I too have been prescribed fentanyl patches for chronic pain, and at even higher doses than 125mcg, and I found cutting down on the fent patches to be a not so difficulr/painful experience. Do you take anything for break-through pain? Any IR medications? If the answer is no, then yes your experiences of minor withdrawals when cutting down in doses is perfectly normal.
In terms of riding it out, I would suggest using potentiation techniques and DXM to reduce your tolerance via DXM's antagonism of the NMDA receptorss. DXM can be found in many cough medications and in a Mucinex type medication at your local pharmacy. You just want to look and find a product with a high enough dose of DXM so you you dont have to consume too much of the overall product just to get the DXM. And you will want to keep your DXM doses in the 60-120mg range because any higher can cause the psycho-active components of DXM and you don't want to be tripping out on it (I think its a dirty high myself).
Thats for opiate tolerance, the other options are called Opioid Potentiators and they, as the word sounds, increase the potency of opioids like in your case fentanyl. Click the search button up top and type "Opioid Potentiation Mega-thread" which will give you some tips and examples of OTC (over-the-counter) medications that can help your absorption of the fentanyl and increase the sedation/relaxation effects.
