This debate never ends!!! Don’t trust ETG calculators!

I spent 3 years on probation and drank alcohol throughout. Thankfully, I am now in recovery and am a licensed alcohol and drug counselor.

I never understood why ETG calculators all gave massively different results. But now I do. They all give different info because too many variables exist!!!!! The amount of ETG in my system 3 hours after having one vodka shot could be extremely different on different days. Also, how much we drink, how often we drink, how hydrated we normally are, how functioning our liver and kidneys are – ALL play a role as well.

So, ETG calculators are garbage.

What do we actually know from proven science? Not much. For those of us with healthy liver/kidneys, ETG will have a half-life of 2.5-3 hours. Also, the 80 hours touted by testing companies and probation agencies isn’t true for most individuals.

So, what should we do????

Don’t drink alcohol when we are on probation

or……

2) Do what I did, which never failed me. But, again, understand that our bodies are all different. Regardless of how much alcohol I drank, I always assumed my ETG was at 1,000,000 after 9 hours – way over the top, but I wanted to be safe. With the half-life of 3 hours – that would give me the following timeline…………………..

Peak ETG – 9 hours after stopping – 1,000,000

42 hours – below 500 (average threshold for probation)

45 hours – below 300 (my threshold for testing)

51 hours – below 100 (used rarely)

Again, don’t take this as gospel. This worked for me for 3 years. I also stocked up on ETG test strips from Amazon – cheap, and will let you know when you are below 300………..I never went into a UA without knowing I was underneath the 300.

Also, tips like working out, pooping, drink insane amounts of water – I’ve yet to see any scientific data backing any of these up, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t help. If you are going to continue drinking when you shouldn’t’, you need to do the work and figure out your parameters. If you are unable to stick with those, you may want to think about getting some help for your drinking.

Best of luck 🙂