New to testing recovery trek help

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My husband just started his first job since his license has been reinstated. He had to sign up with recovery trek and we have cleaned out our entire house to prevent a possibile accidental exposure, we read the letter about recovery trek now using a more sensitive test... My question is mainly about vanilla extract he came shopping with me at a whole foods and not thinking we grabbed cold brew mocha coffees in a can we each had one I checked the ingredients after the fact and I didn't see any vanilla extract but it has me wondering has anyone gotten a false positive from vanilla extract I know it's on the list but has anyone eaten something with it and passed ? Or had anyone accidentally eaten vanilla extract and failed ,from what food ? Our sons birthday is next week and I noticed vanilla ice cream is out for my husband... Lastly what is a quality deoderent without alcohol that works as he sweats a lot? This is all so new to us I'm trying to support him and it just seems as if the accidental exposure possiblity is everywhere ? any advice would be greatly appreciated as since yesterday I have read more than I ever cared to know about vanilla extract and alcohol testing ?

Healer555 said:

To add, we can't eat poppy seeds. 

Oh right, I do like Everything bagels which have poppy seeds on them.  I have eaten the since starting monitoring, but I haven't eaten them that frequently and have never been tested the day after eating an everything bagel.  That could be an issue - I'm not sure how much poppy seeds it would take to cause a positive opiate screen.  

The stuff that pisses me off the most is not being able to use DXM or other common cold medications - like pseudoephedrine is the only thing that works for my sinus congestion during the Winter or allergies.

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Yeah I truly don't avoid anything except drugs and alcohol and I am careful with trying not to inhale when I sanitize my hands. I've heard numerous stories abt that, not sure how valid they are. Not being able to take certain cold medicine and not being able to use CBD is what I don't like the most far as consuming things. This last time I had a cold I had my NP sign my prescription form and turned it in just in case. They can write a prescription for OTC meds for us as well, you just have to turn in the script. This is definitely a journey and truly not that hard LONG as you don't do drugs or alcohol then you're just causing yourself more of a headache. It's by far not worth it.

I also do online meetings and have since covid. I love my NA support group.

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Did anyone take Tylenol or Motrin without permission? 

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Healer555 said:

Did anyone take Tylenol or Motrin without permission? 

That's like the 2 medications that won't show up on any test!  Don't be so worried about false positives!

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Universe93B said:

That's like the 2 medications that won't show up on any test!  Don't be so worried about false positives!

They told us we need permission for those and vitamins.  I know vitamins won't show up as they are in food. 

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Healer555 said:

They told us we need permission for those and vitamins.  I know vitamins won't show up as they are in food. 

Wow, ridiculous.  Just shaking my head here.  Take Tylenol and Motrin as needed.  Can't wait til all this mess is over!

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Universe93B said:

Wow, ridiculous.  Just shaking my head here.  Take Tylenol and Motrin as needed.  Can't wait til all this mess is over!

Same. I actually count the days. 

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Healer555 said:

Same. I actually count the days. 

Absolutely.  I also use other number "tricks" to make me feel better mentally.  Use months or weeks instead of days sometimes.  Or divide days over the total days and come up with fractions (I'm 40% done with monitoring!)

Different days I need different number tricks to keep going!  

Just remember this quote to help everyone's monitoring here:  "The days are long but the years are short."  

People with kids usually know that quote.

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Oh lord I take all kinds of vitamins and anything OTC long as it doesn't have pseudoephedrine or whatever it is. There's a list of vitamins and herbs that can false positives which I stay away from. Those are on the internet. If you did test positive for an herb supplement they can easily determine that when they do further testing if positive. 
this program is long and hard and sometimes discouraging but gotta keep trekking along. Time sure does fly by just not in the moment LOL.,

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Shorty4444 said:

Oh lord I take all kinds of vitamins and anything OTC long as it doesn't have pseudoephedrine or whatever it is. There's a list of vitamins and herbs that can false positives which I stay away from. Those are on the internet. If you did test positive for an herb supplement they can easily determine that when they do further testing if positive. 
this program is long and hard and sometimes discouraging but gotta keep trekking along. Time sure does fly by just not in the moment LOL.,

Zinc and multivitamin.? Naturemade

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Specializes in OPO/ED.

Hey OP, I agree with what Universe said. I just finished my contract last week but when it comes to accidental exposures— the ONLY time I have heard about someone screwing up was when they at a cake at Christmas that was rum cake. They did not get in any big trouble as they were able to prove it was from the cake. I used vanilla extract, ate vodka pasta sauce, wine braised short ribs, things with poppy seeds, used alcohol based sanitizer, alcohol based body wash/scrubs/perfume……. More things including meds, I won't even bother to list. The point being I never had an issue, I wasn't in the program for alcohol so I'm not sure if my drug testing was different but I don't think you have anything to worry about. 

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@Universe93B about how long does it take for the hair follicle test to result? 
 

Oh lord I take all kinds of vitamins and anything OTC long as it doesn't have pseudoephedrine or whatever it is. There's a list of vitamins and herbs that can false positives which I stay away from. Those are on the internet. If you did test positive for an herb supplement they can easily determine that when they do further testing if positive. 
this program is long and hard and sometimes discouraging but gotta keep trekking along. Time sure does fly by just not in the moment LOL.,

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