Not a drug user but tested positive for cocaine

[ntotalshock]

hi everyone. before i go into my situation, i have to say that some of the details may be somewhat graphic. i am not in anyway wanting to offend anyone but i have to be totally honest "in detail" so that i can real and honest feedback.

first off, i was offered a wonderful opportunity to volunteer in the er at a hospital in my town. i have not started in my nursing program just yet but i felt that by volunteering i would gain great knowledge and experience. and just the fact that i was chosen out of 20 others for this meant so much to me.

i went this past monday for my drug test and tb skin test. i felt really great leaving because i knew i would be starting this volunteer job this weekend. i received a call today from the volunteer coordinator and she told me that i would not be able to be a volunteer because my health results not up to par.

i immediately contacted the lady that administered the drug and tb skin test to find out what was wrong and she told me that i failed my drug screen. on top of that, she told me that i tested positive for cocaine. i instantly went into shock because i know for a fact that i have never (and would never) experiment with any type of drugs.

i did list all of the drugs that i had taken within the last month before taking the drug test. i listed oxycodone (prescribed last week when i had 3 wisdom teeth removed) and clorazepate (for anxiety). the last time i took the clorazepate was approximately 3 weeks ago. i have done extensive research on both and i cannot find any ties to cocaine in either drug.

**this is the graphic part**

two saturdays ago, i was intimate with my boyfriend, who is a cocaine user. i have tried so many times to get him help to stop because even though i am in love with him, there is no way possible that i would be able to go into nursing and have any type of personal dealings with drugs. i did perform oral sex and i tasted a very nasty chemical taste in my mouth. the taste literally made me sick at my stomach.

i can't help but wonder if that is where the cocaine came from. i also researched to find out if it can be transported through body fluids and everything i have read so far says that it is only transported through the bloodstream. i need answers from anyone who has knowledge on this type of thing.

i must admit that i am so very heartbroken because i lost my volunteering opportunity and i just had to end things with the man that i love because i just cannot have him jeopardizing my future that i have worked so hard for.

someone please give me some advice/insight into this horrible situation. and thanks in advance for reading my post.

hi everyone. before i go into my situation, i have to say that some of the details may be somewhat graphic. i am not in anyway wanting to offend anyone but i have to be totally honest "in detail" so that i can real and honest feedback.

first off, i was offered a wonderful opportunity to volunteer in the er at a hospital in my town. i have not started in my nursing program just yet but i felt that by volunteering i would gain great knowledge and experience. and just the fact that i was chosen out of 20 others for this meant so much to me.

i went this past monday for my drug test and tb skin test. i felt really great leaving because i knew i would be starting this volunteer job this weekend. i received a call today from the volunteer coordinator and she told me that i would not be able to be a volunteer because my health results not up to par.

i immediately contacted the lady that administered the drug and tb skin test to find out what was wrong and she told me that i failed my drug screen. on top of that, she told me that i tested positive for cocaine. i instantly went into shock because i know for a fact that i have never (and would never) experiment with any type of drugs.

i did list all of the drugs that i had taken within the last month before taking the drug test. i listed oxycodone (prescribed last week when i had 3 wisdom teeth removed) and clorazepate (for anxiety). the last time i took the clorazepate was approximately 3 weeks ago. i have done extensive research on both and i cannot find any ties to cocaine in either drug.

**this is the graphic part**

two saturdays ago, i was intimate with my boyfriend, who is a cocaine user. i have tried so many times to get him help to stop because even though i am in love with him, there is no way possible that i would be able to go into nursing and have any type of personal dealings with drugs. i did perform oral sex and i tasted a very nasty chemical taste in my mouth. the taste literally made me sick at my stomach.

i can't help but wonder if that is where the cocaine came from. i also researched to find out if it can be transported through body fluids and everything i have read so far says that it is only transported through the bloodstream. i need answers from anyone who has knowledge on this type of thing.

i must admit that i am so very heartbroken because i lost my volunteering opportunity and i just had to end things with the man that i love because i just cannot have him jeopardizing my future that i have worked so hard for.

someone please give me some advice/insight into this horrible situation. and thanks in advance for reading my post.

[mathwizard]

My advice if you knew they were a drug abuser you should have avoided them and thus avoided the problem you have now. Druggies only care about drugs and until you learn that you will be putting yourself in danger of even worse situations than failing a drug screen. Second how did you pop a drug test without knowingly using drugs easy. Many druggies dip thier body part in drugs to give them power it is well documented so you probably did ingest the toxins from mouth to skin contact and digested it in your stomach which eventually leads into the bloodstream. My advice get some knew freinds then worry about your career!

[iHealth]

The reply, above, seems to solve the logic behind all of this.

However, I am not here to judge you. I know that drugs are very scary and can take over the ones we love. It's not as simple as walking away, but I do feel you made the right choice, this time around. You cannot help someone if they do not want to help themselves and it takes a strong person to walk away.

Reapply at another place. Take this as a lesson learned. I'm sorry that this didn't work out...but it's just a volunteer position, so don't get your hopes down. Luckily, you figured this out now, rather than later, when you're actually a nurse and they conduct random drug tests...you could have lost your license. Yikes.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

First as someone that desires to enter nursing school and become a licensed nurse, hanging out with a someone uses cocaine is a very BAAAADDD idea. If the drug gets found in your residence, on your boyfriend when he is with you, or at his place when you have been with him.....you will get popped and there goes your chances of being licensed.

Background checks are done routinely and you would be amazed at what shows up. I received a thorough one for a govenment related assignment - the stuff they dug up on people that I associated with, even 20 or more years ago, was astounding. No to mention that data on my brother in law. And while some places will blow off MJ data or things that happened 20 years ago., currently dating someone that uses cocaine is not something blown off.

This also reinforces the fact that you should be using condoms with sexual activities, even where pregnancy is not a possibility. Someone that uses cocaine does not necessarily have the best judgement...if they did, they wouldn't be using cocaine, which has immense health hazards attached to it.

But a possibility that you may not have thought of. Did you explain to the screener that you had teeth removed in the last week, and that they probably gave you an injectable local anesthetic. Most commonly, drugs like novacaine....which may be in a similar drug class as cocaine.

Some solutions containing small amounts of cocaine (usually marketed under a different name) are occasionally used in oral (dental) and nasal surgery or for certain special situations of suturing, for it's anesthetic and vasconstriction properties. And there are several local anesthetics used that are of a similar class. Even if you had conscious sedation, the area of the procedure is generally numbed with something. You might ask your dentist for that data and see if there was a cross sensitivity perhaps in the drug screen.

[Annaiya, NP]

First off, I'm glad to hear you are leaving this man who uses drugs. There are a lot of great men in this world and you don't need to be with one who will jeopardize your future.

I concur with Caroladybelle that it might be worth pursuing to see what drugs were used during your anesthesia. I know my hospital stocks certain meds with cocaine in them for surgical procedures as well. I think ours is for optic surgery.

Lastly, drug screens are very sensitive. If you ingest just one grain of cocaine (which is easy to do on accident if you are around someone else who does it), it will show up positive on your drug screen. You will take many, many drug screen tests in your career as a nurse, so ensure that you are not around anyone who uses drugs. Your life and your career are more important.