How long can a psychoactive last?

[FunctionalOlfactio]

I read somewhere that mercury complete elimination in humans is measured in:
-weeks for blood
-months for soft tissue
-years for bone

That's a long time.

I've also noticed that some chemicals have non-linear metabolism. Sodium thiopental is an example.
This one seems to be rapidly stored in lipids then slowly released. Interestingly this seems to cause people with different body mass indexes to metabolize the chemical at different rates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiopental#Metabolism

My question is: How long can a psychoactive drug last?

 

[sekio]

very long

drugs like mptp will produce permanent changes because they e.g. destroy cells in the brain. other drugs like e.g. BZ will produce an effect as long as they are in the body, and since they have long half lives into the hundreds of hours... you get fucked up for 4 days.

also, ask the people who abused phenazepam about long half lives...

luckily most drugs of abuse have rather short half lives.

 

[Privateer]

In addition to permanent damage (which imo should not be strictly considered a psychoactive effect) and pharmacokinetic matters (half-life, fat storage), there are also drugs which induce a long-acting change to the receptor dynamics -- check out the long-acting Kappa opioid antagonists, which as a class produce changes in dynorphin binding to kappa receptors that measure up to 2 weeks long, much longer than their half-lives would indicate.

 

[QUARE]

also, ask the people who abused phenazepam about long half lives...

I accidently ate 1g of Phenazepam back in the days... I felt fucked up for 2 months.

I also have abused Phenobarbital which have a half life of 118h Ive been wasted for 3 days.

 

[ebola?]

Jesus! And I thought that my 70 mg overdose was rough (thank heavens I spent most of it in bed). . .

ebola

 

[QUARE]

Hopefuly, Benzodiazepines have increadible high LD50. If it would be a Barbiturate or something with a low LD50, I would have died that day. What I learned from this at least is KNOW YOUR SUBSTANCES, be patient and think about what you are doing before its too late.

Now I remember another long horrible trip I had with Desoxypipradrol, I didnt slept in 4 days, I started hallucinate at day 2 from lack of sleep, my heart was racing, I was scared of dying from heart strike.

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Heh aint that true. Desoxy has, I can tell, the potential to turn round and bite you in the ass. Hard.

And long acting barbs, as said, they stick around a looooooong fucking time, if used longterm. Made that mistake with a load of veronal once, got myself a bastard of a habit, and of course eventually ODed. Not pretty, and I was completely out of it for a month or two.

Got a nasty distinct feeling I'm in for the long haul at the moment actually. Accidentally copped an unknown, but plenty large, and totally overwhelming dose of AMT, in solution. Thought it was my oxy. It wasn't. Took all of 4-5 seconds after injection before thinking 'wait,this doesn't feel quite right...ooh SHIT'

Not sure how much, but around 150mg or thereabouts, which I'd prepared and intended as an ORAL dose. That lasted two days, at 140 the last time I took AMT.

 

[ebola?]

Well, you're in the thick of it for several hours regardless, so I'd try to enjoy whatever you might encounter.

ebola

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Thats one way to put it. Not feeling too bad, despite the lack of opioids today (I typically take AMT about once a week, the night before I have to pick up my rx, partly for that reason), but oh boy, its still kicking up quite a shitstorm.

 

[indelibleface]

Heh aint that true. Desoxy has, I can tell, the potential to turn round and bite you in the ass. Hard.

We're talking about the drug that Ann Shulgin reportedly took and it caused her to be in a, what was it, ++ psychedelic state for several days on end, right? I don't have my book with me.

I always wondered: how do we know that was an inherent property of desoxy and not just some rare, idiosyncratic reaction to a phenethylamine or any entheogen for that matter? I'm pretty sure not many people have even tasted the chemical.

 

[QUARE]

^ Desoxypipradrol is not a drug from PIHKAL its not even a phenylethylamine, its structure is related to Methylphenidate (Ritalin) but with much much longer half-life of around 16-20h.

The drug you are talking about is probably :
#52 DESOXY
3,5-DIMETHOXY-4-METHYLPHENETHYLAMINE

 

[ebola?]

We're talking about the drug that Ann Shulgin reportedly took and it caused her to be in a, what was it, ++ psychedelic state for several days on end, right? I don't have my book with me.

I always wondered: how do we know that was an inherent property of desoxy and not just some rare, idiosyncratic reaction to a phenethylamine or any entheogen for that matter? I'm pretty sure not many people have even tasted the chemical.

Ann Shulgin actually considers her experience unrelated to desoxy, thinking it instead an oddly coincidental 'spiritual crisis'. She assayed again at the same level and experienced an indistinct threshold, not clearly differentiable from placebo.

ebola

 

[indelibleface]

^ Desoxypipradrol is not a drug from PIHKAL its not even a phenylethylamine, its structure is related to Methylphenidate (Ritalin) but with much much longer half-life of around 16-20h.

Clearly not, haha.

The drug you are talking about is probably :
#52 DESOXY
3,5-DIMETHOXY-4-METHYLPHENETHYLAMINE

Yes. this is what happens when I don't pay attention. Thank you.

 

[QUARE]

I found that chemical that have a half-life of 5 weeks, that pretty long.

Dutasteride

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

I wasn't referring to DESOXY, but to desoxypipradrol. Should have made it clearer, my bad.

 

[Lightning-Nl]

Depends on the drug really. It also depends what your referring too. Are you referring to how long it takes for the drug to ware off? Or how long it takes for a drug to completely leave your system? The reason I ask is due to the fact that they are different answers.

As for how long a drug is active, depends on what kind of drug it is, how it's metabolized, and if anything else is taken with that drug. For instance, Ativan (Lorazepam) is almost (if not entirely) inactive after 9-10 hours. Plasma levels can still be slightly increased up to 4 hours after that, but its not enough to feel any effects. While Phencyclidine (PCP) for instance, can take up to 40 hours for its effects to ware off, due to how it's metabolized. However, this can be changed by concurrent drug use as well.

If Lorazepam is taken at the same time as a Cytochrome P450 inhibitor (such as most SSRI's (like paroxetine, fluoxetine, etc...) grapefruit juice, etc...) that slows down the metabolism of chemicals that are metabolized by the Cytochrome P450 system. Therefore, lorazepam will be active and remain in the blood for a longer period of time than if grapefruit juice or paroxetine or something wasn't take.

If you're talking about how long it takes for the drug to entirely leave the system, that also depends on a couple factors. If your getting a urine test (for instance), lorazepam will be almost (if not entirely) gone within 3-4 days of last use. Therefore, the pee test will show up as negative. It can, however, be detected in a hair test for up to 30-40 days after last use. Also keep in mind that if you're a habitual user of Lorazepam, the amount of time it takes to get rid of it will be increased, due to the fact that the body is used to the substance and there are increased amounts of it in the body.

Also, keep in mind that this applies to every drug, not just Lorazepam. I just used Lorazepam as an example

EDIT:

Well I feel stupid...

I just remembered that Lorazepam is one of the only benzo's that ISN'T metabolized by CYP450. You get my point though right?

 

[ebola?]

I found that chemical that have a half-life of 5 weeks, that pretty long.

One cannot reliably measure a drug's half-life from its subjective effects.

ebola

 

[mrcientist]

Slightly off topic but I recall a seminar given by Prof. Roland Wolf, showing that inhibition of cyp XXX possibly 3A4, totally prevents metabolism of midazolam in mice, rendering them into a permanent hypnotic state.

My memory of the seminar is sketchy so far in the future, but I recall thinking it was incredibly intriguing

 

[Moredopamine]

Slightly off topic but I recall a seminar given by Prof. Roland Wolf, showing that inhibition of cyp XXX possibly 3A4, totally prevents metabolism of midazolam in mice, rendering them into a permanent hypnotic state.

My memory of the seminar is sketchy so far in the future, but I recall thinking it was incredibly intriguing

I would imagine that would just make the drug last a lot longer. Surely the midazolam would be use another metabolic path or just be outright excreted eventually.

People who, say, have malfunctional CYP2D6 enzymes (which is fairly common) can't metabolize DXM well.. but they still metabolize it eventually.

 

[mrcientist]

Of course, his timepoint only went out 28 days if i recall, before they reversed the enzyme inhibition, one would assume, as you said, that after such a long period, secondary metabolism/ excretion would come into play