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No, you don’t “sweat out” toxins.

WishfulThinkin said:
Well if they are detectable then you can sweat toxins out, technically. Not in any amount to "detoxify", these sort of detoxification approaches don't make sense anyhow.

Hey hey hey.. this is something I’ve been looking into for a minute because it affects me directly. So if what this guy is saying is wrong or inaccurate, just show me the research. I don’t mean that in a pissy way. I would really like to know the truth.

So far what I’ve gathered is that main function of perspiration is temperature control (of course); even though it’s part of the “excretory” system. Our sweat, which is odorless, is like 99% water. But it also has things like salt, ammonia, urea, and other proteins. The odor we smell is a byproduct of those things mixing with the bacteria on our skin. So according to all of this... no, when I do meth I’m not going to “sweat it out”. Most of that is going to be excreted through my urine and poop. For the most part, my sweat is just water. (TMI but when I’ve been on a binge, I *definitely* smell it in my pee.)

Now I’m sure doing drugs has some effect on these mechanisms. I just haven’t found exactly what that is yet. I’m thinking that meth, for example, may increase or chemically alter the ammonia or urea. Or maybe it changes the makeup of the water. I don’t know. But I’d be happy to check out any articles you may have.

What toxins do we sweat out and how?
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I think the reason people smell on meth is an increase in cortisol, which seems to cause a distinct scent, I guess you could call it the smell of fear.

I smell the same when I’m in bad enough withdrawal
 
Don't we technically detox through our gums too?

I could be way off but I wanna say I've read/heard this before that we do. At least a little.

EDIT : Upon looking it up, I'm not finding any info about it. Just info about how to "detoxify your gums", but nothing about the rest of the body detoxing through the gums. So maybe I've been believing a lie. But it wouldn't be the first one. lol
 
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Metabolites are excreted in sweat via the law of mass action. Sweat is generated by your body pumping chloride ions out of your skin, which draws water out of cells via osmosis. Some metabolites of drugs (and other things) will tag along for the ride.

The skin does not do heavy lifting for excretion of compounds though, most things people notice have extremely low odor thresholds, allowing small quantities to be detected. Same story with hair and drugs (in the context of drug testing - these are very sensitive tests).

As said by many in the thread, the kidneys do a majority of the excretion by orders of magnitude (also they don't technically filter out toxins, they basically dump all of the solutes in your plasma out, then selectively pull things back into your blood using specific transporters).
 
Just had me wondering why, if I drink a bottle of vodka, do I smell like vodka? It is much more prominent when sweating.
I do not have the research but the more salt I eat the more crusty my clothes are after a long day in the sun sweating... salt.
Just sayin... we sweat some of everything we take in... just a belief formed from a life of observation.
Not gonna read a thousand papers on it as it is not that important to me but enjoy the content here.
Best wishes.
Yours truly,
buggaboy ;)
 
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