How Long Does Nicotine Stay in Blood?

An individual may want to know about the duration for which nicotine stays in blood, because he or she wants to quit it or pass one of the drug tests. Like many other pleasure drugs, nicotine is addictive.

After consumption, it enters the blood, and like any other input to the body, takes time to get metabolized. After some time, according to its addiction facts, its presence brings changes to the structure of the brain, the receptor sites in which it starts expecting it and enjoy whatever effects it produces in the body.

When an individual's body chemistry reaches this state, he gets hooked on to it. So, how long does nicotine stay in blood? To answer in simply, this depends on the size, frequency, and how long one is indulging in its consumption.

Consuming nicotine to satisfy the craving in the body starts a vicious cycle. Because the more an individual consumes, the harder it becomes to get rid of the habit. The main reason behind the failure of an individual to quit is that his brain has become used to certain levels of this drug in the body, as if it is an essential food item.

The moment the brain senses that the level has fallen below the mark, it issues an urge for consumption. Without too much of effort, one graduates, puff by puff, to higher levels of addiction. The drug tests conducted to detect consumption of this drug by an individual try to detect its presence in urine, blood, as well as in his or her body hair samples.

Urine test is easy and most frequently used. If someone smoking less than 3 cigarettes a day stops for 3-4 days before this detection test, his system will metabolize all the nicotine in his body. No trace will be found in the test. As it is inexpensive, employers wanting to know where their employee stands in relation with nicotine addiction use this test.

This is a bit more thorough test than the urine test. It utilizes the behavior of the nicotine in the human body to detect its presence. On entering the blood stream, the chemical reactions changes the drug to cotinine. This form cannot easily be gotten rid of through the metabolism process and stays in the body for a long time.

The tests, that are used to detect the presence of nicotine in your blood, zeroes on the cotinine, and even in small quantities detects it. Smoking a cigarette loads your body with a milligram of nicotine. If you smoke 15 of them per day, at the end of the day, your body retains a large amount of it in the blood.

If it is a, "Who did it?", sort of situation and the witness is claiming under oath that you are the culprit (you plead innocence). And, if he further claims that you were smoking at the time of incidence (you claimed to be a born non-smoker), then the situation can be resolved with this test.

The hair test is very sensitive and can detect tiny amount of nicotine in the human body. So, if you were the culprit and even if, you have stopped smoking, after perpetrating the crime, for the last few years, the hair test can call your bluff.

If it's your intention to stop smoking or chewing tobacco for health reason, then getting some information about it is of use. If you were to suddenly abstain from consuming nicotine, there are chances that you may face withdrawal symptoms. It should be a gradual process, if it is possible, under the guidance of an expert in the field.

Disclaimer: This is for informative purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for expert medical advice.