Alprazolam, commonly sold under the brand name Xanax, is a short-acting benzodiazepine. Alprazolam is a prescription medication used to treat anxiety and panic disorder.
Doctors prescribe this pill for the short-term management of anxiety disorders, specifically panic disorders. It acts as a sedative (like Ativan) on the nervous system and calms anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.
Xanax is also beneficial for managing severe premenstrual syndrome and agoraphobia.
It is helpful to be aware of how long the effects of Xanax can be detected in your system and the possible risks and side effects of this pill.
It is a highly habit-forming sedative and, thus, not safe to use in the long term. If you take Alprazolam, you should be cautious about its interaction and accidental overdose.
How Long Does Xanax Last in Your System?
As we have seen, Xanax reaches its half-life in about 11 hours in healthy individuals. For this reason, Alprazolam requires six to seven half-lives for 98 percent of the drug to clear the body. At this speed, Xanax involves a minimum of four days to remove from your system entirely.
Notably, the duration of eliminating a drug from the body is not identical for everyone. For example, alcoholics with liver disorders, obese people, people on other medications, and people with Asian genetics will take longer to clear Xanax out of the system.
For some people, the removal of Xanax properties from the body takes place faster. Heavy smokers and drug abusers have weak absorption of nutrients and drugs into their systems. The concentration of Xanax in their blood will be up to 50 percent lower compared to healthy individuals.
In general, the effects of Xanax last for about four hours only. As a result, many people who are prescribed Xanax must take it several times. The repetitive use of it also affects how long Xanax last in your system.
The total length of time you’ve Xanax use will also affect how long the drug residues stay in your body and stays how many days after the last use.
Half-Life Of Xanax
The half-life of a drug is a pharmacokinetic parameter. It is the time taken for the concentration of a drug in the plasma to be reduced by 50 percent.
Once you take the Xanax pill, the concentration of Alprazolam in your blood reaches its peak level between 1 and 2 hours later. Lab test reports suggest that the average half-life of Xanax is 11.2 hours in healthy adults. At this point, half of this drug is metabolized in your body and eliminated via the urine.
Drug Test For Xanax AddictionÂ
People may abuse Xanax to get high or for recreational purposes which leads to Xanax addiction.
A drug screening test usually happens at a company where you work, at higher education institutions, or during the medical diagnosis process. Rehabilitation treatment for drug addicts also involves drug screening tests.
It is essential to tell the laboratory professionals that you have a history of taking Xanax. It helps them interpret your testing results correctly.
A Xanax drug test may involve the technical analysis of a biological specimen such as saliva, hair, blood, breath, or urine. Drug tests help determine the presence or absence of Xanax metabolites in your system.
A Xanax drug test may become necessary for treating Xanax abuse or undergoing rehabilitation treatment for managing withdrawal symptoms.
Detection Windows For Finding Xanax Stay In Your System
Like every other drug, the properties of Xanax are traceable in your blood, urine, hair, and saliva for a period. The detection window can vary from person to person depending on several biological factors and other medications taken. The dose and duration of using Xanax also affect the detection window period.
Xanax may remain in your system for up to:
- 36 hours for a blood test
- 48 hours for a saliva test
- One week for a urine test
- 90 days for a hair test
How long can Xanax be detected in your urine?
Lab testing of urine samples is the most effective way to trace the presence of a drug in your system. A urine drug screen for Xanax (benzodiazepines) will test positive for four to one week after the last dose.
A urine sample will be positive up to two weeks after taking larger doses of Xanax and regularly using the drug for an extended period. This is also true for people who metabolize Xanax slowly—the obese, people of Asian origin, people with liver disorders, and the elderly.
Individual factors and shortcomings in testing can negatively impact the results.
How long does Xanax remain in your blood?
A blood test is an effective drug screening method with a shorter window. It works best when testing is done within a few hours to 2 days following the ingestion of the drug.
Blood testing is beneficial for treating a suspected overdose of the drug.
A blood test can detect the presence of Xanax from 3 hours up to 48 hours after you have had the last dose of the drug. For most people, Xanax is not detectable in the blood beyond 24 hours.
How long does Xanax stay in the saliva?
Like the blood screening test, a saliva test provides a short window for drug detection.
Xanax is traceable in saliva for up to 2.5 days. For most people, the saliva test may not turn positive after 24 hours. The detection window time mainly depends on factors like the dosage of the drug used and the speed of metabolization by each user.
How long Xanax stays in your hair?
Hair analysis is a reliable method of drug screening. Hair testing is advantageous because it can detect drug usage over time, not just the last time.
Usually, evidence of Xanax usage can generally be detected in the sampled hair from two weeks up to 90 days. However, a hair sample test may not detect Xanax after using the drug just a few times. It takes more than ten days for the medicine to show up in the hair after its first use.
How Long Does Xanax Take To Kick In
Xanax is taken orally, and the body metabolizes it within a few minutes. A healthy individual will start to feel the effects of Xanax within an hour of ingesting it.
Lab tests prove that Xanax reaches its peak concentration level in the blood between 1 and 2 hours following ingestion.
The effects of Xanax do not kick in for all users in the same manner. People who have been using this drug for a long time build up a tolerance, and it takes longer for the effects to kick in. For some, it may take only 15 minutes to feel the impact of the drug, but for others, it may take more than an hour for it to work.
Studies suggest that 90 percent of Xanax users achieve the maximal peak effect within the first hour after ingesting the pill.
Alprazolam is an easily digestible drug that is quickly absorbed by your system. The drug’s metabolites soon spread and uptaken to the brain’s nervous system. Alprazolam and its metabolites begin to modulate neurochemical receptors throughout the central nervous system (CNS) within 30 minutes after taking the pill.
How Much Xanax Does It Take To Overdose?
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits using Xanax up to 10 milligrams per day.
To treat anxiety disorder, Xanax prescription doses range between 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg thrice a day, up to 4 mg.
Patients with a severe anxiety disorder may be given 5–6 mg daily. If the patient develops a tolerance to the drug, the dosage could be a maximum of 10 milligrams per day.
If anyone uses a higher than the recommended dose of a benzodiazepine drug, that can lead to a toxic buildup in the body, resulting in fatal health hazards.
Symptoms of a Xanax overdose can include:
- Clammy skin
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Excessive drowsiness
- Shorter respiration
- Weak and rapid heartbeats
- Dilated pupils
- Confusion and loss of memory
- Coma
If you suspect an overdose of Xanax, the patient must be taken to an emergency trauma care facility in a hospital. American residents can seek help by dialing 911 or calling the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.
How to Eliminate Xanax From Your System?
In situations such as overdose ingestion, addiction treatment, drug interaction, or side effects, you may need to clean Xanax out of your system. Others may wish to pass drug tests for employment purposes.
You may try the following to get Xanax out of your system fast:
- Completely stop the use of the drug.
- Consult your doctor about a medically supervised drug detox program.
- Drink a reasonable amount of water to flush out the medication via urine.
- Use natural detox solutions.
- Do an hour of full-body workouts daily.
- Eat a healthy diet that includes lots of fruits and green vegetables.
- Avoid alcohol, smoking, and caffeine drinks.
- Sleep a minimum of 8 hours at night.
Read next:Â Xanax And Alcohol: Side Effects, Warning, And Treatments
Article source:
- Alprazolam. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Updated July 30, 2018.
- Mayo Medical Laboratories. Benzodiazepines. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Mayo Clinic.
- https://www.xanax.com/
- https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2011/018276s045lbl.pdf