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Sorry Ivan I was wrong, I checked my old pharmacology text when something seemed wrong with the definition I gave you. There are several terms related to half life. Biological half-life is the time it takes half a given quantity of material to be excreted after localization has occurred. Effective half-life is the time it take the radioactivity of a tagged substance to diminish by 1/2. I think your definition was correct for biologic half-life which I stated before may or may not correlate with effectiveness. That is the core problem with what you are attempting to do. Absorption, and other factors including crossing the blood-brain barrier, protein binding etc. effect the action of a drug in addition to the stated half-life of a drug. Good luck and sorry for the error. Charlie Ivan M Suzman wrote: > ^^^^^^ WARM GREETINGS FROM ^^^^^^^^^^^^ :-) > Ivan Suzman 49/39/36 [log in to unmask] :-) > Portland, Maine land of lighthouses 69 deg. F :-) > ******************************************************************** > Hello J.R. Bruman and all, > > Everyone handles PD differently. For me, a usable > agreement among us on the meaning of "half-life" (of a medication) > would be very helpful in planning an updated daily schedule > for my "salad" of PD medications. > > J.R. used this term in reference to cabergoline. Can we get a > couple of clear statements from those who are > "in the know" on what "half-life" means? > > I have heard "half-life" used several different ways. I think it may > mean the predicted elapsed time from the point at which a medication > begins to dissolve in the stomach to the point at which > half of it has been used up. > > Am I anywhere near close (sort of like in the game of horseshoes) ? > > Thank you! > > Ivan > :-) -- ****************************************************************************************** Charles T. Meyer, M.D. Middleton (Madison), Wisconsin [log in to unmask] ******************************************************************************************