Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I was checking my results on affinity and my last test result is positive for alcohol. The problem is, I didn't drink. The only thing I can think might have caused it was some lemon tahini dressing at a vegetarian restaurant I ate at the night before. I've had the same dressing in the past and never had a problem.
The killer in all this is that I am due to complete monitoring in four days. Yes.
Never had any positives during monitoring, nothing but a dilute specimen. I'm not drinking, not using, nothing. And bing.
*Sigh*
I haven't heard from my case manager yet. I'm trying to stay calm and think. Stick to my routine and not worry. I know I do have options, I just can't believe this. After everything I have done, all the scrupulous watching everything I do, eat, drink, and walking on eggshells...BUT we will just wait and see.
Specializes in ER, ICU/CCU, Open Heart OR Recovery, Etc.
I went to the restaurant and asked if there was any alcohol, wine, vinegar, etc in the Lemon Tahini dressing. They said there wasn't. That was good news, but still didn't really answer the question of how I got a positive UDS.
So, now my next question: Is it possible that a generic OTC hydrocortisone cream with minimal amounts of cetyl alcohol used for external genitalia itching a few days prior to and including the day I was tested, to result in a positive UDS? I didn't think of it at first. I guess I'm so focused on being careful with what I eat, drink, and breathe that I didn't even consider it.
Again I have to ask, when discussing all this with the IPN and your case manager, were the levels finally revealed? I was told by the IPN that it is usually easy to determine whether the exposure was intentional or incidental. And you said that you offered to submit to Peth testing. Why did they not want you to? I am seriously devastated for you- not because I think this case is hopeless but because I cannot imagine the frustration of having to prove yourself at this stage in your recovery and contract.
Specializes in ER, ICU/CCU, Open Heart OR Recovery, Etc.
I am not with IPN. The levels haven't been revealed to me. That is all being discussed, yesterday, but I received no update then.
Yes. Three weeks of wondering what was going to happen, wondering what did happen and how in the world this could happen. I had no doubt at the beginning of this contract that I could successfully complete it. I did the best I could to avoid exposure without hiding in a closet with water and saltines. Now I have to prove myself, have private details like external genitalia revealed to people I don't know. I have to prove endless things, on top of being watched when I pee.
I have asked myself how this process remotely protects the public, or contributes to the promotion of recovery. I have concluded that recovery is something from within me. Something I HAVE and something that they can't take away from me. I lost an expectation of privacy that no one wants to lose.
What a sick, misguided and nontherapeutic medical model this is. I am so tired. But I am still standing firm. Why?
Because I didn't relapse. My recovery is intact. I WILL get my life back.
There used to be a active Etg support group with yahoo.
It's still there, but not active after cuttoffs were elevated and they added ets for possible bacteria in urine.
Many nurses lost there license, jobs, and some lost custody of children.
I have had levels up to 1,150. I know of nurse of levels 11,000. I used to stay up every night researching what was the cause. I was going crazy. I couldn't stop testing positive.
I have been in monitoring since 2006 from California to Florida.
Now they use PEth and think that is foolproof and can only detect "true drinking "
I don't trust that test either. I know of nurses that had levels of 26. Above 20 is proof of drinking.
I think it's an internal auto brewery in the gut. There are studies that had patients eat brewers yeast and sugar. They had high Etg levels.
I stress every time I get tested. I feel like a diabetic who can't control high levels of blood sugar.
"I have asked myself how this process remotely protects the public, or contributes to the promotion of recovery.
What a sick, misguided and nontherapeutic medical model this is. I am so tired. But I am still standing firm. Why?"
These two statements really sum up what has been swirling in my head for the last several weeks. I get the idea of "protecting the public, " but that has become such a BS buzzword for these programs/BONs to justify doing whatever they want, including wholesale destruction of people's lives. As far as "contributing to the process of recovery?" Well that is one marvelous failure. The useless, humiliating s*** that we are put through would drive anyone to drink, except we all are a too darned stubborn lot to let these idiots win.
"Sick, misguided, and non therapeutic is also a great description. I just don't understand how people that are nurses etc. themselves and possibly with recovery issues in their own background can sleep at night knowing what is done to people, in the name of "protecting the public."
okay //rant off//....i'm going to go have a good cry now.
Specializes in ER, ICU/CCU, Open Heart OR Recovery, Etc.
Update: Now Etg results are classified as still pending, and the MRO is reviewing the whole test from start to finish. No more was mentioned about additional testing or anything. I'm prepared to do that if necessary.
Sorry I have been sporadic today. Got the hell out of Dodge for a few days...all approved of course.
Specializes in ER, ICU/CCU, Open Heart OR Recovery, Etc.
"I have asked myself how this process remotely protects the public, or contributes to the promotion of recovery.
What a sick, misguided and nontherapeutic medical model this is. I am so tired. But I am still standing firm. Why?"
These two statements really sum up what has been swirling in my head for the last several weeks. I get the idea of "protecting the public, " but that has become such a BS buzzword for these programs/BONs to justify doing whatever they want, including wholesale destruction of people's lives. As far as "contributing to the process of recovery?" Well that is one marvelous failure. The useless, humiliating s*** that we are put through would drive anyone to drink, except we all are a too darned stubborn lot to let these idiots win.
"Sick, misguided, and non therapeutic is also a great description. I just don't understand how people that are nurses etc. themselves and possibly with recovery issues in their own background can sleep at night knowing what is done to people, in the name of "protecting the public."
okay //rant off//....i'm going to go have a good cry now.
I almost did that the other day, when someone said, " I believe you." Those words, so powerful and healing. It is devastating to have to prove one's self, to be under a cloud of suspicion, after working so hard for so long to turn your life around.
But it is what it is. I'll continue to state that this is a mental game. I'll plug along as long as I have to.
Yes I'll rant, gnash my teeth, shake my head and wait impatiently. But I believe this will come out in the wash.
Specializes in ER, ICU/CCU, Open Heart OR Recovery, Etc.
There used to be a active Etg support group with yahoo.
It's still there, but not active after cuttoffs were elevated and they added ets for possible bacteria in urine.
Many nurses lost there license, jobs, and some lost custody of children.
I have had levels up to 1,150. I know of nurse of levels 11,000. I used to stay up every night researching what was the cause. I was going crazy. I couldn't stop testing positive.
I have been in monitoring since 2006 from California to Florida.
Now they use PEth and think that is foolproof and can only detect "true drinking "
I don't trust that test either. I know of nurses that had levels of 26. Above 20 is proof of drinking.
I think it's an internal auto brewery in the gut. There are studies that had patients eat brewers yeast and sugar. They had high Etg levels.
I stress every time I get tested. I feel like a diabetic who can't control high levels of blood sugar.
The carnage of this set of non FDA approved testing is unbelievable. Everything I have read about either one stops short of saying either one are conclusive proof.
Seeing all the heartache makes me even more determined. This **** needs to be questioned and stopped.
There used to be a active Etg support group with yahoo.
It's still there, but not active after cuttoffs were elevated and they added ets for possible bacteria in urine.
Many nurses lost there license, jobs, and some lost custody of children.
I have had levels up to 1,150. I know of nurse of levels 11,000. I used to stay up every night researching what was the cause. I was going crazy. I couldn't stop testing positive.
I have been in monitoring since 2006 from California to Florida.
Now they use PEth and think that is foolproof and can only detect "true drinking "
I don't trust that test either. I know of nurses that had levels of 26. Above 20 is proof of drinking.
I think it's an internal auto brewery in the gut. There are studies that had patients eat brewers yeast and sugar. They had high Etg levels.
I stress every time I get tested. I feel like a diabetic who can't control high levels of blood sugar.
i was wondering about bacteria producing it in the gut and being absorbed...
SororAKS, ADN, RN
720 Posts
I went to the restaurant and asked if there was any alcohol, wine, vinegar, etc in the Lemon Tahini dressing. They said there wasn't. That was good news, but still didn't really answer the question of how I got a positive UDS.
So, now my next question: Is it possible that a generic OTC hydrocortisone cream with minimal amounts of cetyl alcohol used for external genitalia itching a few days prior to and including the day I was tested, to result in a positive UDS? I didn't think of it at first. I guess I'm so focused on being careful with what I eat, drink, and breathe that I didn't even consider it.