Option 4 at CRL

[GreenFeather]

Found out the name of the lab that will be doing my testing. It's CRL, which stand for Clinical Reference Laboratory. Anyway, I was selected on my very second time to check in to submit a sample. I had to drive two hours away because it was a Saturday and the site where I can test in my town was closed. Anyway, I was selected for Option 4. Does anyone have any idea what's tested for with that one?

[gnurse2089]

The general jist of what I've gotten from these boards is none of us really know what we're being tested for. Some people have made educated guesses but in general, the labs make it extremely difficult for you to find out anything about what substances you're being tested for. Every time I call with a question, even if it's just to confirm they recieved my sample, the general answer I get is, "I can't give you any information, you'll have to ask your monitor."

You're best bet is to keep clean and avoid anything that might lead to a fail. Believe me it's hard, I'm 26 years old and live in wine country, I used to love going out to the vineyards on my day off and wine taste, but any time I think, "Hey maybe I can sneak a glass of wine in without the boards knowing." I come on here and read the horror stories of people who did that and got caught and that sets me straight. 3 years of no drinking is nothing compared to getting caught up in this horrible monitoring agreement for any longer than I need to be. And, honestly, at least for me, the desire to drink went way down after the first month. It sounds strange but there's a day where you'll be at a bbq or other event, everyone around you will be tossing a few back and you'll just be like, eh, not really craving a beer anymore. At least it happened to me.

Having said that, if you're asking because you're worried about incidental exposure , i'll tell you I'm a few months into this now, been tested about 10 times thus far, and if I am being tested for ETG, it's a lot harder to get a false positive for incidental exposure than you think. I haven't changed my diet at all, don't read food labels, use hand sanitizer at work (I've even been tested on days I worked where I'm using hand sanitizer like every 15 minutes) and have yet to produce a false positive. I'm of the opinion though that if it ever does happen, and I get a false positive because I ate vanilla extract or something ridiculous like that then maybe I should just take it as a sign from God that I'm meant to do something other than nursing. Don't drive yourself crazy, life gives you enough to worry about.