How Long Does Cocaine Stay in Your System?
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, it’s important that you get professional treatment to help you deal with cocaine withdrawal and cravings. How long cocaine stays in your system and the way it impacts your body fluctuates based on how long you have abused cocaine, whether you are using other substances at the same time, and your physical and mental health.
Centric Behavioral Health Group offers top-rated addiction treatment services near you.
What is Cocaine?
Cocaine is a stimulant that impacts your central nervous system. If you abuse cocaine, you might get intense euphoria, but those effects don’t last very long.
Cocaine is a highly addictive substance which means if you use cocaine once or twice, you are at risk for developing an addiction.
What’s more, cocaine withdrawal lasts long, with ongoing cravings persisting for up to six months after detox.
How Long Does Cocaine Stay in Your Body?
A “half-life” refers to how long it takes something to break down or be eliminated by half. Cocaine has a half-life of one hour. This means that anytime you ingest cocaine, it takes one hour to fully eliminate half of whatever amount you ingested.
But how long does cocaine stay in your body if you use it regularly or abuse other drugs?
- Your metabolism impacts the half-life of cocaine.
- The amount of cocaine you abuse can impact how long it stays in your body.
- Alcohol consumption simultaneously can reduce how quickly cocaine is eliminated from your body.
- The longer you abuse cocaine, the more it builds up in your system and, therefore, the longer it takes to remove it.
Method of Use and Cocaine in the Body
The half-life isn’t influenced by the method you use for consuming cocaine but by other aspects of the way cocaine in the body affects your sense of euphoria.
For example:
- If you snort cocaine, you feel the effects within five minutes. On average, these effects only last four twenty minutes.
- If you smoke cocaine, you’ll feel it within a few seconds, but it still only lasts up to twenty minutes.
- If you inject cocaine, you get the same results as smoking it, feeling the effects within a few seconds but only enjoying it for up to twenty minutes.
- If you ingest cocaine orally, it takes the longest amount of time to kick in, up to thirty minutes, but it gives you euphoria for up to ninety minutes.
Regular blood, urine, or saliva tests can reveal cocaine in the body for up to three days. Hair tests can show cocaine use from several months or years ago. Simple tests can reveal cocaine in the body for up to two weeks for heavy users.
Cocaine Withdrawal Timeline
If you are struggling with addiction to cocaine, the first step in your recovery is detox. should take place at a qualified facility.
Because of the effect cocaine has on the central nervous system, you will feel cocaine withdrawal symptoms within ninety minutes of your last dose. Some of the lasting cravings will remain for months thereafter.
However, the timeline for the more severe withdrawal symptoms of cocaine detox lasts between seven and ten days.
| Timeframe | Name | Symptoms |
| Ninety minutes from your last dose | The crash or Phase One | Withdrawal symptoms are severe and include:Increased appetiteExhaustionIrritability Depression |
| Seven to ten days after starting detox | The cravings or Phase Two | Withdrawal symptoms include severe cravings and:Problems concentratingLethargyIrritabilityDepression Exhaustion Note: This phase can last up to ten weeks for severe addictions. |
| Six months after starting detox | The extinction or Phase Three | Withdrawal symptoms begin to subside but you still deal with:Less severe cravingsTriggers, especially if you are around someone you used to do drugs with |
When you start rehab at a qualified facility, your initial detox will take an average of one week, after which severe symptoms subside. However, ongoing psychological or physical cravings can continue for several months, which is why ongoing inpatient and outpatient care is so important in giving you coping skills to manage these triggers and avoid a relapse.
Get Treatment with Centric Group
The length of detox varies from one person to the next, just the same as the half-life of cocaine varies from one person to the next. When you reach out to Centric Group, we can help you find the right level of treatment and walk you through an initial assessment to determine what symptoms you are likely to face and how long that process will last.
Let Centric start your cocaine treatment today. Call us at 844-233-8205.
