Drug Education: How Long Does Gabapentin Stay In Your System

What is Gabapentin?

Gabapentin, the generic version of Neurontin, is one of the more popular drugs mainly because of its affordability. It is used to treat and prevent epileptic seizures as well as neuropathic pain or neuropathic pain in layman’s terms. (1)

This drug acts as a depressant, encouraging the production of GABA, a neurotransmitter responsible for calming the brain and nervous system. It does not stop there. This drug also suppresses the production of glutamate, a neurotransmitter that gives you the energetic feeling.

As Gabapentin is effective in treating neuropathic pains, people have also consumed it for pains outside its official uses. In fact, it has also been found to be an effective treatment for a migraine.

Having drowsiness as its side effect, this drug has also been used as a cure for insomnia. Proof of which is anecdotal evidence of its success against insomnia.

Given these information, it is not so far-fetched to assume that aside from affordability, its helpfulness in battling a wide array of illnesses is the reason of its popularity in the market.

Gabapentin’s Elimination Rate

The length at which drugs stay inside the body is measured through what medical experts call elimination half-life. An elimination half-life is defined as the span of time a drug’s quantity or presence in the system is divided into half. (2)

Gabapentin has been found out to have an elimination half-life of 5-7 hours. This value is said to be unaffected by the dosage that it is taken. However, the clearance rate can be reduced in elderly patients. Meaning the elimination may become higher than the initial estimate. (3)

The possible reason for this is that older people tend to weaker renal functions. Hence, drugs and other medications take longer for the kidney to fully process.

Variations In Gabapentin’s Clearance Rate

The elimination half-life of Gabapentin can be affected by various factors such as age, diseases, organ impairments, and more. Here are some examples of how these factors can do so: (3)

Adult Persons With Renal Impairment

A study on 60 patients was able to find out that people with compromised renal function take about 6.8-10 hours to eliminate half of their Gabapentin dosage. No similar study yet has been conducted on pediatric patients.

People Undergoing Hemodialysis

In a study of anuric adults, it was determined that the elimination half-life of Gabapentin in their body is about 132 hours. However, if taken during dialysis, the elimination rate significantly drops to a minimal 3.8 hours. This shows that hemodialysis has a significant effect on the elimination half-life of the drug Gabapentin.

Age

A study on subjects aged between 20-80 years of age was able to support the notion that age can affect the clearance rate of the Gabapentin drug in the body. The researchers hypothesized that the possible reason for this phenomenon is the impairment of our renal functions as we age.

Why Is The Clearance Rate of Gabapentin Important to Know?

Knowing the span of time a certain drug can stay in your body is important for various reasons. One is that the presence of some drugs can significantly affect the performance of a person who took it.

For instance, a person whose job involves mental alertness needs to know when he’ll be able to work properly knowing that Gabapentin commonly causes drowsiness.

Knowing how long Gabapentin stays in the body can also be important for people who need to take a drug test for different reasons. There have been reports of false positives being caused by benzodiazepine drugs such as Gabapentin.