Ask Me Help Desk - ETG calculation for drBill100

I joined this forum to add to your EtG research, Dr Bill.

While I don't think I will pass my EtG test, I am interested in your calculation.

My situation is this, while camping I used wet wipes to clean and used hand sanitizer to disinfect a cut on Wednesday noonish. We stopped for a late lunch and I had 2 16 oz pints IPA (7abv) consumed from about 2:30-5PM. (I was NOT driving) Thursday morning I was ordered to take a random EtG test at 7:30 am on Friday morning.

Because we were camping at altitude, I drank a lot of water to stay hydrated and continued until about 10 pm Thursday night. The morning of the test I had two large cups of coffee and nothing else. I'm a 53 year old woman, 5'9, 155 lbs, fit but not really athletic.

I have read conflicting reports about the cutoff level for the lab, Norchem. One says 500 the other 100. From what I've read, there is little hope I will pass (38 hours from last drink... 41 hours from the start) but I would appreciate your feedback and will report the results.

Your alcohol consumption 32 oz of 7% abv equals 51.8g of pure alcohol. Based on weight that is .74 g/kg. You could have driven if you wanted as your BAC probably never topped .05.

Using 100 cutoff the EtG clearance time by one study ranges from 27-44 hours. Another, based on drinks simply shows under 48 hours. That is based on .78 g/kg. (1,2)

There are two additional factors in your favor. 1) Consumption with food* and 2) water consumption the following day after EtG production ended.

The presence of food delays gastric emptying, holds the alcohol in your stomach where a greater portion is metabolized by a different set of enzymes outside of the liver where EtG is synthesized. In addition, food enhances liver metabolism for about two hours after eating.

The water is known to reduce EtG. A glaring flaw in the test.(3)

Despite what you may have read I think your chances of being EtG clear are greater than for detection. It's still a close call, because you are within an outer margin where detection is possible.

*since you drank when you stopped to eat, I assumed

Halter, et al, 2008
Wojcik & Hawthorne, 2007
Dahl, 2011, p. 22

Yes, we stopped to eat... I had a large salad with chicken at lunch and beef jerky as we were driving home. Thank you so much for the quick response... maybe I can sleep tonight. I will let you know the results and will definitively follow your research! Thank you for your time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBill100

Your alcohol consumption 32 oz of 7% abv equals 51.8g of pure alcohol. Based on weight that is .74 g/kg. You could have driven if you wanted as your BAC probably never topped .05.

Using 100 cutoff the EtG clearance time by one study ranges from 27-44 hours. Another, based on drinks simply shows under 48 hours. That is based on .78 g/kg. (1,2)

There are two additional factors in your favor. 1) Consumption with food* and 2) water consumption the following day after EtG production ended.

The presence of food delays gastric emptying, holds the alcohol in your stomach where a greater portion is metabolized by a different set of enzymes outside of the liver where EtG is synthesized. In addition, food enhances liver metabolism for about two hours after eating.

The water is known to reduce EtG. A glaring flaw in the test.(3)

Despite what you may have read I think your chances of being EtG clear are greater than for detection. It's still a close call, because you are within an outer margin where detection is possible.

*since you drank when you stopped to eat, I assumed

Halter, et al, 2008
Wojcik & Hawthorne, 2007
Dahl, 2011, p. 22

I was told it could take up to 8 business days for the test results. Given it has been 11 business days and the Probation Officer only calls for a positive, it appears I have passed. IPA of any quality is not worth the stress. The unsupervised probation will be over right after New Years... I can wait!

Thank you Dr Bill. I wish I could give you more details for your research but I receive no information... didn't for the first one 6 months ago either.

Thanks for the update. I think you made the right decision in waiting. EtG is such an erratic test that you really never want to take risks when you could be tested.