How Long Does Oxycodone Stay In Your Urine And In Your System
As of 2015, more than 10% of the U.S. population had used oxycodone products at some point in their lives. Oxycodone is a powerful but short-lasting pain reliever. But drug tests can detect oxycodone far longer than the physical effects last.
How long does oxycodone stay in your urine? What about in your hair or blood? Read on to find out the length of detection of oxycodone in a variety of drug testing methods.
Half-Life of Oxycodone
A drug’s half-life measures how long it takes for half of the drug to leave your system. Oxycodone’s half-life is about 3 hours, although extended-release tablets (called OxyContin) have a half-life of about 4 1/2 hours.
But that doesn’t mean the full drug is gone in 6 hours. With each half-life, less of the drug is eliminated. After about 4-5 half-lives, the drug has mostly cleared from the body.
That means that oxycodone can get cleared from your body in less than a day. But because its metabolites stick around, it’s detectable in a drug test much longer. So, how long is oxycodone detectable?
How Long Does Oxycodone Stay in Your Urine Versus Other Detection Methods?
Each drug test can detect recent oxycodone use for different amounts of time.
Blood Tests
Because drug half-life is based on blood concentration measurement, a blood test closely matches the 4-5 half-lives rule. Oxycodone will be detectable in your blood for up to 24 hours. It will appear on a blood test within 30 minutes of your latest use.
Urine Tests
So, how long does oxycodone stay in your urine? Because of the way oxycodone breaks down in your body, it’s detectable in a urine test for up to 4 days after your last use. It will show up within a few hours of your latest use.
Saliva Tests
An oral test uses your saliva as a noninvasive drug screening method with fast results. It can detect it within minutes. You can detect recent oxycodone within 1 to 4 days.
Hair Follicle Tests
Hair follicle tests detect drug use for a very long time but take a while for drug results to appear. Oxycodone will not show up within a hair follicle test for about one week. But once present, it can be detected up to 90 days after you last used it.
Factors Affecting Oxycodone Processing
The time frames provided above are a general rule of thumb. But a variety of factors can influence oxycodone’s presence on a drug test.
Weight
Individuals that are overweight or obese tend to break down these drugs slower. That’s because fatty tissues retain the drugs longer. Additionally, overweight people tend to have slower metabolic weights, so they break down the drug more slowly in turn.
Age
Likewise, your metabolic rate slows with age. So those who are older tend to excrete oxycodone more slowly. The elderly tend to have 15% higher blood concentrations than those under the age of 65.
Organ Function
The liver and kidneys help break down and eliminate oxycodone from the body. Because of this, individuals with liver or kidney problems have a harder time excreting oxycodone.
The half-life of oxycodone is 2.3 hours longer in those with liver problems. The half-life increases by one hour in individuals with kidney problems.
Frequency of Use
Finally, the frequency with which you use oxycodone affects its metabolism. If you take it regularly, it will build up in the body, so it takes longer to exit your system entirely.
Test Your Oxycodone Levels Today
Now you know roughly how long does oxycodone stay in your urine, as well as in other aspects of your system. But with so many other factors involved, there’s only one way to know: test it for yourself.
Order a drug test today from ReliaLabTest! We’re reliable, timely, and secure, and you’ll have your test results back within 48 hours.
