I flunked a urine test today.

I take Vicodin (hydrocodone & Tylenol) for pain in my neck and back related to degenerative disk disease and facet joint arthritis. My provider gives me 30 tabs a month. (strength: 10/335) Been getting this script for a few years. It helps a lot.

Today, for the first time, I was asked to do urine test at my PCPs office. I was then told that I came up positive for benzos. I'm not taking any benzos at present. I haven't for months. The "positive" result was based on a student medical assistant checking the urine with a dipstick. My PCP sent the urine to a lab for confirmation. I figured that should straighten everything out.

Over the past few hours, I've worked myself into a state fretting over this. I don't see how I could have got a false positive. My PCP, a physician's assistant, seemed to think that the decongestant nasal spray I use (for allergy-caused stuffy nose) could have caused the test result.

From what I've googled, the nasal spray (phenylephrine) would not be confused with a benzo. So I now think my PCP is dumb. Last time I saw her, she said I might have thyroid cancer and sent me for test for that. Negative. I'm starting to think this PCP is a drama addict.

I'm very upset about this. I'm worried about losing my prescription for Vicodin.

Rose,

Getting a false positive can happen, and while it is upsetting, it's not the end of the world. More thorough testing at the lab, should clear up the mistake. I've been in rehab a number of times where urine testing was a weekly thing, and one time I tested positive for opiates, which I don't take. Turned out it was from the Immodium I'd taken, which I didn't realize but is an opiate derivative. I've also had my drug combo, generate false positives for other things. Try not to stress out over it.

splitimage

I didn't say it was the end of the world. I said I was "upset."

Try not to sound smug.

(But thanks for sharing.)

*spits out my coffee*

I'll just let you vent...

Ahhh....yeah. I was going to comment but now I'm scared lol
Split image seemed to be offering you comfort. Not sure why you took it so badly

Thanks for not commenting, jacky . . . and especially for the "lol."

I'm not confusing having my equanimity disturbed with planetary catastrophe and the collapse of human civilization.

Immodium relieves the opiate withdrawal symptom of GI distress because it's an opioid. Drug tests screen for opioids (not just for opiates.) So having Immodium on board does not generate a false positive, but a true positive.

I don't know why I tested positive. And I don't know whether testing at the lab will exhonerate me.

Either you know or you don't. Take another test or don't. But snide remarks will get you nowhere.

What's wrong with laughing??

All I know is when I worked a short time in a methadone clinic we had ppl who had take home doses. If they tested positive for other things like Benzos we would do a retest through the lab Etc. If it came back positive again , no matter what they told us, we took away the take homes.

Does this help?

False-positive Benzodiazepine Urine Test Due to Oxaprozin | JAMA | The JAMA Network

What were you wanting from this post? Were you wanting support or just to vent?

People were trying to offer support, and ended up getting snarky remarks back... if you didn't want supportive responses, I think that should have been stated.

Everyone has bad days. When my bad day meets up with someone else's bad day, it can get ugly... just because you are having a bad day, that doesn't give you the right to snap at people who are trying to console you... maybe just take the intent of their comments, without snapping back, since they were merely trying to help.

Chaos

P.S. I apologize if I sound rude, I get protective (even over strangers) when I see something unfair or unjustified.

They probably will require a spec for testing next time I go there. The results of that test won't change the results of the test I took yesterday.

They are going to retest at a lab the spec I gave yesterday. Maybe the lab will say it's negative for benzos. Maybe the Medical Assistant misread the dipstick yesterday. I should have asked them to retest it in front of me. It was a student who did it yesterday. She didn't seem too capable and had trouble getting my blood pressure.

If this is too complicated for you too understand, that's okay. I don't get to choose whether or not I "take another test." They are retesting the same specimen. They don't get to choose either. They have to retest all positives. They have to have the lab do the retest. It's their protocol. Federal law requires them to have a protocol and follow it.

If you can't understand this, it's okay. If you have nothing supportive to offer, it's okay. If you don't think I'm deserving of support, that's your business.

Sounds like your testing procedure at the Methadone clinic was similar to the procedure at my primary care provider's office. As you say, testing results can impact what a person can have prescribed for them. So it is something to feel very concerned about.

Splitimage is the last person on this board who would be snarky. She has openly shared her ups and downs with us.

And her ins and outs. I completely missed the part about immodium on the first reading. Good to know, its always in my backpack!

Rose, people were trying to offer you support, and all you did (and continue to do) is snap at them.

We understand the process of retesting a sample. We also understand the stress involved. Yet you sit here and do nothing but offer attitude when we are trying to offer support.

Everyone deserves support, however people will eventually stop offering it if all they get back is attitude and snide remarks.

Thank you. I did see this, or a similar article, last night when I was researching this. I'm not on any NSAIDS, due to recent GI bleeding.

My provider, yesterday, did say that false positives can be caused by various substances, so we talked about all meds I'm taking, both prescribed and OTC. She said my nasal spray was a concern. Well, decongestant nasal sprays are in the stimulant family, related to amphetamines. That's why you now have to sign for Sudafed tablets. (They can be used to create illegal stimulants.) But I didn't test positive for stimulants.

For my provider (who's not a doctor) to relate nasal spray to a false positive on benzos makes me wonder about her. Another problem is that I'm newly assigned to her, so she doesn't know me. So we have not built up a relationship, yet. Yesterday was just my second time seeing her.

I know that Splitimage is a very supportive member of the PC community. I don't know what her point was in saying " . . . it's not the end of the world." I should have just asked her. On reflection, it occurs to me that she may not have meant it in a patronizing way.

Sometimes a bit of adversity can seem like a bigger deal than it is.

Thanks rose. It would be out of character for either of you. Youre almost canadian yourself, youre so sweet!

When it comes to physical pain, I am the biggest coward in the world. When I was young, now and then something would happen that involved pain - like when I seriously sprained my ankle at age 27. It never even occurred to me to ask for an opioid analgesic. That's because I knew the pain was temporary. I just took aspirin every 4 hours, until I actually developed ringing in my ears, which is a side effect of taking more aspirin than your particular body can handle. (even if you are taking it as the label directs, which I was.)

Then, one day, you reach a point in the aging process where you realize that you have chronic pain. It is never, ever going to completely go away. It will be a feature of every day of your life, for however many days you have left on this earth . . . and it will just get worse. Amazingly (to me) lots of people make their peace with this reality and accept that chronic pains and aches are part of living on into your golden years, and they just don't focus on it. I do not have that level of maturity. We have members, here at PC, who have to manage very serious chronic pain, along with managing their psych issues, and they do.

A few years ago, when I had a bout of diverticulitis, I believed that, if I hadn't felt confident that it was a transitory situation, I would have shot myself. My current daily pains and aches are not like the anguish of diverticulitis, and nowheres near - I'm sure - as big a cross to bear as many people carry for years. But, given my pitifully low tolerance for pain, I'ld be horrified to have to face the achiness I experience everyday, without an opioid that pretty much gets rid of it. I'ld probably just stay in bed, or sit in my recliner with frozen gel packs stuffed behind my neck and the small of my back . . . and take 3 hour long tub baths every evening.

So, if I think my "supply" is threatened, I start worrying "how am I even going to live?" It's all relative to your point of view. My point of view may be childish, but I see things from where I am and that's where I'm at.

BTW, I can totally see where some might think, "Well she's a big baby who doesn't deserve any sympathy, when others handle a lot worse."

I've stressed out about this since leaving that appointment yesterday. Maybe the PA will call and say the lab verified that I'm not taking benzos. I can't keep fretting about this, so I'm going to bed. It seems that one way out of anxiety is when depression sets in. Then I give up worrying because I think "What's the use?"

(((Rose))) i get it. I am a HUGE baby about pain. More, its like i dont like feeling sick / nauseated? I recently had a mid back thing happen to where it hurt even to roll over in bed. I could not lean on my elbow to lever myself out of bed without feeling like i was disconnecting at the various points of contact, i dont know how else to describe it. Fortunately, a chiropractor fixed me up.

But i know if something happens as i get older, i am NOT going to be brave. I will be outta here!

I hope your back healed up, luna. I know it's not good to project too much into the future. There's an old belief held by people of faith, that you get the strength you need when you need it and not ahead of time.

The thing is I'm just managing to cope with caring for my S. O. who's needing more and more tending. It's not the round the clock caregiving that is hardest, but seeing him slipping further downhill, mentally and physically, no matter what I do, as is going to just continue. We've just been making pre-need burial arrangements. With trying to keep rallying from episodes of depression, as I try to make his days as decent as I can, the last thing I expected was this bizarre twist of fate. I support him through his ordeal, and my healthcare providers are supposed to support me. Yesterday sure wasn't a supportive experience. I guess there's no one to blame. Having one hard problem gives no immunity against something else going wrong.

That's enough whining out of me. Today, I did the minimum I had to. If I try harder tomorrow, things might not seem as bad.