BON said my urine was diluted!!!!

Nurses Recovery

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Help!!!! I have been a nurse in recovery for 5 months. I have strictly and carefully followed all rules for the Alternative to Disipline program for the NCBON. I get a call from the MRO from first lab 10 days ago stating my urine was dilute. I told him there was no way that was possible. I do not drink enough water EVER and I didnt consume lots of caffiene that day either. After talking to me the MRO said he couldnt come up with any reason for my urine to be dilute. I am not diabetic, dont take lasix, etc, I was left upset and scratching my head. I called and left a message for my monitoring co. which was out of the office. I spoke with her after the weekend and she said my urine was going to be ruled as "TAMPERED WITH" even though each and every time I am tested it is observed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said she spoke with the testing site and the collector said she observed me but couldnt see the urine leaving my body. I know the rules. I know I have to lift up my shirt, pull down my pants so the collector can see I have no equipment on me or whatever people do to pass urine tests. I make sure the collector is watching me. I know according to the NCBON I have to make sure of all this and I did that day. If the collector couldnt see the urine leaving my body, she should have told me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I voiced my concerns to the BON and she said "we could go in circles about this all day and she wasnt doing that." I told her I was concerned about my urine getting mixed up with another persons once it got to the testing lab. She said "I have been to the lab where they do the testing and that is highly unlikely" well, I know that human errors occur and she is basically saying they dont.

I was upset when I was told my urine was diluted because I know there is no way that was possible, and you could imagine how upset I was that the monitoring cord. said they would consider it tampered with because my urine was so diluted!!!!!!!! So, even though I was supposed to go before the board in two weeks, they moved it 3 months from now. I called first lab to see if I could get it retested. The person I talked to said no, if it had been positive, then I could have had it retested. I asked to have it sent to another lab but she said no, they dont do any of that with diluted specimens. I made an appointment with my doctor to have a u/a because I was convinced something was bad wrong. My u/a was fine, she said my ph was the high end of normal. I am glad there is nothign wrong with me, but there is NO WAY my urine was that dilute. It was straw colored when I was tested at first lab. I only had one cup of coffee that morning and tested in the afternoon and had not drank lots of water-not even close.

Has this happened to anyone????!!! Please help!!!!!!!! I do everything I am supposed to do, and get punished! I have really tried to have a positive attitiude through all this but this takes the cake.

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sorry to hear of difficulties with your state board.

i too once received a letter stating my specimen had been diluted and that if it where to happen again i would be tested further or in a different manner than just a urine test. however, i didnt make an issue of it because i do drink a lot of water and coffee. i was concerned at the time. i do believe most of us are trying to follow the rules and guidelines according to our states recovery programs.

i was just bothered because i felt that now they where going to control the amount of fluids i consume. what next???? these programs are so strict. i agree it most certainly could have been a human error but in the situation we are in, we are not treated as human beings ourselves. just speaking my opinion on this matter.

good luck and hope it works out for you

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I am sorry to hear you have to meet with the Board now....I was in one alternative program for 3 1/2 yrs and completed it successfully and the other state where my license is in expired status they would not accept that program, so now they put me in their program for another 3 yrs., so, yes i also try to stay positive because it is what it is.........anyways, i had a urine couple times that seemed diluted when i gave my sample but they never said anything they just selected me again to give another urine the following week, they were negative.....but i do drink water alot, i always have......but i was informed by a lab tech, they can tell if it is from water because there is a certain level of creatnine that should be in a urine sample, even if someone did drink water.....well i hope it all works out for you.......

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Med/Surg.

I have been being monitored almost 5 years now.

The day of my very first urine drug screen was hot (June of 2006) and I drank a bottle of diet iced green tea on the way to the testing site. The next day, I got a call from the MRO asking me if I had taken Lasix or any other diuretic. (I did not) He told me that the level of dilution was insignificant but that my CM had insisted that he call me anyway. I responded with: "So what you are saying is that she (the CM) isn't rational..."

The MRO didn't answer that one :lol2: but he did say that if a future urine of mine were ever at that level of dilution that he would sign off on it and I wouldn't be charged extra. I was freaked out anyway because I was unemployed at the time and my total cost for this one screen would be over $100 after the MRO fee was added in. Theoretically, I could be called every day for a screen and be unable to pay my rent.

I was so freaked out that when I left a message on my sponsors voicemail about it, she couldn't understand what I was saying through all the blubbering. :rolleyes:

So I feel your pain, lovess. I wasn't accused of tampering and I freaked out. My guess is that with time, this will blow over, but I know it sucks for you right now. As long as you continue in your recovery, things WILL work out. Keep in mind that the state's judgement of your recovery is not the final word. You know that you have stayed clean and as long as that continues, you will succeed in life, whatever the nursing monitor co may say.

***HUGS***

Catmom :paw:

P.S. Oh yeah, and I never drink extra liquids before a drop & have plenty to "give" anyway.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

I have never had a dilute urine, but I have worked with NCBON in the alternative program and know your frustrations. All I wanna say is keep doing what you are doing and don't get to caught up in the back and forth with the board it will just drive you crazy! Just continue in your recovery and everything will work out. God Bless!

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Thank you everyone for your support and info. It makes me feel better to hear from others. I really do appreciate the time you all took to reply to my thread. Thanks so much and I wish you all the best! I am trying very hard to keep a positive attitude and it gets better each passing day.....considering how upset I was one week ago. Thanks again!

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Med/Surg.

I just saw an ad on this page for pet urine odor removal. This amuses me because I believe the ads we see are based on keywords in our posts.

All this talk of urine made the advertising program think we needed an odor removal product. :lol2:

See? It could be worse. At least we are all continent! :p

Catmom :paw:

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
I just saw an ad on this page for pet urine odor removal. This amuses me because I believe the ads we see are based on keywords in our posts.

All this talk of urine made the advertising program think we needed an odor removal product. :lol2:

See? It could be worse. At least we are all continent! :p

Catmom :paw:

Speak for yourself Catmom!!!!;););)

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That is pretty funny........

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