I used Roaccutane for 6 months 20 years ago and would like to know if anyone has found traces of drugs in their systems many years later after a period of fasting. How do I go about testing for this? What kind of fast is best? How long would I need to fast for? Looking forward to your replies.

I once found not only traces, but enough penicillin to smell it in the room, from a patient who has not touched penicillin for 8 years.

And on 2 occasions I saw patients getting LSD hallucinations during a fast.. one 15 and the other 25 years after their last intake of these drugs.

Thus yes, drugs can remain locked up in your fat cells for a long time.

The best fast is one that suits you, and that leaves you looking forward to the next. I do typically 30-60 hours once a week, but will go much longer "per stretch" if there are reasons for.. have supervised fasting up to 45 days at at time where necessary.

André

Thanks for the reply. Do you know of any labs in pretoria that would be able to check my blood and urine for traces of roaccutane during the fast? At what point in the fast do I have my blood and urine checked? Will a liver function test provide any information? I am considering doing a reasearch paper into the long term effects of drugs on birth defects, do you have any of your above findings documented that I could use in my reasearch or know of any other institutions that might have documented such cases? Looking forward to your response.

There's 3 major labs in Pretoria: Lancet, du Buisson (Ampath) and Vermaak & Vennote.. I prefer the latter, due to personally knowing Prof Vermaak. They are very approachable in my experience (Although Professor Vermaak is now retired).

But Roaccutane is just a synthetic form of Vitamin A.. which is likely made water soluble in the metabolic processes, thus unlikely to accumulate. Still, liver functions before and towards the end of a fast will likely indicate whether you have been detoxifying anything. I have for years used ALT (a liver enzyme) in the blood as a measure of the liver's work during a fast.

Excellent idea to research the longer term effects on birth defects.. just hope you find enough Roaccutane users who subsequently became pregnant! There's a tendency in the modern world that the most well off (such as those who can afford such treatment) have the lowest number of subsequent children..

André