# Activated Charcoal **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161 "2007-04-30T15:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YRhondaLovesAaronY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed655f/32.png) [@YRhondaLovesAaronY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YRhondaLovesAaronY)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/1 "2007-04-30T15:13:44Z")
How long does Activated Charcoal take to get out of your system? On Thursday I had to take some against my will and am still crapping charcoal? any advice? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/2 "2007-04-30T16:01:26Z")
Welcome to the Straight Deope **YRhondaLovesAaronY**. Was you second sentence supposed to be a question or a statement? IOW: Statement: On Thursday I had to take some against my will and **I** am still crapping charcoal. Question: On Thursday I had to take some against my will and am **I** still crapping charcoal? It makes a difference. 🙂 My question to you is in either case why is this an issue? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/3 "2007-04-30T16:24:33Z")
How do you ingest activated charcoal against your will? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/4 "2007-04-30T17:01:31Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![YRhondaLovesAaronY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed655f/32.png) [@YRhondaLovesAaronY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YRhondaLovesAaronY)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/5 "2007-04-30T19:18:46Z")
[QUOTE=adam yax] How do you ingest activated charcoal against your will? [/QUOTE] forced by hospital… ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/6 "2007-04-30T19:25:10Z")
Well, a total WAG, but if the charcoal is designed to prohibit the absorption of whatever it was you ingested that the hospital didn’t want you to be ingesting, I can imagine it (the charcoal) is designed to stay in your system a while. But I would think that in 3-5 days it will have, er, passed. I get the feeling you really don’t want to ask us about charcoal, but something else. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/7 "2007-04-30T20:12:26Z")
I wanna party with you! ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/activated-charcoal/402161/8 "2007-04-30T20:34:33Z")
[QUOTE=YRhondaLovesAaronY] How long does Activated Charcoal take to get out of your system? On Thursday I had to take some against my will and am still crapping charcoal? any advice? [/QUOTE] Main advice is to stop overdosing and you won’t have to take charcoal against your will… 😉 We usually give it with something that gives you loose bowels also. If you just had plain charcoal it may take a couple more days. Charcoal is not the only thing that turns stools black–blood from the stomach and upper intestine does as well–so don’t confuse this or any comments on the SDMB with advice.