Methamphetamine is usually either smoked or inject, and both ways result in the drug reaching the brain very quickly. This causes a rush of euphoria.
Meth is different than stimulants like cocaine which is removed quickly by the body’s natural metabolism. Instead, meth will stay in your system much longer, resulting in longer stimulant effects.
Although meth use affects everyone’s body differently, meth generally stays in your system between one day and 90 days.
That’s not the only thing to consider, though – it also depends on individual characteristics, such as body weight, metabolism, age and physical health condition. The answer depends on a few variables, the most important being what kind of drug test is being used.
How Long Does Meth Stay in Your Blood?
A blood test can detect meth for one to three days after the last time you used. The half-life of meth is between 9 and 24 hours, meaning it takes this long for the amount of methamphetamine in your blood to be reduced by half. It takes roughly five half-lives for meth to leave your system completely
How Long Does Meth Stay in Your Saliva?
Saliva tests for meth usually include a swab of your mouth or tongue with an absorbent material. Meth can be detected in the saliva by a drug test for one to four days after last used.
How Long Does Meth Stay in Your Urine?
Urine testing for meth is common since it’s relatively non-invasive and fast. Meth can usually be detected in urine for up to three days after use. However, in those who have been using it heavily for a long time, it can be detected for up to a week.
Meth is metabolized into amphetamine, so a drug screening will likely come up positive for both substances. Meth may however stay in your urine longer if you are a heavy, chronic user. In such cases, methamphetamine may be detectable in urine for up to a week after the last dose.
How Long Does Meth Stay in Your Hair?
Meth can be detected in a hair test for up 90 days.
Here’s how it works: After you use any drug, the metabolites from those drugs accumulate in your hair follicles. As your hair grows, its follicle will deposit these chemicals in it. Hair tests can detect those chemicals.
While you can find advice online about special products for washing your hair, most experts agree they don’t work as the drug is in the hair shaft, not coating the hair. Shaving your head is an equally ineffective method of “beating” a test as body hair can be tested.
How to Get Meth Out of Your System
Meth will need to be processed by your liver in order for it to exit your body, so there is no way to get the drug out of your system once you’ve taken it. The only way to get meth out of your system is to go through the withdrawal process.
However, you need to do this with trained medical professionals as methamphetamine withdrawal can be dangerous for many people due to its impact on the brain.
Symptoms of meth withdrawal and detox include:
- Agitation
- Paranoia
- Depression
- Hallucination
- Achy muscles
- Increased appetite
Meth withdrawal programs give people the space and safety to withdraw and detox from it and to break the hold of addiction. In such programs, medical professionals will support patients while their body undergoes the detox process.
A Better Way to Pass a Drug Test
The only sure way of passing a drug test—especially a random test—is to get clean and stay clean.
In addition to getting or keeping a job, you’ll be free of the many risks of meth use. You’ll sleep better, improve your health, suffer less anxiety, restore your brain’s natural ability to produce feel-good chemicals and improve your relationships.
While meth does offer a high, addiction can happen very quickly—even after just one or two uses. Once that occurs, all of the “good” aspects of meth fade away. You then need meth just to feel normal. We know how hopeless it can feel when confronting addiction, especially methamphetamine.
Hope from Meth Addiction at The Raleigh House
Our master’s level trained therapists have helped thousands of people address not only the physical aspect of addiction, but also the mental, emotional, spiritual and social aspects.
Contact us today or call (720) 891-4657 to learn more about the meth addiction treatment program at The Raleigh House.