Partial doses of medicine = shorter time to fly?

H

halflifeq

Guest
I've read several places that the FAA timelines for not flying after taking certain medicines are based on the half-life of that medicine (or the problematic ingredient) in your body. But what if you take less than a full dose?

For example, you have to wait 60 hours to fly after taking Mucinex DM. What if you take a half dose? You already start off one half-life down. Does that mean that I could fly in 48 hours (4 half-lives)? Or in 30 hours (half of 60)? Or would you still read it as 60 hours, even with the reduced dose? I would think the science would say that the answer is 48, but I'm guessing the FAA would say 60 regardless. Does anyone know for sure?

PDF for reference - see the top of page 2:
 
It depends on the pharmacokinetics ot the drug in question: zero order, vs first order pharmacokinetics…
 
There are a lot of drugs for which only taking half a dose is a really bad idea, though admittedly that is less often the case with OTC medications
 
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