Posted by Racer on August 30, 2008, at 16:46:00
In reply to Re: How long does Alprazolam (Xanax) stay detectable.., posted by robbieboy74 on August 30, 2008, at 16:19:27
> no offense, but these answers aren't great. I want the number of hours. Most sites I see say 24-48 hours. What is the merit of this? What about the fact that xanax has a short half life.
No offense, but honestly Larry gave you about the most complete answer anyone can give you -- according to RxList.com, mean plasma elimination half-life is 11.2 hours in healthy adults.
For a long time when I read something about half-lives, I only sorta-kinda understood just how it worked. This is meant only for those who only kinda-sorta get it, and is meant to be helpful -- the half-life is pretty much exactly that, but it gets extended: if the elimination half-life of a substance is 11 hours, then half the initial dose has been eliminated after 11 hours; half of the remaining half has been eliminated after 22 hours; etc. Again -- that nutshell explanation is meant ONLY to help anyone who doesn't already understand it, and I hope that those reading who *do* already get it will respect that intent.
The actual rates cited range from just over 6 to just under 27 hours. That broad a range indicates that there's really no way to say how long it will take for any one individual's body to eliminate all detectable levels of the drug -- except to have a drug test to see if it's detectable, and in this case the goal is to avoid exactly that.
I know it can be frustrating to post here and not get the sort of answer one wanted -- still, I usually try to lean towards assuming everyone who answers is trying to be helpful. (Operative word is "try" -- I certainly don't always succeed.)
Peace.
poster:Racer
thread:849204
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080822/msgs/849286.html