freaking out

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jan 20, 2015

Define 'incidental exposure to ethanol"

wlcameron · Jan 20, 2015

I can handle not drinking. I'm aware of OTC medicine with alcohol. It's everything else that has me worried. Soap, vanilla, deodorants ect.

nowim clean · Jan 21, 2015

I did almost 4 years of testing I never drank but I did use pure vanilla flavoring when cooking, making ice cream ect. I did not use the hand sanitizer I opted for soap and water and watch stuff like poppy seeds. But I never had a positive urine. Hope this helps don't drink youll be ok just be aware that if you test positive the BON is not going to accept that it was a false positive. Good luck

Twoyearnurse · Jan 21, 2015

I've likewise been test on several occasions and never had a false positive from incidental exposure yet...I know it happens but try and take it easy!

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jan 21, 2015

Thank you for the explanation. I learned something!

LPNSWEETHEART · Jan 28, 2015

There are certain levels that the board will except as incidental exposure. This includes hand sanitizer, mouth wash, etc. If the levels of Etg are of a certain level, they will view it as ethanol and that will be a positive urine screen. Speaking from experience. Hope this helps.. Don't drink, anything. It just isn't worth it. I hope this helps.

CryssieD · Jan 30, 2015

Read labels, and avoid hand sanitizer with alcohol--there are non-alcohol sanitizers, or you can go with just soap and water. Truthfully, though, most incidental things--vanilla, perfume, deodorant, etc--you would have to be actually drinking or bathing in the stuff for it to show up. However, better safe than sorry. Wash your hands(with alcohol-free soap)before giving a urine sample for screening, just to remove the possibility of accidental contamination, avoid alcohol-containing mouthwash like the plague, and DON'T DRINK. I can't stress that enough--they are looking for metabolites, not the raw stuff, so it's consuming alcohol that is most likely to get you in trouble. Hang in there--it's not really as bad as it seems at first.

Omaapecm, ASN, RN · Jan 31, 2015

I've bend on the program for over 2 years and never had any incident. I stay away from the obvious like poppy seeds, cough and cold medicines. Other than that I stick try to make no changes in moisturizer, lotion ect....there was one instant I had a MRI done and became really sick and nausea during the test. The RAD tech had me inhale alcohol prep pads and said it would help with nausea. He was right it did work but the next day I was called to test. I was a little nervous but I called my case worker and let her know of the situation just to be on the safe side. She had me put it in writing. My teat was normal but I wanted to be safe ......hope this helped

jackstem · Feb 1, 2015

I just posted this in another thread. Most on site testing (screening cups) can occasionally show a false positive or false negative, SAMHSA recommends all positives be verified by GC/MS. There's a link to an article by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals discussing cutoff levels for "incidental" exposure to alcohol. Here's the post:

The urine drug screens done on site can show false positives or negatives due to non-specificity of the test (immunoassay). All positive results on the immunoassay screening should be verified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. Here's a link discussing drug testing and cutoff limits for ETG/ETS. The National Association of Drug Court Professionals recommend a cutoff of 500 ng/ml for ETG (ethyl glucuronide) and 100 ng/ml for ETS (ethyl sulfate). This means levels below those numbers can't be ruled out for "incidental" exposure to alcohol through mouthwash certain medications (including OTC cough cold and sleep aids), and possibly food cooked with alcohol. It's a myth that all alcohol is cooked off. I tell my clients if there is the name of an alcohol on the title of the food you're considering ordering, then don't order the food (bourbon chicken, Jack Daniels ribs, beer batter fish, etc.) The chance you'll test positive is low, but with the way the monitoring programs are, why take the risk.

Jack