How long do prescription pain killers stay in your system?

Question

I am applying for new jobs & am afraid that when I take a drug test i'll fail. I recently began Massage & Chiropractic Therapy rather than having going to the Dr. for pain pills. I don't want to take them my whole life... I did however have to take 2 pain pills recently & my prescription has since expired! I try to drink plenty of water as well.

Answer 1

It just depends on which pain killer you took and which drug test is run.

Do a web search using the name brand or the generic name of the drug.  

One of the first sites that appears should be from the drug company that produced the medication.  There'll be a LOT of technical information, but there should also be information about how long it takes for the drug to be eliminated by the various systems of the body.

Some drugs will show up longer in blood than urine and vice versa.  Some drugs will be stored permanently in hair and fingernails.

Answer 2

id wait a week more just to be sure

Answer 3

Technically, drugs that you have taken stay in your body forever. Since they leave your body in an exponential decay, there will always be a little bit of that drug in your body. Drinking water does help, too. It clears away any toxins that the drug could possibly leave behind. A good way to find out is to research the drug and find out it's half-life. You can find that info by just Googling it. Hydrocodone (vicodin) has a half-life of just under 4 hours, so after 8, there will only be trace amounts left inside your body.  If you've waited a little while (maybe 2-3 days), they won't be able to detect it and you will be fine because it would have decayed to a small decimal. It's a simple piece of knowledge and I learned it in my Algebra and Chemistry class. Hopefully this helps and if you are nervous, just wait a couple of days and it could help with stress. Don't worry, thought. It's your personal life!

Answer 4

24-48 hours if you don't take them everday, you may want to give it a week if you take them all the time