I went on a 2-3 month run with the 100mcg patches, so real, fent. I was extracting and smoking/IV'ing 1-2 patches a day so roughly on average 15MG of fent not counting whatever was lost d/t ISO extraction and/or ROA loss, smoking vs. IV.. I also always wore at least 1 patch trying to not wake up with in such terrible WD due to the short duration of fent.. I'd say i had a serious fent habit so i know where you're coming from. I was also potentiating with klonopins.
A few days before i went in for my sub appointment i stopped wearing a patch. It made things worse but i feared PW. The night before my appointment, my last dose of fent, I fell out with my arm still tied off and the rig still in my arm. I woke up after idk how long. The funny thing is I wasn't even scared at the time. It only frightens me now that I'm "sober" and on subs.
Back to the point. They tried to induce me @ 16mg of sub, also gave me clonidine and gabapentin. I also restarted Topamax and valium and celexa for because i am bipolar. I only mention this because Valium will potentiate the subs and topamax is very sedating and is being
trialed for opiate WD.
It wasn't enough. I was miserable and in WD. I jumped to 24 and the doc said that was the most he'd prescribe, basically if that didn't work i'd have to go on methadone. The only clinic is about a 7 hour drive round trip for me and that just wouldnt fit in with work and all. Somehow I managed to keep my job throughout all this mental heath/relapse craziness and i needed to keep it. I also didn't really want to go on a full antagonist like methadone.
I ended up shooting my subs for about the first week and then slowly switched to taking them sublingually. Now i am stable and feeling great. I have actually dropped down to 16mg a day and am considering going to 8. I want to be on the lowest dose possible without having the cravings come back. That's my biggest fear is having the cravings return before i am strong enough to handle them.
Good luck. Fent is a bitch to kick. Fent WD is what it took for me, after nearly a couple decades of fucking around with opiates, to finally admit to a doctor i abused opiates and get the "substance abuser" DX on my medical chart. I just couldn't find subs on my own and couldn't deal with the WD.
PS- I'd used subs a few times on my own to kick some serious H habits and was shocked they weren't the magic bullet for fent that they had been for dope. Now if people ask me about fent, i tell them to stick with kiddie drugs like heroin and stay away from fent, it's serious fuckin' bidness. It really is the crack of the opiate world..