Positive Drug Test TNPAP

[Bevel_Up]

I have been in TNPAP for almost two years now. Today I received a positive result on my last UDS. It is positive for opiates / morphine.

I have no idea why it is positive. I've gone through every possibility in my head and I am coming up with nothing. I have been very careful about what I eat and drink.

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm pretty much just freaking out right now. I am waiting for the MRO to call me and I will have them re-test it. I also self tested today.

Liz

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

:confused:I actually looked it up. Apparently the poppy seeds filter out of the urine in 12-24 hours. So I guess we can have them on Friday....

[bunsthataresticky]

Whaaaat!?! I honestly thought it would take like a TON of poppy seeds to cause a false positive, certainly not an everything bagel. Man! That's crazy.

[Lisacar130]

Our tests are positive with just a tiny tiny amount of opiates... pretty much anything above zero. Normal people's drug tests have a much higher cutoff... it would take I think about 2,000 (whatever units per ml) of opiates to flag as a positive for everyone else. So that is how even some poppy seeds could easily flag a positive for us, whereas the general population doesn't have to worry about that as it would take TONS of poppy seeds to score above the cutoff.

On a side note, I ate an everything bagel a couple months ago around midnight and was freaking out, I emailed my case manager because of course I had to test that day. I tested around 9am. It never did show up as positive though.

[Bevel_Up, BSN, RN]

ME TOO!! That's why I am really not super careful about it honestly. I had one Sunday night as well as Monday afternoon. Not even thinking at all about it all. Obviously. í ½í¹„

[Bevel_Up, BSN, RN]

Well that is good to know. You would think they would kind of give people who are in monitoring programs a heads up about that. Everything I read has said otherwise ya know. That makes sense if monitoring programs have a lower cutoff level though.

Well, lesson learned, note to self.....all of that. Dang. I'll update you guys on what happens from here.

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

Why would they give a heads up. These things function in a culture of fear, noninformation and innuendo. In short, they aren't going to say a darn thing that's going to commit them to precedence being on record.

Pretty much the only way we find out anything is through 3rd hand rumors and chat boards like this. Those 3rd hand rumors are most dangerous because they perpetrate that garbage like "a 1/4 tsp of vanilla in a cake will make you positive for alcohol." Yes, I've heard that and it's beyond stupid.

I think what Lisacar said is what we have to keep in mind. Apparently cutoffs for us poor schmucks are ridiculously low that common living will catch you up. I would think that if someone truly relapsed, levels would be much higher than borderline nothing. But then...it's money.

[Bevel_Up, BSN, RN]

You're totally right. I don't know what even made me think that they would actually inform us about something like lower cutoff levels. I'm sure I will be reprimanded in some way, shape, or fashion for indulging in a couple everything bagels.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

This stuff is asinine. How many damn poppy seed bagels would you have to eat to get a buzz? A thousand? A Million? Its the same with the alcohol hand sanitizer at work. They need to have a rational look at the levels they are testing for

[Bevel_Up, BSN, RN]

I agree. These cutoff levels feel like they set people up to fail!