Lets get real about "half lifes" of drugs

[BlueShade666]

So ive been doing a lot of research about heroin, suboxone, induction and just general info regarding the two. We all know what the term half life refers to. But incase you dont it is the time it takes for half of whatever is taken to be metabolized.

Now im the type of person not to believe things just because its common knowledge or is what is believed to be the truth.

Here is the problem I have with half lifes. If the half life of substance X is six hours that means that at +6 hrs after taken there is half left, at 12 hrs there is 1/4 left and at +18 hrs there is 1/8 left.. how can that be true. If it takes me six hrs to metabolize one half of substance X, wouldnt it make sense it takes another six hrs to metabolize the other half? ..why would the other half only be cut in half again?

Another example I have is this. I can do two bags of good east coast diesel and feel it, not be nodding by any means but i feel unsick, slight mood lift etc. Now i can also shoot 8 bags in a shot and be nice and high. but back to half lifes..if I do 8 bags then according to scientists and ppl on the forms in six hrs 4 bags are still in me, then at tweleve two bags and at 18 one bag...but yet eight hrs aftwr that shot im sick, but according to half life i should have two to three bags still unmetabolized in me..just doesnt add up.

thoughts, comments, questions?

(please dont post if u dont do reaearch or have an educated comment...stupid people are..well...stupid XD

 

[421]

Yes, it's just a rule of thumb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_half-life

 

[The Doc.]

The diamorphine (heroin) itself has a very short half life (about 3-4 minutes). However after it passes the liver it becomes morphine and that has a half life of 2-3 hours. It generally takes a number of half lifes for a drug to clear your body completely. In the case of heroin it would be about 1 day to 1.5 days.

Now I'm only first year In studying biology but to my understanding this is why you only feel the drug for a short amount of time despite having a longer half life.

Half life and the duration the drug has effects on your brain are not the same thing. It's normal for the effects of the drug to only last a few hours when the drug is actually still present in your body for a few days just not attached to the opiate receptors anymore its simply there in low levels not enough to continue getting you high but enough to be detected in drug tests.
The thing with heroin is the half life/duration isn't very dose dependant meaning if you do larger doses it doesnt mean its going to last any longer than a smaller dose would've it still wears off quite quickly. Whereas drugs like buprenorphine the half life and duration is largely dose dependant meaning the more buprenorphine you take the longer its going to last you but this is a drug with a long half life in general and heroin is a very short acting drug so it makes sense.

For instance Valium has a half life of 100 hours yet the "high" doesn't last nearly that long the drug is simply present in your body for that time even after its duration is over.

The reason drugs like heroin can be detected for so long after its effects have worn off is because the duration of action simply means the time it will take the active component of the drug to be completely used up since drugs eventually turn into different metabolites when being processed through the human body. This is why when drug tests are done the drug itself isn't usually looked for in the urine(for most drugs) but more so the metabolites that the drug converts to are looked for in the urine.

Another point I must add is everybody is significantly different when it comes to the rate of speed their body metabolises a substance our body's vary so differently. I know people who can shoot heroin once every 12 hours and people who can go even 24+ hours without being sick enough for another shot yet me I get sick as hell after only 2-3 hours after doing heroin. I can even take Suboxone without precipitated withdrawal after only 4 hours after my last shot of dope yet others wait 24+, hours and still end up in precipitated withdrawal.

Just remember everybody is different plus the duration the drug actually affects you and half life are two different things.

 

[RxContin]

The diamorphine (heroin) itself has a very short half life (about 3-4 minutes). However after it passes the liver it becomes morphine and that has a half life of 2-3 hours. It generally takes a number of half lifes for a drug to clear your body completely. In the case of heroin it would be about 1 day to 1.5 days.

Now I'm only first year In studying biology but to my understanding this is why you only feel the drug for a short amount of time despite having a longer half life.

Half life and the duration the drug has effects on your brain are not the same thing. It's normal for the effects of the drug to only last a few hours when the drug is actually still present in your body for a few days just not attached to the opiate receptors anymore its simply there in low levels not enough to continue getting you high but enough to be detected in drug tests.
The thing with heroin is the half life/duration isn't very dose dependant meaning if you do larger doses it doesnt mean its going to last any longer than a smaller dose would've it still wears off quite quickly. Whereas drugs like buprenorphine the half life and duration is largely dose dependant meaning the more buprenorphine you take the longer its going to last you but this is a drug with a long half life in general and heroin is a very short acting drug so it makes sense.

For instance Valium has a half life of 100 hours yet the "high" doesn't last nearly that long the drug is simply present in your body for that time even after its duration is over.

The reason drugs like heroin can be detected for so long after its effects have worn off is because the duration of action simply means the time it will take the active component of the drug to be completely used up since drugs eventually turn into different metabolites when being processed through the human body. This is why when drug tests are done the drug itself isn't usually looked for in the urine(for most drugs) but more so the metabolites that the drug converts to are looked for in the urine.

Another point I must add is everybody is significantly different when it comes to the rate of speed their body metabolises a substance our body's vary so differently. I know people who can shoot heroin once every 12 hours and people who can go even 24+ hours without being sick enough for another shot yet me I get sick as hell after only 2-3 hours after doing heroin. I can even take Suboxone without precipitated withdrawal after only 4 hours after my last shot of dope yet others wait 24+, hours and still end up in precipitated withdrawal.

Just remember everybody is different plus the duration the drug actually affects you and half life are two different things.

^ What he said ^

 

[neversickanymore]

For every half life half of the drug that was in the system at the begining is eliminated

if the half life of a drug is 10 hours and a person takes 100mg.

10 h = 100mg to 50mg
20h= 50 to 25
30h= 25 to 12
40h= 12 to 6
50h= 6 to 3
60h = 3 to 1.5

a good idea of when a substance is basically out of a persons system is six half lives.

Given half life does a drug ever completely get out of our systems?

The reason for this is that it gives the system in our bodies time to readjust slowly. imagine what herion withdrawal would be like if this was not the case. Just another amazing feature of the truely amazing body that evolution has provided for us through all the nonsense toxic shit we have eaten or been injected with from poisonous animals, insects, and plants.. etc.

It funny how in being relentlessly harsh on itself by having all its talons attack each other and compete, it ends up producing incredibly resilient and powerful. things. Imagine were it will be at in billions more years.

 

[_DankOpiAmp_]

The majority of heroin becomes 6-monoacetylmorphine in the blood within seconds, only some is transformed into morphine.

The issue you are dealing with is the difference between the metabolic half life and the length of the experience. This discrepancy becomes larger as tolerance increases. The large amount left over in your system when withdrawal begins is merely preventing more severe withdrawal symptoms rather than completely preventing any of them.

The metabolic half-life is just how we evolved to break down chemicals in our body, it has something to do with how enzymes work. It probably results from the smaller concentrations of a drug in the blood reducing the likelyhood of individual molecules of the drug interacting with the limited concentrations of their respective metabolic enzymes after each half-life. One notable exception is the metabolism of alcohol, which is linear, occurring at a rate of roughly 2 standard servings every 3 hours.

 

[BlueShade666]

sorry didnt respond for a while. thanks thats one rare answer that actually broke it down properly. appreciated. thanjs all