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How Long Does Methadone Stay In The System?
Question: how long does methadone stay in your urine
Brief Answer:
very good question
Detailed Answer:
The issues are the whole curve.
So, if it is a delayed long acting form (not the liquid) then the time is from when it gets all in. Can be a full 24 hrs. Then, it is a long acting drug. Half of it goes away about every day.
Then it depends on the dose and the individual and most individuals in methadone treatment get as high a dose as it is possible to give (over 100 mg a day). The variation based on size and speed of metabolism varies TEN FOLD. so, I could be off by over 2 days on this but figure 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128...Looks like about a week. Since methadone gets broken down to something, if that something is ALSO looked for that can add another 1-2 days. So, between 7 to 10 days is what I'm coming up with. AND that is assuming a very sensitive test. If it isn't looking carefully, it might be 5 days. But if they are looking for breakdown products, they are also looking for very sensitive testing. The dipstick test is only looking for the drug and is NOT very sensitive, that is going to be about 5 days. The real lab test is closer to 10 days.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000
very good question
Detailed Answer:
The issues are the whole curve.
So, if it is a delayed long acting form (not the liquid) then the time is from when it gets all in. Can be a full 24 hrs. Then, it is a long acting drug. Half of it goes away about every day.
Then it depends on the dose and the individual and most individuals in methadone treatment get as high a dose as it is possible to give (over 100 mg a day). The variation based on size and speed of metabolism varies TEN FOLD. so, I could be off by over 2 days on this but figure 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128...Looks like about a week. Since methadone gets broken down to something, if that something is ALSO looked for that can add another 1-2 days. So, between 7 to 10 days is what I'm coming up with. AND that is assuming a very sensitive test. If it isn't looking carefully, it might be 5 days. But if they are looking for breakdown products, they are also looking for very sensitive testing. The dipstick test is only looking for the drug and is NOT very sensitive, that is going to be about 5 days. The real lab test is closer to 10 days.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Is there any medication to help with withdrawal symptoms when having to quit cold turkey?
Brief Answer:
quite a lot but they are by prescription only
Detailed Answer:
Obviously narcotics can be used for this. Suboxone was originally used as a short term rapid taper for 1 week to lower withdrawal symptoms, but this can be done with the methadone itself and it is hardly ever used that way.
For each of the symptmos of withdrawal there are particular medications.
for nausea, odantseron (zofran) among others
for upset/anxiety, a sedative or buspar or clonidine
for shakes clonidine
for pain, aspirin like drugs are generally used.
quite a lot but they are by prescription only
Detailed Answer:
Obviously narcotics can be used for this. Suboxone was originally used as a short term rapid taper for 1 week to lower withdrawal symptoms, but this can be done with the methadone itself and it is hardly ever used that way.
For each of the symptmos of withdrawal there are particular medications.
for nausea, odantseron (zofran) among others
for upset/anxiety, a sedative or buspar or clonidine
for shakes clonidine
for pain, aspirin like drugs are generally used.
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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