How long until duragesic patch starts to work?

It is different for each person, and also dependent on how long you've been using it. Higher levels take longer for the body to remove over time. In general, you'll start feeling the withdrawals within 6 hours after total depletion of the patch contents, and really feel it at 12 - 18 hours. This does not mean that it has left your system - it means that your body's Fentanyl level is below what it has become used to and is reacting.

The longer you use Duragesic, the harder it is to end your overall dependence. As I write this, I'm in the final stages of ending my own 11 year dependence on Duragesic and Oxycodone, Demerol, and just about every other known chronic and acute pain medication. It has taken 6 months of continuous lowering of my opiate levels, and 2 hard withdrawal periods.

For those who haven't used it for very long, it is usually out of the body within 72 hours, assuming good kidney function. However, few people like myself are ever prescribed Duragesic for a short period, and if they are, it's due to a doctor's incompetence. Duragesic is intended for long-term, opiate tolerant, chronic pain patients only, and not as a short term pain medication. Fentanyl is 30 times stronger than morphine, and I can tell you it is not easy to end your dependence at all.

For those who disrespect and attempt to misuse Duragesic, it's not a problem, since most people usually kill themselves in the process, not realizing just how strong it is, and how fast it can kill you if you are not tolerant to opiates - and by opiates, I don't mean minor street drugs like Cocaine or Heroin. For true long term opiate patients, stuff like that is nothing, and it's why addicts fail to realize the dangers of Fentanyl misuse until it's too late.