Addiction to Drugs/Lortabs 7.5/500

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Expert: Dr. Renee - 10/17/2006


Question
I wanted to know how long lortabs take to get out of your system. They are water soluable aren't they

Answer
The half life of narcotics, (unless they are longer lasting synthetics such as methadone or buprenorphine)is about 5-6 hours. Once you know the half life of a substance, (provided it doesn't have active metabolites etc like Valium; since most narcotics don't, this is straight forward) take that number and multiply it times 6 to get about 99.0% of a drug gone.(first 1/2 life is @ 50%, 2nd you are @25% gone, 3rd @ 12.5%, 6.25% etc, get it?)  So it's gone in about 36 hours, 40 hours max. Increasing flushing etc can move it along a bit. Keep in mind, if you have a LOT of anything, that 3% left might be of issue in a urinalysis, but most of these tests have a "threshold", meaning you have to have a REAL amount to 'pop' positive; 3% of a couple Lortabs you took 2 days prior isn't enough.   
Yes, they are water soluble.  

Addiction to Drugs

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Dr. Renee

Expertise

I can answer questions about: The physical/ biochemical changes of brain due to narcotic addiction; What's Subutex/Suboxone treatment,is it for me & can it help?; Drug testing & how sensitive it is etc; Medico-legal issues & what will happen if you are caught vs asking for help etc.

Experience

I am a physician with 2 years of treating narcotic addiction with buprenorphine,10 yrs. of experience in drug testing and have 20yrs of experience in both AA and NA as a recovering addict/alcoholic.

Education/Credentials
Medical School'93; Naval Medical Corps '90-'03; NAMI (Naval Aerospace Medical Institute)grad; 4 yrs residency '97-'01; ~30hrs CME Addiction Medicine '04-'06 Buprenorphine waiver '04

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