Opiates are fat-soluble opioid narcotic alkaloids that are obtained from the poppy opium plant. Different components of the poppy opium plant, including codeine and morphine, as well as varied compounds that are obtained from such components, such as oxycodone, heroin, and other synthetic opiates, can be defined broadly with the ‘opiates’ term.
Certain forms of opiates such as heroin are illegal substances or contrabands that are widely abused by users, while hydrocodone and oxycodone are opiates that are present in prescription medications. Regardless of whether individuals use prescription opiate drugs or illegal opiates derivatives, prolonged use of opiates in large quantities can lead to serious addiction and the subsequent rehab process can be very arduous and difficult.
Opiates can easily migrate from the bloodstream to the brain. It can collect in the fat tissues in the body and later enter the bloodstream once again. Opiates of varied forms tend to stay in the bloodstream for varying spans of time. Hence, it is often not possible to determine a precise time period for which opiates may stay in urine, blood, and other parts of the body. Depending on the quantity and frequency of opiates use, it is generally accepted that opiates remain detectible in urine drug tests from 2 to 5 days.
How long do opiates stay in your system/body?
Many sources have stated that opiates tend to stay in the system for 1 to 2 days in the body on an average. This may not be completely true in all scenarios as the detoxification process is dependent on many different variables.
Opiates are by nature fat-soluble. Hence, they tend to quickly dissolve in the blood and spread to the brain in a short time frame. The drug simultaneously gets collected in the fat cells present in the body and later pass into the bloodstream whenever body fat is burned to get energy. Also, metabolism of opiates is dependent on the metabolic rate which differs from one person to another. All these things pose problems in efficient prediction of the amount of time that opiates stays in the system before being expelled.
The time span taken by the recovery process is also dependent on the type of opiates used by a person. This is because the potency of a specific opiate and its type and nature play a vital role in ascertaining the time for which the drug will remain in the body and bloodstream before getting removed.Other factors that play a part in determination of the recovery process timeframe include the body mass, age, and the overall physical and general health of the user.
Meperidine, usually gets expelled from the body within 24 hours after last usage, while the average time that heroin takes to get flushed out from the body is about 1 to 4 days.
Opiate detection times in different drug tests
The physical symptoms of opiate use reach their peak levels between 36 to 48 hours after use, and then begin subsiding slowly after 72 hours as part of the withdrawal symptoms. The psychosomatic symptoms of opiates however tend to persist for 2 to 3 months.
The detection time frame for opiate use is not only dependent on the type, quantity, and frequency of drug use, but also on the kind of drug test that is used to detect the presence of opiates in the system. For example,
- As per the type if opiate drug used, it can remain in the bloodstream of a user for 6 to 12 hours and remain detectible in blood tests for a similar time period.
- Examination of a saliva sample will yield positive results for opiates only for a period of 6 to 12 hours after last use of the drug.
- Unlike the oral saliva tests and blood tests, a urine drug test can detect opiates in the system for 2 to 5 days since it was last used.
- The hair follicle drug test can detect the presence of opiates for 2 to 3 months or nearly 90 days since last use.
Withdrawal from opiates
After a person has used opiates for a certain amount of time, then his/her dependence on the drug increases to a level that can be compared to a full-on addiction. In such cases, when the concerned individual makes an attempt to quit the addiction to the specific opiate drug, then an acute condition called ‘opiate withdrawal’ gets activated.
This condition is generally marked by varied signs and symptoms such as extreme insomnia, nausea, irritability, cramping in the abdomen, depression, and anger. These symptoms tend to be so severe that the user cannot hold onto his/her resolve to quit the drug, eventually causing him/her to relent to the cravings.
There are no medicines that can help treat or alleviate the symptoms of the detoxification process and opiate withdrawal. The only factor that can be of assistance is for users to be informed about the timeline of withdrawal from opiates, especially the time taken for opiates to vacate the system, and use it to stick to the resolve of quitting the addiction.
