# What's the longest it can take for a pill to digest in your system? What wouldn't your system digest **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233 "2018-01-22T19:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![squish7](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squish7/32/104_2.png) [@squish7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squish7)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/1 "2018-01-22T19:40:46Z")
If I eat a serving of oatmeal and take a pill (e.g. a tablet of medication) on an empty stomach and feel fine, but 2-3 hours later feel nausea, is it possible the pill stuck around but the oatmeal got digested? Even if it’s not slow-release? And what is with slow-release medications anyway, are they made of some special substance that stays in your stomach for half a day? If you had to pick one single object in all the world that’s likely to stay in your stomach or digestive track for a long time (but not super dangerous like a piece of glass) what would it be? Just wondering…thanks for any replies ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/2 "2018-01-22T21:42:08Z")
Glass can stay in your body forever, it’s non-toxic and won’t corrode and is completely safe unless it has sharp edges. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/3 "2018-01-22T21:46:59Z")
Diamonds are forever! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/4 "2018-01-22T21:58:39Z")
There are bunches of different types of [time release](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified-release_dosage) pills and time release mechanisms. The short version of digestion is that food materials are broken down in the alimentary tract, first by saliva in the mouth and then by acids in the stomach and then by enzymes in the intestines. The process is fairly slow. You can usually expect food to be in the stomach for at least an hour, and often many hours. It then takes 12-24 hours to move through the intestines. Virtually all digestable food matter is absorbed under normal circumstances. Some fiber is indigestible and will be excreted. Non-organic material can stick around essentially forever, if for some reason it doesn’t get expelled from the stomach. BTW, Your example confuses me. Why would a pill _not_ being digested cause nausea? ---
**Author:** ![Disgscen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Disgscen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgscen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/5 "2018-01-22T22:29:10Z")
In the situation you describe, your stomach was essentially empty when you took the pill. The pill would usually dissolve and start to be absorbed within seconds. In relation to that, the oatmeal would do nothing. The time that passes before nausea sets in would likely have more to do with the action of the chemicals it contains, rather than how much remains in your stomach at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/6 "2018-01-24T21:10:09Z")
I can’t speak to the OP’s question, but wanted to throw out this funny (to me, anyway) anecdote: Some years back, I had an upper endoscopy (followed by a lower scoping). As instructed, I’d done the prep and came in on an empty stomach, but took my normal morning medications. One of which was a sustained-release pill. So on the surgical report, they always include photos of various areas they checked and perhaps biopsied. Yeah - the report showed a photo that pill I’d taken a couple hours earlier, completely undissolved. I thought that was hilarious and semi-seriously thought about posting it on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/7 "2018-01-25T01:45:06Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > the report showed a photo that pill I’d taken a couple hours earlier, completely undissolved. Some of the sustained release pills are not supposed to dissolve. The active ingredient in them is slowly leached out during transit, and the pill’s remains (sometimes called the ‘ghost’) are expelled. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/8 "2018-01-25T15:30:05Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Some of the sustained release pills are not supposed to dissolve. The active ingredient in them is slowly leached out during transit, and the pill’s remains (sometimes called the ‘ghost’) are expelled. Yep; I’m on another such med right now where the literature mentions that specifically (though I’ve never had, erm, ‘visual confirmation’ of that phenomenon). I don’t recall whether the one spotted on the endo was supposed to behave like that, or simply hadn’t dissolved yet; it was spotted at the bottom of my stomach, if I remember correctly, and may have been designed to dissolve in the intestine. Sadly, the one I’m on now, I’m supposed to skip the night before my next endoscopy, so I won’t have a chance to ask them to get a photo of it :D. Which reminds me; I’m on another delayed-release medication that consists of little granules in a capsule - I need to verify whether I should take that on the morning of the procedure. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-it-can-take-for-a-pill-to-digest-in-your-system-what-wouldnt-your-system-digest/807233/9 "2018-01-25T16:10:39Z")
You know, they used to have things called “Perpetual pills”. These were typically spheres of antinomy. You’d swallow them and it would act as a laxative (antimony is poisonous – it’s your body getting rid of it). The idea was that you collected the pill from your – droppings – , washed it off, and could re-use it again and again. The pill lost negligible mass in your body, but the idea was that it _wasn’t_ retained in your digestive tract. > **[‘Perpetual Pills,’ the reusable laxatives of the Middle Ages](https://dangerousminds.net/comments/perpetual_pills_the_reusable_laxatives_of_the_middle_ages)** > > Not really antimony, but silvered pills, via Marieke Hendriksen >   > The story of Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun is interesting enough—it’s the basis for Ken Russell’s The Devils, hardly a dull movie. Yet the book is full of entertaining... They also used to have antimony cups. If you put wine into it, some antimony would leach out and, if you drank it, act in the same way as a laxative. No need to go searching through your poop and washing off the pill. [http://www.sarahalbeebooks.com/2014/02/just-passing-through/](http://www.sarahalbeebooks.com/2014/02/just-passing-through/)