[quickquest]

Ok so starting at 8pm on Saturday night, I had about 8 vodka tonics, about 6 Red Bull vodkas and my last drink was at 3am. I had to take a ETG urine test at 2pm on Tuesday which is about 59 hours later. I weigh about 170lbs 5"11. I am in the gym regularly but hadn't gone to the gym all week. I would say my metabolism is pretty high. Do you think I passed the test?

[DrBill100]

Counting 14 drinks across 7 hours. A good average for BAC at time of last drink is .20*. So long as you have systemic alcohol EtG is still being created.

So from the 59 hours from last drink subtract time to 0-BAC. Anywhere from 12-20 hours. Assuming the most rapid metabolism, time remaining for EtG excretion is 47 hours.

EtG clearance (based on BAC) for acutely intoxicated individuals averages about 65 hours from time of 0-BAC.
See Beck, 2007 and/or Hoiseth, 2008.

In each of these studies you will note that a few people cleared EtG in 20-39 hours but also others in the range of 90-102 hours.

It isn't possible to predict your individual case other than to say that, on average, you will in all likelihood fail an EtG test.

*BAC estimate based on Miller & Munoz (1982), Male, 14 drinks @ 6 hours. Confirmation: Using an on-line BAC Calculator, at 7 hours returned BAC of .19.

[quickquest]

Is there anyway I can say that I was sick all weekend and took some nyquil to go to bed and that is why I failed?

[DrBill100]

I can't advise you what to say. Whether such a claim would hold up is largely dependent on the quantity of EtG present at the time of test (providing they run confirmation).

EtG testing is notoriously unreliable (SAMHSA) so it would probably be better to wait for the results as opposed to attempting to misrepresent an item that could possibly be disproven. That would simply add to your potential problem.

In fairness, I should point out that my information is derived entirely from published peer reviewed scientific studies that were conducted on very small groups. That's all that exists.

From discussion groups on line I have found hundreds of claims of passing the EtG test with only 1-2 days elimination time on a regular basis. Of course these claims are unverifiable but give me the impression that false negatives are far more prevalent than acknowledged by the scientific community or commercial testing labs.