i am sorry to ask so many questions about my meds and illness but i just dot understand. i take m meds everyday, i dont drink, how long does lithium take to get into the system?
2006-09-15 10:38:24 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Mental Health
It would get into your system as soon as you digest it.
Most "pills" enter the blood stream within 20-40 minutes of swallowing.
To build up to a therapeutic level it could take as long as 6 weeks, but many psychiatric medications bring some relief starting in week 2.
Basically the drug half life has to be overcome to get you to a steady state equilibrium first...
Huh?
The half life of a drug is how long it takes your body to metabolize(get rid of) half of the dose.
Normally, with a single dose of a drug it would be completly out of your system within 6 half lives. For example say a drug has a half life of 10 hours.
Take 100 mg.
10 hours = 50 mg
20 hours = 25 mg
30 hours = 12 mg
40 hours = 6 mg
50 hours = 3 mg
60 hours = ~ 1 mg
A "steady state equilibrium" is reached when you take another dose before the first dose has completly worn off.
Continuing with the example above, if you took a second dose (100mg) at the 20 hour mark above, you would then have 125 mg of the medicine in your system.
-25 mg from the day before and 100 mg from the new dose
And so on, if you took a third dose at the 40 hour mark you would then have 6 mg (dose one) plus 25 mg (dose two) plus the new dose of 100, bringing you up to 131mg.... Even though at any individual dose you had not had more than 100 mg.
Basically the amount of medicine continues to increase until the first dose is too weak to be adding to the new dose. (After 6 half lives the dose is 99% metabolized)
This is why it takes a couple weeks to get up to a therapeutic level. Plus the side effects of the drug may take some getting used to so the doctor may have you "stair step" up towards your dose ( 50 mg for 4 days, then 75 mg for 4 days, then 100 mg after that).
I hope that helps explain things a little and wasn't too confusing.
2006-09-15 10:53:12 · answer #1 · answered by Crystal Violet 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
15 to 30 min lol
2006-09-15 17:41:05 · answer #2 · answered by dee_dee A 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
15 minutes!
2006-09-15 17:39:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Abour a half hr
2006-09-15 17:45:51 · answer #4 · answered by Giggles 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
30 MIN
2006-09-15 17:40:04 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
too long. I guess? call your doctor. people on here don't know what the heck we're talking about.
2006-09-15 17:41:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋