Urine tests for drug use are now very common among employers. So, suppose you are a drug user and you have a drug test coming up-could baking soda help you pass that test?
First of all, what is baking soda, and is it different from baking powder? Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate which is also known as bicarbonate of soda is chemically NaHCO2 and is most often made from soda ash or Na2CO3 which is obtained from a material called trona which is taken from mines deep in the earth in the State of Wyoming. Baking powder, on the other hand, is a combination of baking soda and at least one other dry acid. Both are used in baking, baking soda for immediate effects and baking powder for both immediate and delayed effects.
Baking soda or bicarbonate of soda is what gives the name “soda” to fizzy drinks like Coca-Cola or 7-Up or even to the fizzy bubbles in Champagne. It is also the main ingredient in products like Alka-Seltzer, which are supposed to help with excess stomach acid due to its alkaline character. Sodium bicarbonate is also what produces the fizzy bubbles in “seltzer” water or “sparkling” water.
Baking soda is a strong alkaline substance, and when it comes in contact with an acid, like stomach acid, it releases CO2 in the form of bubbles. When used in the baking process, baking soda causes the dough to rise almost at once due to the release of the CO2 bubbles. With baking powder, there is an immediate release of CO2 bubbles, and then a secondary rise when the dough is hot in an oven and CO2 is released again.
Do drinking baking soda and water help to pass a urine drug test?
So, what does all of this have to do with passing a drug test? First of all, we are talking about passing a drug test for methamphetamines or meth and possibly other amphetamines but not marijuana or THC, the psychoactive component of weed. The theory is that taking baking soda before a drug test will cause the blood and then the urine to be very alkaline and that this will work to block the excretion of methamphetamine, which is also an alkaline substance, in the urine. This effect is temporary and lasts for a few hours.
How to pass a urine drug test using baking soda
If you have a drug test and you are considering using baking soda to help you pass the test it is very important to use it in as safe a manner as possible because if baking soda is taken incorrectly, it can be dangerous. It could lead to serious and permanent health risks and even death! How then is it suggested that you should take baking soda if you use drugs, methamphetamine or other amphetamines only, and you have a drug test coming up?
The most common commercially available baking soda is made by Arm & Hammer, and directions for its use as an antacid are given on the box. According to those instructions you can ingest one-half teaspoonful of baking soda every two hours with a maximum of seven teaspoonfuls in 24 hours. Other recipes are to mix two tablespoonfuls of baking soda in eight ounces of water and then drink it followed by another eight ounces of just water two hours before your scheduled test. You should urinate or pee at least twice before you go to your actual test and get a midstream sample for the test. This method is said to last for a maximum of five hours. Not everyone thinks that baking soda is a valid method to help you pass a drug test for methamphetamine and there are many different suggestions about how to take baking soda if you are trying to pass a urine test for methamphetamine.
Drinking baking soda dangers
The method of ingesting large amounts of baking soda to pass a drug test is not without risks. Baking soda can have unpleasant and painful side effects such as vomiting and diarrhea. An overdose of baking soda can cause a condition called metabolic alkalosis when the baking soda increases the PH or alkaline aspect of your blood and the body tissues. Metabolic alkalosis due to the excess bicarbonate contained in baking soda may be made much worse by vomiting, which is a common side effect of swallowing large amounts of baking soda and leads to loss of stomach acid. Symptoms of metabolic alkalosis include headache, lethargy, neuromuscular excitability, delirium, seizures, coma, and death. Survival from metabolic alkalosis can leave you with permanent neurological deficits in memory or cognitive function.
Does baking soda detox your body?
Does baking soda flush your system? The answer to both questions is easy-NO baking soda does not detox your body, and it does not flush your system. What it may do is temporarily block methamphetamine from getting into your urine and thus help you to pass a drug test, but the drug is still in your system. Baking soda is not a “cleanse” to pass a drug test, and if it works it may work only for methamphetamines or other amphetamines but NOT for weed, marijuana or THC or its metabolite THC-COOH which is the basis of the urine test for marijuana.
How can you detox your body?
If you know in advance that you have a drug test coming up and perhaps you use more than one type of drug you can actually clean the body of toxins including drugs. Of course, the best detox is abstinence, but that may be difficult or impossible, especially if the testing is coming up soon. Drinking lots of water will flush out your system in time but drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication and severe neurological consequences.
A good way to detox your system and provide a clean urine sample is with one of the commercially available detox drinks or pills. These products are in the form of combinations of various vitamins and minerals as well as creatine and diuretics which combined with a good water intake will cause a “natural” form of detoxification or cleaning and should provide you with a pee sample which will pass the test both for acceptability and for drug content. No product though is a guarantee of passing a test, and one suggestion is to use the detox products and then test your urine at home using one of the commercially available test products. Then if you test negative, you can go to your mandated drug test, feeling secure and confident that you will pass.
Baking soda can indeed help you in passing a drug test for amphetamines, but it has potentially serious consequences for your health and should be used with caution. Baking soda will not help you pass a test for marijuana. Other methods of detox are also helpful and carry less risk to your health than baking soda.