Getting meds. out of your system

[WillieW]

http://health.msn.com/medications/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100198749>1=31053

Getting Meds Out of Your System
How long should it take?
By Michael Fischer, M.D., M.S., Harvard Medical School, for MSN Health & Fitness
Q: I started having side effects of a drug that was prescribed to me. I stopped taking the drug but the side effects are still there. How long does it take for a drug to be out of your system?

A: Most drugs will be out of your system relatively quickly, but the symptoms of side effects may remain for quite some time, depending on what kind of side effect has developed.

The vast majority of prescription drugs are cleared out of your body rapidly by your kidneys and liver. Trace levels of a medication may remain in the system for a long time while the liver and kidneys finish their job of filtering, but these levels are usually too low to have any noticeable effect. Patients with kidney or liver disease, however, can continue to have elevated medication levels even after stopping a drug.

Side effects of a medication can be thought of in two ways: