How long does methadone block other opiates?

[Swing]

Swim was wondering if it was okay to take his liquid vicodin 4 days after taking methadone. He's heard reports of people not feeling anything even after not takin domes for 7 days!!!

[Solinari]

A bit late on the reply but it's an interesting question. As i am sure most people know, methadone has a very long half life, up to 72 hours in some cases but about 36 hours is probably normal.

I don't know if this is entirely accurate but i have read that after 3 half life cycles the drug is considered excreted, so if we take Wikipedia's estimate of 36 hours (max) and multiply it by 3 we get about 4 and a half days which sounds reasonable to me.

The 7 day thing could be possible i suppose, but it would depend on how long they have been taking the methadone for and what sort of doses they are taking. Methadone definitely can block other opiates if the dose is high enough because it saturates the receptors.