Questions about False Positives in Drug Testing, page 256

False Positives Forum

This forum is intended to help those who Do NOT Abuse Drugs. We do NOT support the illegal use of any substance. If you have experience with false positives, share your experience. What would you tell someone about drug testing and false positives? Please remember that this forum is not for medical or legal advice.

VA testing
11/30/2012
About a year ago I tested positive for a benzodiazepene (sp?) at my VA Hospital. I knew I hadn’t taken any but they didn’t believe me. Just today I got a call that said I’m positive for amphetamines from the urine sample I provided yesterday and again, I haven’t taken any.

Since I live in a VA subsidized apartment this is a HUGE problem because they have zero tolerance for drug use. They are going to re-test my sample so hopefully this one will be accurate. My daily meds are: Wellbrutrin 200mg, Limactyl 200mg, Trazadone 50mg, Ibuprofen 1600mg and I’m in a methadone maintenance program where I take 80mg daily.

Does the VA have a lot of false positives from their tests? Would any of the meds listed cause a false positive for benzos or amphetamines? Thanks for your help.

Kevin

AskDocWeb: According to the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Trazadone may test false positive for amphetamines (Reference 32). This was confirmed by IT Laboratories, an ISO-certified drug testing laboratory (Reference 57). If their “re-test” is a confirmation test then that should eliminate any false positives.

Positive for oxymorphone
11/30/2012
I am prescribed Lorcet (hydrocodon), Soma and Effexor. Also i recieve epidural injections for lumbar spine pains. My last urinalysis came up positive for oxymorphone, is there a logical reason behind this?

Rick

AskDocWeb: If you haven’t used oxymorphone then you may have received a false positive test result on the urinalysis. These are a major problem with immunoassays, which is why a more specific confirmation test, such as GC-MS, is needed to confirm positive finding on immunoassays. GC-MS is more accurate than an immunoassay, but it is also more expensive. GC-MS breaks down drug molecules into ionized fragments and identifies substances based on mass-to-charge ratio using a mass spectrometer.

False positive for cocaine?
11/30/2012
I had a urine test positive for cocaine. Ive never used cocaine. I paid for a hair follicle test immediately after i go the results. The follicle results are negative and span back before and during the time of the urine sample. What could cause a false positive for cocaine?

Mark

AskDocWeb: It’s a short list of possible causes;

• some antibiotics
• some anesthetics
• Cola tea, cola leaf, cola flour, cola oil
• Diabetes
• Kidney disease
• Tonic water

A GC/MS confirmation test will eliminate false positives caused by the above.

I’m FREAKING out
11/30/2012
I had a hair follicle test which shoes positive for cocaine. I’ve tried cocaine only ONCE in my life and that was over TEN years ago. Can any only substance ingested or otherwise show positive or if someone had put it in my drink, would that give a positive?! I’m FREAKING out bc I’m in a custody fight & they want to take my girls away bc of the hair test…..even though my RANDOM bi-monthly UA’s have shown negative…

Gianna

AskDocWeb: Please see the link for “What to do if CPS workers are investigating you” on page 169. There is some good advice there.

Tested positive for THC
12/1/2012
I just tested positive for THC I believe they did a UA then confirmed w/ GC test. If I take 40mg of omeprazole daily can that lead to a false positive w/ GC testing?

BAS

AskDocWeb: Several PPIs have been noted to test false positive for THC but not with GC/MS testing.

Test showed marijuana
12/1/2012
Hi, I had a false-postive test and do not use any illegal drugs. I take topomax for migraines, flexeril for fibromyalgia, and prilosec, and clonazepam for anxiety. I also got into a car wreck 3 weeks ago and have been taking hydocodone, then was switched to oxycodone and I take aleve for my headaches. I know I take a lot of medication but I have a lot of health problems. The only thing I could thing of for testing false-postie was I am trying to quit smoking and started using the new Blu e-cigarettes. I tested for marijuana I don’t smoke it and never will. What could be making it come up like that?

Kim

AskDocWeb: Hi Kim, welcome to the forum. It is not unusual for PPIs such as Prilosec to test positive for marijuana (THC). Fortunately a confirmation test such as the GC/MS will come back negative when they try to confirm it.

Positive for THC?
12/2/2012
I havent taken any drugs and what happened is i went in for a drug test yesterday and it said i was negative and today i went in and it says im positive for thc this is gonna ruin me why would this happen?

Eric

AskDocWeb: Not saying that you did but the most likely explanation is that you consumed that illegal substance. This is especially true for those who get drug tested on an everyday basis. Of course there is a small chance that the test kit was bad or human error was involved. If you believe that was the case then getting a GC/MS confirmation test might save you from ruin.

Asthma medications
12/3/2012
I was let go in pain management because of a false positive test, i had been clean for 8yrs. He would’nt check my meds. a friend of mine had asked her dr. about it and said it was the inhalers which im on 5 differant ones. im finding out it that all my meds are doing it, is there a way i can get a list of asthma meds. i can check mine to?

Margurette

AskDocWeb: All of the asthma medications that we have been able to document for causing false positives are listed here. However, just finding one on that list may not get you back in pain management. Many clinics can and do write their own contracts that patients are required to sign in order to receive treatment. It appears that some (many?) clinics are not required to perform confirmation tests but are free to dismiss patients solely on the basis of a urine test. If you are lucky your clinic may allow a confirmation test to rule out false positives.

Rocephin with lidocaine?
12/3/2012
Can IM Rocephin 1000mg (GH) with lidocaine test positive for cocaine?

Ester

AskDocWeb: To our knowledge, those drugs do not show up as cocaine on urine drug tests for drugs of abuse.

Military labs
12/3/2012
My husband is in the military and was recently drug tested. He came back with a false positive for THC. The only meds he uses is ibuprofen 2400 mg qd, claritan, omeprazole, neurontin, meloxicam, afrin and may have been ill within a week or two of that time and had phenergan.

I called Motrin Co. and asked them if they were aware of any false positives with ibuprofen and they stated that they were not aware of it and had not heard of it! I don’t know what type of test the army uses, if it’s the immunoassay or the GCMS.

Do you know what the government labs use as far as the urine drug screens and how accurate they are? my husband may be dishonarable discharged because the military is to cheap to use the proper urine drug screening! Please help! my husband only has 14 days to respond before they begin the discharge process!

Denise

AskDocWeb: It appears that each branch of the service has their own process for handling positive drug test results. It has been awhile but the ones we looked at required confirmation testing when an immunoassay test returned a positive result. One laboratory that the Army uses for confirmation tests is at Ft. Meade, Maryland. That’s the Army Forensic Drug Testing Lab, phone 301-677-7085. They may be able to help with more information.

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