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How Long Does Subutex Stay In The System?

Posted on Thu, 24 Apr 2014

Question: how long does subutex stay in your system 8 mg twice daily it is still showing up on a drug screen after 17 days and have not taken any

Answered by Dr. Michelle Gibson James (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: should be gone Detailed Answer: HI, thanks for using healthcare magic Subutex has a long half life of 20 to 60 hours. Some medical studies state up to 73 hours.The half life of a drug is the time it takes for the amount of drug in the system to decrease by half till it is eventually totally eliminated. It takes approximately 3 to 4 half lives for a drug to be completely eliminated. This means it would take 60 hours to 240 hours ( 2 1/2 to 10 days)- 12 days if the 73 hour half life is used. Since you last used it 17 days ago, it should be completely eliminated from your system. I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Michelle Gibson James (2 hours later)

hi and thank you the drug is still showing on a urine test, was a long time user of subutex now off any reasonable explanation? am completely off but am on selexa, welbutin, and zanax I'm sorry it's actually the 20th of March that I last took subutex, so it's been 14-15 days, not 17, but that probably doesn't make a difference.

Answered by Dr. Michelle Gibson James (11 hours later)

Brief Answer: may take longer if used long term Detailed Answer: HI It is a slowly metabolising drug, this is the reason that it is used to wean off from other medications. Because you were using it long term, it may take a little longer to completely eliminate from your system but if your doctor retests completely clear of the elimination time, it should show up negative. It is possible to have a false positive but this is normally with other opioids and some antibiotics, the medications that you are using are not associated with a falsely positive response Please feel free to ask any thing else

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Michelle Gibson James (7 minutes later)

other opioids? I'm sorry such as? not too familiar

Answered by Dr. Michelle Gibson James (5 minutes later)

Brief Answer: pain meds Detailed Answer: HI The medication list you provided didn't contain any opioids. Other opioids would be medications such as morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, tramadol.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar