Failed my drug screen!!!

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Did Satan vomit on my doorstep??? Since I got canned last month (thank you for your kind support on my behalf for sticking up for patient safety and unfair labor law violations...see "I got Canned!) I have attempted to join an new registry. This has been going on for over a week. After spending 4.5 hours taking wriiten exams and compliance evaluations which could not EQUAL sitting for my boards, I am providing blood, urine, happy factor, access to my personal life and am now informed by an MD that my urine came back positive for benzodiazapine. Cricky balls! If everything I've been thru over the past few weeks doesn't merit a little valium, I don't know what would! I do have a scrip for ativan and did succomb to it's evils a few fort nights ago, provided a copy of the RX to the agency, but the MD is not satisfied. He states that the by product that came back positive was from a sedative like ambien, valium, traxene, etc. NOW, I have an old scrip for ambien on file with my MD but I have not taken any. What would you do ?

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i would see if you could get a post-script from your md, stating that valium was an appropriate drug of choice, given existing circumstances.

good luck.

leslie

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I've got Lortab pills left from a year ago when I had a tooth extracted. Since the pills are from an old prescription does that mean I would not be allowed to take them?

This has me worried now, because a couple of months ago I took one of those Lortabs when I had a stress headache. I'm supposed to start nursing school in January, what if they give a drug test?

There is some kind of racket going on here...has to do with a lot more than having a prescription or not having a prescription.

I feel for you. Maybe another doctor could give another opinion?

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.

LPNtoRN :: My school didn't make me take any drug tests. They did make sure I got myself a whole boatload of immunisations though! :-o

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LPNtoRN :: My school didn't make me take any drug tests. They did make sure I got myself a whole boatload of immunisations though! :-o

Thank God for the waiver. I wouldn't be injected with that monkey pus for a million dollars.

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Haunted: Do you know if they collected a split specimen? (2 vials instead of 1) If a split specimen was collected, you can request the other vial be sent to another lab for testing. If they think it's byproducts of something like Ambien, and you have a script for Ambien, I would think you should be ok, even if it is old. And even if that really isn't what you too, since that's what they think you might have taken. ;)

Sorry for all the stuff you're getting dragged through...what a pain!

LPNtoRN: Lortab taken a couple months ago won't show up in a drug test done in January, so you don't have to worry.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Since lorazepam is a benzo how could they differentiate it in a drug screen? ambien is another class of drug imidzopyridines. I assume all their metabolites come up the same.

As for old prescription use, I have read that it is considered to be inappropriate, if not illegal.Check your board of nursing laws.

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Specializes in NICU.

At what point does a Rx for a PRN type drug as Ambien become too old for it to be taken appropriately/legally?

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I'm far from an expert, but somewhere in my distant memory I remember seeing that prescriptions, subject to federal law..., are good for one year. 'Used to travel a lot in the military and that's what we were told. When we were entering any country and might have to undergo customs inspections, we made sure any meds carried were within one year of the prescript date.

Aside from that, how long would you keep meds around as the chemical formulary isn't stable forever? I typically go through the med cabinet several times a year.

No confirmed facts, but...

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I would demand a re-test and I believe there's a test more specific to what agent it actually is. I have a coworker that had to go through this they retested her to see if her positive drug screen was percocet (her script) or demerol (the missing narc).

Good luck. :)

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I would demand a re-test and I believe there's a test more specific to what agent it actually is. I have a coworker that had to go through this they retested her to see if her positive drug screen was percocet (her script) or demerol (the missing narc).

Good luck. :)

Wow. That must've been awful for her!

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Specializes in ER.

So are we saying if we take a legitimate drug, i.e. lortab, ambien, etc. for a legitimate reason, we can fail drug tests and lose our jobs?? I got a Rx for ambien 6 months ago, and have taken less than the 30 it was written for. I work wierd shifts and sometimes need a "sure sleep" so I can turn around. There is no "hangover" like you get when you take OTC benadryl, so what is the deal? Same with lortab. I have an Rx from a root canal a year ago. I have taken one on occasion for lower back pain. So is this grounds for dismissal in some circles? This has never in a million years crossed my mind to worry about. GEEZZZZ, it's not like our job is not hard enough, then to be penalized if we use a legal remedy for a real problem.

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