DetroitHammer
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I asked my friend, a university professor who teaches chemistry and other things I can't pronounce, about half lives and my theory that at the half life point, there is very little left and if the half life were 10 days, after 10 days the depot is really almost depleted, weakened to the state of total dissipation. This is her response:
"The material you read on half lives were probably referring to exponential decay, such as is usual with radioactive materials and true, it follows that fixed rate pattern; however, in your case, you have a pharmaceutical non exponential decay and YES, it is dependent on the original quantity you began with as well as how much is left. It is very conceivable and probable that each phase of the substances' half- life shortens as it continues to be eliminated or lose effectiveness. Other factors such as accumulation in the body, metabolism etc., influences the rate, as well.To sum it up, you are correct..."
"The material you read on half lives were probably referring to exponential decay, such as is usual with radioactive materials and true, it follows that fixed rate pattern; however, in your case, you have a pharmaceutical non exponential decay and YES, it is dependent on the original quantity you began with as well as how much is left. It is very conceivable and probable that each phase of the substances' half- life shortens as it continues to be eliminated or lose effectiveness. Other factors such as accumulation in the body, metabolism etc., influences the rate, as well.To sum it up, you are correct..."
