How long does Plavix stay in the body once I stop taking it?

Plavix is estimated to be cleared from your body in about 33 hours.

• A single, oral dose of Plavix (clopidogrel) 75 mg has a half-life of approximately 6 hours.
• It takes 5.5 x half-life of a medicine for a drug to leave the body, therefore most of the Plavix should be eliminated from your system in 5.5 x 6 = 33 hours.

Elimination times are an estimate and can vary due to patient-specific variables and drug-specific variables including:

• How much and how often you have taken the drug.
• Your metabolic rate – a slower metabolism will increase the time a drug remains in your system.
• Your age and health issues – older age and poor health may increase the time the drug says in your system.
• Body mass.
• Drug formulation, way of administration, pharmacokinetics, volume of distribution etc.

How much Plavix is too much?

• The recommended daily dose of Plavix is 75 milligrams once a day.
• For the first dose you may receive a one-off dose of 300mg, this is called a loading dose. Once you have had the loading dose, the recommended dose that is taken is 75mg Plavix per day.
• For some medical conditions the one-off loading dose may be increased up to 600mg.