positive drug test help

Published

I HAD TO TAKE A DRUG TEST FOR MY EMPLOYER, IT CAME BACK POSITIVE FOR DARVOCET. I HAD A SCRIPT FOR IT AT ONE TIME LOST THE BOTTLE KEPT THE LEFT OVER PILLS. TOOK SOME FOR SEVERE PAIN NOW DON'T REMEMBER WHO PRESCRIPED THEM,OR DATE OF RX ANYWAY CAN I LOSE MY ILLINOIS NURSING LICENSE AND OR JOB OVER THIS 1 TIME TEST? VERY WORRIED LOVE MY JOB,HATED THE NIGHTMARE SCHOOL WAS ANY IDEAS?:crying2::bluecry1::sniff::nurse:

your reasoning confounds me.

i have anxiety attacks. I have a scrip of alprazolam 0.25 to be taken as needed no more than tid. I get 90 in a script. I can use the same script for 3-6 mths. am I addicted? Or breaking some unknown code with people needing prescriptions?

please explain.

You take medication for a chronic condition. Your doctor prescribed this medication to be used whenever you have a panic attack. That is different than taking a pain med. It doesn't seem like the OP has a chronic pain condition, or she wouldn't have had a prescription so old it had expired. The doctor prescribed the pain meds for her original injury/surgery/illness or whatever it was that warranted pain meds. Several months later the OP took the med that was not in its own bottle for another occurence of pain. That is not typically what doctors intend when they prescribe pain meds.

If the op had said "I have a chronic condition for which I take pain meds, and it showed up on a drug screen" then this would be a similar situation to what you described.

I don't see what is illogical about this. But then again, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I'm not on these boards to argue, just to gain insight. I also enjoy reading other peoples' opinions, as it gives me other prospectives from which to look at situations. :specs:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

i did some research on this, because everyone here has different opinions about this. in GENERAL, a pain rx is good for 1 year (and possibly more). the medical review officer (the MD that interviews you and confirms positive drug test results) ultimately decides whether or not to report the results as positive. just my personal opinion, if i had an RX for percocet for say, back pain and i saved it for several months and then used it for say, ankle pain, i would not tell them that!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.

The key here is we are professionals and are going to be held to a higher standard. What Joe Public can get away with you wont. SO if you go to the ER or the Dr for back pain and get a script for Percocet you need to use them all or once your pain is gone toss them out. I personally don't want to take the chance of having to stand in front of the BON and explain why I have a + drug test after I take a couple for a boo boo later and get tested out of the blue.

Rj

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I would think that the onus is on the investigators to find out if you have a valid Rx. Innocent until proven guilty. Fine, they found a controlled substance. If you have valid scripts, what is the issue? If I had to keep track of ever small piece of paper in my life, I would have big problems too. And to me, having lots of Rx's from several different places is not surprising. I have family members who are on 10+ meds, and they may not be the ones picking up their own meds. So how can I bust my Grandma for that?

As to the pain meds / acute onset issue, I think that we are getting just a bit too far ahead of ourselves with the addiction issue, here. If I personally have an Rx for acute pain (low back injury), the pain subsides, and I suffer a trauma (sprained ankle) unrelated to the back..... Do I have to say it? Does it make me an addict? I am of the cynical opinion that just because a Dr prescribes it, doesn't make you addiction proof. Legal? Yeah. Woopie.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

Actually the onus is on the person( the nurse) who gave the sample for the drug test to prove how it got it in their system. Next how was the drug obtained. Worked with someone who once took their spouses narcotic. Big no no,even though could see how they might think one time it was okay.

Interesting thread. I believe a doctor would disagree unless we spoke to them ourselves that he gave you a prescription for pain medications except for the specific symptom you saw him for originally. Anything more than that and you are in fact crossing the Nurse Practice Act / into prescribing.

Having said that, does that mean, no nurse has done it.. Perhaps no. does that mean after reading the entire thread that all of us will look at it differently? I would hope so.

What non nurses do is one thing. What nurses do is another, we are expected to know the laws. We are expected to know our Scope of Practice.

In a court a law we never get to say " I didn't know" and that goes for about everything it seems. It is expected we know how to maintain and keep our licenses.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in see above.

my question is this. evveryone that has had a pain pills script. does it always say "For back pain" or "for lower abdominal pain?" because when i've had them it has stated "take 2 tabs every four hours as needed for pain." not a specific location. To me, and many others it means if i am in pain i can take this medication.

As long as the script is valid.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

Ask your own doctor how he would feel about this. He could tell you better than I can.

all I know is, my loved one is a Doctor, even when he would prescribe to his patients, never myself, he knew why they were being prescribed. Any other use outside of that, well I gave the answer already.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med Surg, Nursing Administration for SNF.
I would think that the onus is on the investigators to find out if you have a valid Rx. Innocent until proven guilty. Fine, they found a controlled substance. If you have valid scripts, what is the issue? If I had to keep track of ever small piece of paper in my life, I would have big problems too. And to me, having lots of Rx's from several different places is not surprising. I have family members who are on 10+ meds, and they may not be the ones picking up their own meds. So how can I bust my Grandma for that?

Problem is, Grandma is not counting and dispensing meds, assessing and caring for pts, etc. We are not working at Walmart, we deal with human lives and Med Errors are a leading cause of death. Then again, you can always lower your standards a bit and maybe you will be working at Walmart.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, Mother/Baby.

Well I find it very hard to believe that one does not remember where she got a prescription filled nor which Dr gave her the meds. Even more troubling is the fact that she is a nurse and couldn't come up with the fact that there are records kept..either thru pharmacy or Dr office. Does she herself not document at work??

I have a husband and 3 kids and I can tell you every script and Dr they have ever had or gone to.

Just some facts to make us go hmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Well, Im sure she was prescribed the meds originally for pain and she was experiencing pain. If they were hers and they were prescribed for HER, then I dont see the problem. She took her own drugs that were prescribed for her, which I dont see is illegal. Who hasnt done this. She does however need to keep the bottle of any prescription drugs she is taking for reasons such as this. If she is ever to get pulled over by a police for speeding or anything, any drugs need to be in their original bottle also.

They will probably drug test again to ensure there is no drug problem.

She needs to go to the pharmacy and obtain a med history. From now on, keep your bottles. :) Good luck and please keep us posted.

COME ON?? Who doesn't keep their prescription bottles for PAIN medication?? She's totally full of it. She thinks if we believe her then somehow it will be true. No offense most of us are not that gullible.

:twocents::twocents:

To OP, obviously you have yourself some addiction issues. Get them taken care of and move on with life.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Problem is, Grandma is not counting and dispensing meds, assessing and caring for pts, etc. We are not working at Walmart, we deal with human lives and Med Errors are a leading cause of death. Then again, you can always lower your standards a bit and maybe you will be working at Walmart.

Wow. Some people take their pain meds and place them in a week long dispenser. I guess they should be "working at Walmart", or better yet, lined up and shot. Funny thing is, just because nurses are "all about health", let's not be so quick to assume that they are the living proof of it. I see more than a few cigarette smoking, overweight and underslept nurses. Some of us are human beings. Strive for it, yeah. But to take a legally prescribed pain medication for what was called "pain" doesn't seem so criminally negligent to me. I am not going to sit here and dream up scenarios in which the OP is a lying drug addict.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Post Anesthesia.
Taking prescription drugs for a purpose other than it was prescribed for is illegal. If you were in severe pain, you should have seen your doctor. I don't know how much trouble you'll get into, but you should know better.

:nono:

Yeah sure- like we are going to throw out the left over percocet from our post-op pain Rx. and call the doc for an appointment for a new script for percocet for our lumbar strain 12 weeks later- waste of pills, waste of health care dollars, waste of my doctors time and mine. Self diagnosing is sometimes problematic-I'm sure that's why medical advise isn't allowed ot this site-nurses can't help but do it, but it isn't like taking a half a prescription of a random antibiotic becuase you have a cold or slapping on your sisters duramorph patch. If I have pain- unrelieved by OTC measures, I'm going to take my 12 week old percocet and if it dosen't go away I'll call my doc for follow-up diagnostics. We are trained in the use of these medications and the doctor felt it was a safe medication for "puppylove" to take for some pain. It was ordered for her, paid for by her, and written for her to administer at her discretion for her pain. I don't see anything illegal of unethical, but I can see your point and I guess someone could split hairs and accuse a person of illegal use of a nacotic. I wish "puppylove" the best of luck with this bump in the road- but I'm sure, if she has any kind of rapport with her PCP at all he will be happy to back her up with a letter verifying she had a valid Rx. for this medication and he approved of it's use. He may want to see her to review why she was needing it again, but the fact that she still had some left over meds is a pretty good indication she wasn't an abuser. HEY PUPPYLOVE!-anyone else worried about why you were keeping pills outside of thier original container-What, do ya keep your Rx. meds in a plastic baggie in your purse? That is kind of a "junkie" behavior, and is just begging for trouble. Even the local police would jump to bad conclusions if they found that with a routine trafic stop. That ought to be the biggest lesson learned.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion