What can cause slow drug metabolism?

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Laura P
User offline. Last seen 1 year 22 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 08/31/2010

I have been prescribed vicodin and muscle relaxants for a neck spasm issue. Although the vicodin is only supposed to final 4-6 hours, it usually lasts more like 8-10. And the muscle relaxant gives me a hangover well into the next day! (like up until early afternoon). Is this normal or could there be something causing my body to metabolize the drugs more slowly. Not asking for medical advice, just curious!


GaryR
User offline. Last seen 1 year 27 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 08/02/2010

Everyone's body is different. Everyone varies a little. Vicodin is processed out of your body via the liver. You didn't name the muscle relaxant, but it, too, must be processed through your liver. There are variations among some races in the ability to process certain drugs. By any chance are you of Asian descent, possibly Japanese? Asians have developed different processes of metabolization because for thousands of years their diets have consisted of rice and other foods different from Caucasians of European descent, who have tended to eat more wheat. The enzymes to digest those two grains are slightly different, and different people have evolved over thousands of years to more efficiently digest different things. Similarly, it's possible that you as an individual just can't process opiates as well as other people. There's nothing poor approximately that; you just need to know approximately it in case you have to take medications containing opiates such as Vicodin. For you, you might need less of the drug, or its effects may last longer. Everyone's an individual.

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