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I failed a urine drug screen today!?!?

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Posted 7/14/2009 5:03 PM (GMT 0)
I went to my pain clinic and they took my urine sample as always. When the doc came in she told me I tested positive for a component of extacy and something else!

I have never even smoked a cigarette in my life.

She said there are a lot of false positives and sent my urine to a lab to be analyzed,

IF it tests positive there I will be kicked out of the pain clinic.

I swear i didnt take anything other than was whas rx'd to me. Then I started thinking about the supplements I take, who the hell knows whats in them.

now i am all stressed out.

anyone ever have a false positive test like this?

Posted 7/14/2009 5:20 PM (GMT 0)

Hi MerryGirl, so sorry to hear what happened. WOW, I do think I would get gather up my supplements and anything else you take and go to my pain clinic with them. Let them see the bottles and write down the names of it. Thtas real scarey, like you say if you get kicked out the odds of finding another clinic willing to take you as a patient is slim to none.

At my former pM office I did two urine tests in 4 yrs, the nurse asked me the names of every medication I took in addition to any OTC meds.

I would not wait around and do this either I would get my stuff over there today!! Good luck. Oh, I am not sure if any of the other members on board has had this happen to them in the past or not.

Posted 7/14/2009 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
Merry,
I agree with Susie I'd gather all the supplements and any OTC meds you may be taking, as well as possibly looking at what you ate. Sometimes foods can play a role in how these meds are metabolized. And I would ask for a copy of the lab report (the one that says you tested positive) and start researching that both with credible sites on the internet, and any lab that might do more sophisticated testing to ask just what other things could cause that false positive. This way you may be prepared with an explanation and knowledge. Try not to let your anxiety get the best of you. You need to be thinking now. Calling local pharmacists, starting with your own (but make sure you speak with the head pharmacist and not a tech) might also get you some info. Not everyone is going to know about these tests, but you may hit on someone who does.

Good luck!

PaLady
Posted 7/14/2009 9:59 PM (GMT 0)

Merry

You have been given some very good and solid information,  Anything and everything you have been taking make sure you let them know, any Herbal things, even teas, list them down! That is a very scary situation, I do wish luck on that! But these labs can make mistakes and false positives is not unheard of! Try to be positive about it all!

Good Luck

White Beard

Posted 7/14/2009 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
Merry, I am sorry this has happened. You do hear about false positives. Try to relax as best as you can. I did think of one possibility, although it may be off base... And please forgive me ahead of time if I am . I certainly mean no ill will whatsoever,promise. It is just that you hear these types of stories from time to time. Is it possible that someone put something in your drink without you having any knowledge about this? Friends have been even known to do this to try to "loosen" up to have some fun. Anyway, I just thought I would mention it as a possiblility. And I do agree that it is a possibility it may be a med. or supplement. And yes, let them know everything that you take so they can have it all on record. Try to relax as best as you can. I know it is easier said than done.
Anice
Posted 7/15/2009 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
i am doing internet research and it looks like a lot of drugs can interact. I would hate to gte kicked out. wouldnt that be awful? I just hope the next urine test is accurate, I am going to list all my supplements and bring it with me next visit in 2 weeks.

i dont think anyone would have put anything in my drink as I havent gone anywhere. please keep your fingers crossed for me.
Posted 7/15/2009 1:17 AM (GMT 0)
MerryGirl I would not wait two weeks till the next appt. Take your bottles in ASAP and let the nurse see what you take, she can write the info down in your chart.

Awful is not close to what it would be like if you got kicked out-no other pain dr would touch you because of that too. That goes into your medical records and these follow you around.
Posted 7/15/2009 1:44 AM (GMT 0)
Ive had a false positive, The reason I know its false postive is because it was some drug I had never even seen or heard about people taking besides on tv. But I wasnt getting along with the dr so I left and went to another, and I explained to my new one what happened, they took me. You can go to another dr, you dont have to release your medical records from the false positive dr, you could go in first and explain it and then release. Of course thats worst case scenario, which i know you'll get a clean.
Posted 7/15/2009 1:45 AM (GMT 0)
Merry, I hope I didn't offend you. I am so sorry if I did. I was just thinking and it popped in my head. I am sorry. I hope you accept my apology...

I am glad you are looking this up on the internet and getting ideas as to what could have happened...Please get those meds to your doctors office asap. That is very important. The only possiblities then are that it is just false positive results, lab error, or due to meds or suppliments you take. Please try to relax. I am sure this is real hard to do knowing that you could be kicked out!!! That would be just horrible. I know it is a possibility, but you have to try to stay in a good mindset here. You can do this!!!
Anice
Posted 7/15/2009 4:34 AM (GMT 0)
merrygirl,  Well girl it happened to me about 2 months ago and they took away all my pain meds and still trying to find a doc....so went through horrible withdrawels for a month and have my constant cronic pain.  They did not believe me and they said there was nothing I could do...so just got a new doc to see on Thurs and I hope he gives me my pain meds...good luck to you.  L
Posted 7/15/2009 5:01 AM (GMT 0)
Merrygirl, False positives do happen. I give drug tests all the time and even though they are not common they do happen. I know the ramifications can be more than you can imagine, you need to rest on the truth. You know you are not guilty and thus you have nothing to hide. Gather your things and make sure they get the list. You have to remember that they deal with people that are not truthful so they have a tendency to react to each positive test. Now you get to prove to them that the trest was wrong. Hang in there.
Posted 7/15/2009 6:54 AM (GMT 0)
You don't happen to take Effexor, do you?
Posted 7/15/2009 7:07 AM (GMT 0)
Bionic,
How does effexor interact? Just curious as I take it!

PaLady
Posted 7/15/2009 8:08 AM (GMT 0)
One of the women that I know through a support group kept getting positives for several "illicit drug" metabolites, including PCP. She's the sort of person that you can just look at and know she's definitely not doing that sort of thing.. she won't even drink coffee with caffeine in it, never mind angel dust.. redface

Her doctor spent some time trying to find out why she was getting the positives and apparently there's a disproportionate number of false positives when Effexor is involved, especially at higher doses. She changed from Effexor to a different anti-depressant, for reasons unrelated to the drug tests, and she hasn't had a positive test since.

I was curious, so I looked it up and found a several articles and studies looking at how Effexor interferes with drug screens. Here's a link to the only reasonably respectable one I found that had the full text available for free online:

www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/full/48/4/676

I just love that one of the positive PCP tests in this article is "a 93-year-old female from a nursing home who was admitted with a hip fracture." smhair tongue

Post Edited (BionicWoman) : 7/19/2009 4:40:25 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/15/2009 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Bionic! Although most of the article made my eyes cross (my pharmacist cousin would understand it all! LOL) I got enough of it to realize I'm on at least 4 meds that would test positive, two non-pain related that could be metabolized to interfere with the results.

Merry - I strongly suggest you at least skim this article and you'll get an idea how complex this all is! It also seems there are a lot of those "quick" tests that may be affected, yet the more sophisticated tests are going to be expensive. I wonder who pays for it. Insurance may not cover the more expensive testing, and I have no insurance anyway.

Intersting. Thanks again, Bionic!

PaLady
p.s. I think the 93 y/o ought to be able to take whatever she wants! If I make it to that age and I'm in a nursing home with a broken hip, please, keep me "comfortable". :-)
Posted 7/16/2009 2:26 AM (GMT 0)
Palady the drug testing done by my former pain dr the company willed my ins almost $1,100.00. Of course my ins whittled it right down to nothing lol.
Posted 7/16/2009 10:53 AM (GMT 0)
You're welcome, PA. If you ever need information that's useless in 98% of normal conversations, just knock on my forehead, I've probably got it stored in there. redface redface redface
Posted 7/16/2009 4:29 PM (GMT 0)
not on effexor, but 20 other rx and several supplements, so I am sur ethere is a culprit in there.

thanks for your help
Posted 7/16/2009 5:56 PM (GMT 0)
Bionic,
You must be a real charmer at a party! ;-)

PaLady :-)
Posted 7/17/2009 11:08 AM (GMT 0)
Ok, I gotta ask- what exactly do they mean - a componant of extacy, I know a bit about this drug, and I know there are slot of different ways and different things that can be in extacy.

If I were you I'd : GO TO UR GP AND GET UR OWN INDEPENDANT DRUG TEST!!!!!
If it doesn't come out right again, u need to do some investigating
EAther way- Fight It!! Do ur homework- research ur drugs, talk to pharmacists- Talk to the drug manufacturers!!

Tho if it were normal for this to happen I'd be surprised the guy who tested u wouldn't know!!

Stay strong,
Ud be amazed how much the people who use these drugs know about them, down to the chemical componant and what it means, I'm sure they'll help u
Good luck

Post Edited By Moderator (Admin) : 7/17/2009 4:34:22 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/17/2009 8:46 PM (GMT 0)
I think the rule that illegal activities (even medical marijuana) can't be discussed on this forum is what helps keep it "clean". I definitely think this last post goes over the line, and hope a moderator edits it.

PaLady
Posted 7/18/2009 7:27 PM (GMT 0)
Wow this thread scared me....... I take a few of the meds on the original list that can cause a false positive, so I'm with PAlady on this one.

I get tested every refill appointment. But one of the meds is PRN I will jsut have to make sure I don't take it prior to my appointments..

Laurie
Posted 7/18/2009 11:36 PM (GMT 0)

smhair  

Am I going NUTS???  I don't have a clue what article you guys are talking about....Please fill me in so I won't feel like I am crazy please.....

Me/

Posted 7/18/2009 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
my husbad and i go to the same clinic and we are checked several times a year. even back to back on a month. my husband tested positive for benziotes? something that can be found in allergy medication. which i would assume since ecstasy is a pill form benziotes may be involved. i don't know the mechanics of making it obviously, but i have been under the impression that its compound is allergy medication. (otc) thats why they id you anymore to buy it. i'm guessing. correct me if i am wrong.
Posted 7/18/2009 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
Me,
Scroll up to Bionic's post from 7/15. In it she has the address of the article. It's not a link; you have to cut and paste it.

PaLady
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