Benadryl false positive for methadone??!?

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Hey all, 

so I took a screen today for a new job and it tested positive for methadone! I’ve never taken methadone in my entire life! I take Benedryl every night for sleep and ibuprofen daily pretty much. I have a few other prescriptions meds, but not methadone! 
I read Benedryl can cause a false positive so I’m sure that is why. The sample is being sent to the lab for gas chromatography but I’m freaking out. 
has anyone else had this experience??? 
I absolutely do not have methadone in my urine but I’m terrified the gas test won’t be able to differentiate between otc med and methadone metabolites. 
 

someone please help me chill out on this one. I’m going to be sick to my stomach until the result comes back. 
I’m not on a monitoring program so Benedryl isn’t on my excluded list. 

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

YES

See https://www.drugs.com/article/false-positive-drug-tests.html

 

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2 hours ago, NRSKarenRN said:

YES

See https://www.drugs.com/article/false-positive-drug-tests.html

 

I’ve been researching the beck out of it. I’m freaking out. My doctor is the one who OK’d the benedryl every night. 
I immediately sent him a message and told him to make sure he had it listed on my official med list and notation of the date we spoke about it. 
this is making me sick to my stomach. I didn’t sleep a wink last night. 
the line for methadone was super faint, so realistically I think it should have been a negative. but she sent it on to the lab to be safe. I don’t blame her. You have to follow protocol... but I’m gonna seriously have a panic attack if this impacts my nursing career

 

this is the second reply I made. I’ve never posted here so I’m not sure how this works. Created an account specifically for this issue. 

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Save your energy!

Does your physician use an Electronic Medical Record (EMR)?  If so, time to gain access to view your profile.  Many employers will accept a signed note from PCP documenting OTC Benadryl order.

Wishing speedy resolution.

 

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Why wouldn't you be able to have benedryl even if you were in a monitoring program?! Didn't they remove the 'purp drank' out of benedryl kids were taking it for?

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I have no idea honestly. I just read a lot of people saying if they were in monitoring programs that Benedryl was banned. ??‍♀️

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I Just wanted to update on this because I know a lot of people don’t update once the issue is resolved. The screen came back completely fine. I’m working now and love my job. Just a heads up if this ever happens to anybody else in the future. They had to send it to a lab to be tested where they confirmed that I in fact did not have methadone in my system. It took weeks though and it was terrifying. If you know you’ve never taken methadone, and you get a false positive, don’t worry, it’s likely something over the counter that caused a false positive and the lab will confirm that once it’s sent. 

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
1 hour ago, Ohionurse19 said:

I Just wanted to update on this because I know a lot of people don’t update once the issue is resolved. The screen came back completely fine. I’m working now and love my job.

Excellent and outstanding, Ohionurse!

That was a very kind move on your part to come back and give us an update. It is good that you love your job!

As a side note, back in the 80's Motrin would give a false positive on a UDS for pot. It's strange to think that, in those days, both Benadryl and Motrin were prescription meds!

The best to you, Ohionurse!

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