Methadone withdrawal exhaustion. Any experiences or remedies invited.

[Dickon]

My Bengal cat is 19 days into a methadone withdrawal (no other drugs or alcohol or cigarettes), and is eating for England, as well as getting a good 6-8 hours sleep most nights (US election night notwithstanding), but still feels very lethargic and exhausted. He can walk for a couple of miles or go swimming etc., but as soon as he get's back in he just sits down in a mostly lethargic state. I thought I'd ask if there's anything I can do to jolly him along, or whether this is just par for the course. My cat is usually very up when he's not taking drugs, so I'm slightly surprised to find his energy not returning. Maybe my cat being a bit older than last time might just requires a couple more weeks to be bouncing around again.

Any ideas, experiences, remedies welcome.

Love to all

Dickon

[msmogadon]

Don't worry SWIDickon SWIM msmongalot still felt this way after cold turkey from heroin. The only trouble was she was fed up waiting around for her motivation to come back she used this as her excuse to start using again after 15 days. But stay strong as we all know SWIY will and keep us updated as to when normal function is resumed. So SWIM knows how long to wait the next time
and yea SWIM knows that waiting around for motivation won't help it come back but SWIM was in such a bad state of depression there was not much else for it

[Gappa]

My clone has informed me.. H or oxy are relatively quick easy to detox off of. Methadone is so potent and addictive and it's persistent half life make it the 1 monster to get completely free of. IMO only

[Dickon]

I think poor Growltiger might have actually had a dose of 'flu' in the midst of his w.d.s. Poor thing! He's feeling more active today. We'll just have to see how long it takes him to recover. He's not going to be put down, that's for sure! Maybe 'flu' and comorbid methadone withdrawals is a bit of a rough-time-inducing combination for a cat. I am not entirely sure, but we'll just have to watch and see how quickly he returns to health. He's quite a patient cat, and will endure this.

[Dickon]

P.S. Just to update this thread, My bengal is now 31 days off methadone, and everything else, and is still less than fully energetic. I'm still surprised at his lethargy, but I think it's a case of waiting this phase out. I'll post back on here periodically because it might be useful for someone quitting methadone to know of Growltiger's experience and the timeline thereof. Apart from the odd bit of sneezing, a slight sensitivity and this lethargy Growltiger is in good shape. He gets me to post on here, he reads, and he sleeps and eats well. He even manages to walk and play a bit!