--turned me right back into a fiending junkie, ready to do whatever to get well. Fortunately since I've moved back to my home town I've stayed far away from drug users I used to know, and haven't sought out any new ones. So it made it impossible to get anything very quickly, and I was able to contact my regular doctor and get my dose increased before I used anything else. Now I have to tell my primary that if I won't script me with it, I have to switch doctors, which sucks, but I can't take the chance of having to try to find a doctor later when my old prescriber retired for good. So if you want long-term results, taper slowly. And if you get down there and it doesn't feel right to get off it, stop your taper and think about it for a while. There's no magic to getting off Sub and being "opioid-free" if you're going to just relapse down the road. I believe there are certain people who should probably stay on it for life, and I'm one of those people.