Ketamine is a medication primarily used for starting and maintaining anesthesia. While ketamine clears the system of people consuming the drug between one to three days, it could show up on drug tests for longer, based on whether or not metabolites have been left behind. A standard drug-screening panel would not detect ketamine, but specialized tests could.
It would be possible to detect ketamine in the following ways.
- Urine test
It could detect ketamine up to 14 days after someone uses the drug. Research shows that the drug could appear in a urine test for more than 30 days after someone uses it.
- Hair test
These could show ketamine use for months after the last dose taken by someone.
- Blood test
This kind of test only shows ketamine for nearly 24 hours after the last dose taken of ketamine.
Half-life of ketamine
The half-life of ketamine has been around 45 minutes. It implies that in a healthy individual, the average elimination time for ketamine would be around four hours and 30 minutes. This is an average. Therefore, everyone would be slightly different regarding how long it would take his or her body to eliminate ketamine. You would wonder how long does ketamine stay in your system.
Ketamine entails metabolites that form when the body processes it, but these have a shorter elimination half-life than the parent drug of ketamine. For a majority of people, a majority of ketamine would be out of the body within 24 hours of the last consumed dose. In a few days, all the ketamine should be out of the body of the person consuming it.
Factors influencing the time spent by ketamine in your system
When looking forward to eliminating ketamine out of your system of most people, rest assured it would take almost four to eight hours on average. It would be pertinent to mention here that individual aspects play a significant role here.
Age, genetics, hepatic function, body mass, and overall health would play a significant role in how long ketamine stays in your system. Ketamine has been likely to leave the system of a young and healthy person relatively quickly than an elderly.
Most ketamine would be excreted in the urine. Therefore, someone who has hydrated might get rid of the drug relatively quickly than someone who is not well hydrated. The metabolic rate of the person has been an imperative aspect as well. The quick your metabolism, the quicker you would go to eliminate specific drugs like ketamine.
Moreover, a higher dose of ketamine used would take a longer time for elimination from the system. It would also be relevant how often someone uses Ketamine. The amount of time ketamine remains detectable in the body would be dependent on the method of testing and other personal aspects. Frequent and excessive use of Ketamine would lead to physical dependence. It would require residential and inpatient addiction treatment.
Most methods of drug testing have been capable of detecting Ketamine between 24 hours and up to three months after use. The standard detection window would vary dependent on the kind of test used along with other personal aspects.
How do you metabolize Ketamine
The liver would be responsible for removing and processing drugs such as Ketamine from the body. Ketamine has a half-life of one to two hours. It would imply that the concentration of Ketamine in the body would be halved within the period.
The liver metabolizes Ketamine by initially breaking it down into a metabolite known as norketamine. It would be later metabolized to form the metabolite dehydronorketamine. Both the substances would leave the body through urination.
Types of drug tests used for detecting Ketamine
Let us delve into the types of drug tests used for detecting Ketamine.
- Urine tests
Urine tests have been one of the most common and least-invasive methods used for detecting the drug. The standard detection time for Ketamine in urine would be up to three days. However, according to research, traces of ketamine might be found in the urine for up to 14 days.
Excessive or regular use of Ketamine might cause detection times that exceed the standard two-day window. You could make the most of two different methods of urinalysis. These would be different in how long they could detect the drug.
- Saliva tests
Ketamine could be detected in the saliva within 24 hours after use. The accuracy of ketamine detection in saliva could vary largely. Saliva tests could be purchased for in-home use. It would be less accurate than results analyzed in a laboratory setting.
- Blood tests
Ketamine has been believed to remain detectable in the blood for nearly 24 hours after last use. The small detection window along with the cost of blood tests makes it a relatively common method for ketamine drug testing.
- Hair tests
Hair tests would involve analyzing hair follicles for drug traces. It would entail the longest window of detection. With a hair test, Ketamine use could be detected for nearly three months after last use.
Factors influencing detection time of Ketamine
The detection time for ketamine could vary based on several aspects. These aspects could affect how quickly the body would metabolize the drug and remove it from the system.
The following aspects could influence the time ketamine is detectable in the body.
- Dose
The amount of ketamine taken could affect the length of detection time in your system. Taking a single dose could result in a urine detection time of two to three days. Consuming multiple doses could extend the window and result in a detection time of up to two weeks. Taking higher or lower doses of the drug could affect the detection time.
- Age
Aging has been known to cause to slow the human metabolism. This could extend the time it takes the body to process the drugs completely. Therefore, people of older age might have a longer detection time than the ones who were younger with a quick metabolism.
- Health
The health and the function of vital organs in the body could also affect the drug metabolism. People with health problems such as liver and kidney disease might experience lengthy detection times.
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Prof. Venkata Kiran Kumar Mandlem is Head Of Department in CMR College of pharmacy Hyderabad . He Completed PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Andhra University . More info about him MV Kiran Linkedin