Your cart is currently empty!
Ativan is a known benzodiazepine medicine to treat anxiety and seizures. While the medication helps soothe symptoms of anxiety and control seizures, Ativan is also a drug of abuse. Keeping this in mind, people with a history of substance abuse disorder should refrain from Ativan use.
Ativan abuse may result in some severe unwanted effects. Failed drug screenings are one of the side effects of Ativan abuse. People who misuse the medicine often wonder how long Ativan stays in your system. While it is not possible to precisely tell the amount of time it will take to leave your body; the medicine generally clears from your system within nine days.
What is Ativan (Lorazepam)?
Ativan, or else called Lorazepam is a benzodiazepine medicine with sedative properties. While doctors prescribe Ativan for anxiety and seizures, people may also use it for treating irritable bowel syndrome, acute alcohol withdrawal, and nausea caused after chemotherapy sessions. Also, you may take Ativan for sleep, as directed by the doctor.
Ativan 2mg pills work by depressing the central nervous system. Due to this, taking Ativan and alcohol together or using other CNS depressants in conjunction with this medicine may cause life-threatening respiratory depression.
Ativan’s generic name is Lorazepam which belongs to the benzodiazepine class.
How Long is Ativan Detected by using Drug Tests?
Even though Ativan pills are a fast-performing medicine, they have an extended half-life. To give an explanation, the Ativan half-life is 12 hours, which means it decreases in concentration within the body (via half of) every 12 hours.
Ativan gets metabolized by the liver and then removed from the body through the kidneys via urine. This medicine stays within the system for as much as nine days after ingestion.
How long Ativan stays in your system relies upon several factors. If you are taking any medicine, you should look at why your doctor prescribed Ativan pills while also keeping in mind its interactions and the time for which it will remain in your body. Disclose this information with the testing lab to correctly interpret the consequences of any medical screening.
Let’s look at how long Ativan stays in your system by using each kind of drug test or medical screening.
Blood Tests
Ativan may be detectable in your blood as long as six hours after its oral administration. Additionally, Ativan remains detectable through blood trying out until three days after the final use. However, when taking large Ativan doses, the substance will stay detectable for your system longer.
Urine Tests
Depending on the dosage and frequency of use, Ativan gets eliminated from the urine one to six weeks after consumption. However, urine screening assessments only discover Ativan for up to 6 days after the last use. It is crucial to be aware that people who take high Ativan doses for long durations could have a longer detection window concerning urine screening exams.
Hair Follicle Tests
As with any substance, Ativan is detectable in hair samples for an awful lot longer than any other form of drug test. Ativan medicine can be detectable in hair samples for as many as 30 days.
Saliva Tests
Saliva assessments demonstrated to come across Ativan pills for up to eight hours after use. However, it’s highly uncommon for the testing authorities to employ saliva tests to detect Ativan.
Factors That Affect How Long Ativan Stays in Your System
Many elements contribute to how long Ativan remains in your system. While detection times typically follow a regular timeline, a few individuals may additionally metabolize and clear the substance faster (or slower) than others.
Age
Typically, older people eliminate Ativan from their systems extra slowly than younger human beings. This is probably because older adults have slower metabolisms, reduced organ features, lower blood pressure, and different fitness and health issues that affect how quickly Ativan gets metabolized.
Kidney Function
Studies prove that liver impairment does not have a significant deal of impact on Ativan clearance rate. However, kidney problems can cause a prolonged Ativan half-life, inflicting the medication away from the body at a slower rate.
Height and Weight
Short and light-weight people tend to clear Ativan from their system slower than tall and heavy people. If you are obese, Ativan may stay in your system longer than someone of wholesome weight or underweight.
Dosage and Frequency of Use
Individuals who take higher doses of Ativan should count on an extended detection time. Additionally, Ativan is detectable for an extended duration in individuals who have been taking the substance for a long time. The longer Ativan use, the longer it will stay on your system and can be detectable on drug tests.
Use of Additional Substances
Using a couple of substances will always affect the way Ativan gets metabolized. For example, studies show that ingesting Ativan and alcohol simultaneously reduces the clearance rate by 18%. Additionally, studies prove that quick-term alcohol intake impairs the coupling of the medication or its metabolites with other molecules, which slows the metabolism system of Ativan.
Use of Benzodiazepines like Ativan
Benzodiazepines like Ativan are among the most prescribed medicines in the United States as the country is struggling with mental health problems like anxiety, depression, and other issues.
Using Ativan for sleep aid or anxiety is only for a short duration. It is not a long-term solution to these issues and should be helpful along with behavioral methods while they cope with anxiety or sleep problems.
All benzodiazepines, including Ativan, are minor tranquilizers or central nervous system depressants, sometimes also called sedative medicines. This medicine has a chemical structure to affect the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter.
Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that transmit neuron messages. Nerve cells in the brain, also called neurons, use them to communicate among themselves. GABA is precisely an inhibitory neurotransmitter that slows down the functioning of other neurons in the brain.
Ativan enhances GABA activity, which in turn reduces abnormal functions to address issues like anxiety, treat seizures, and act as a sleep inducer.
Also Read