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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How Long Does It Take To Flush Out Cotinine From Blood System?

How long does it take to get cotinine out of your blood system? I recently stopped over the last month but hit a cigarette 2x yesterday and two days before that I smoked 3 cigarettes. I am having a test on 8/20 and need to be nicotine and cotinine free.
Mon, 27 Oct 2014
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Addiction Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
3-5 days.
the cotinin has a half life of about 12 hrs. half goes away in 12, 3/4 in 24, etc. The test cannot detect it at a certain low level

BUT... before it becomes undetectable, it becomes as low as it would be if you didn't smoke but were around smokers (1/2 a cigarette... so.. .if you smoked 4, then in 12 hrs it would be like 2 cigarettes, 24 hrs like 1 cigarette and in 36 hrs... it would be equivalent to second hand smoke... 2-3 days tops).

Cannot say in your particular case and more smoking, heavier inhaling, smaller person, worse liver all make it harder to get rid of the cotinin.
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How Long Does It Take To Flush Out Cotinine From Blood System?

3-5 days. the cotinin has a half life of about 12 hrs. half goes away in 12, 3/4 in 24, etc. The test cannot detect it at a certain low level BUT... before it becomes undetectable, it becomes as low as it would be if you didn t smoke but were around smokers (1/2 a cigarette... so.. .if you smoked 4, then in 12 hrs it would be like 2 cigarettes, 24 hrs like 1 cigarette and in 36 hrs... it would be equivalent to second hand smoke... 2-3 days tops). Cannot say in your particular case and more smoking, heavier inhaling, smaller person, worse liver all make it harder to get rid of the cotinin.