False Positive For Codeine

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I have a herniated disk in my lower back that is small & central so surgery is not recommend as it tends to worsen pain. I have been in a pain mgmt group for almost 2 yrs. Over a year ago they started me on morfine sulfate with my dosage at 60mg of an ER for the past year. They also had me on morfine sulfate for breakthrough pain. In July they switched my breakthrough from a morfine sulfate 30 mg to a 10 mg opana IR. Starting in July & repeating in Aug. they did a random UA on me & both showed-up with a positive for Codeine. This is the first time in two years of being with the PM group that codeine has shown up. My dr. Asked if I have been taking a cough syrup or anything with codeine in it. I haven't nor have I eaten any poppyseed products @ the time of the UAs. She wants me to double check sure it's something over the counter I took or ate. I haven't been sick & all I have taken in the last 6 mos. are med she perscribed & a stool softener for the constipation they create. Is it possible for the codeine positive to be a result of being on the morphine sulfate 60 mg ER for over a year? Or could the opanaIR (10mg)cause a false positive? I also take trizanidine (4mg)@ bedtime& lorazepam (.5mg)up to 2x a day as needed usually only 1 pill every 2 days is what I have needed but the ocassinal 2 pill day happens, & use medical marijuana (do to minimal relief from the med) Can any of these medications be causing the codeine positive & what can I do to stop it from happening?

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1

Whether or not the medications you're using are triggering the false positive, there's not much you can do to stop it from happening, since the drug testing facilities like to put the blame on "you" for their own mistake. They define it as a 'false-positive' as opposed to a 'mistake' on their part, to take the liability away from them and back on you, the patient for "taking something you shouldn't have taken".

They have the choice to use better drug testing equipment, such as a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer; which has the ability to distinguish the exact substance in question. They just don't use it as often due to costs, so they would rather take the high risk of displaying a misreading than pay a few extra dollars. I would see about getting that type of drug test done on the original sample if at all possible.

Standard drug tests are equivalent to a guessing game in my opinion. If they want you to be honest about what you're taking, they need to provide honest results.

I hope this advice helps!

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2

What type of test are they using?

If it is one of the less expensive, non-certified ones that they do in the office, where they basically just dip little stick things into urine for detection, then they are well known to show false positives anywhere from 4 to 50% of the time due to the other opiates that you're taking.

Learn more drug test details here.

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3

I'm on a Methadone maintenance program. I've been clean for two years. The same exact thing happened to me. I took a urine test and it came back positive for opiates. I asked the clinic if they could identify what opiate came up positive. A week later they came back with the answer codeine. My mind started to wonder if someone did this on purpose or my urine was mixed with another patient's sample. I'm willing to take whatever steps necessary to prove my innocence. I will take a hair test, blood test, whatever. I took the test on November 1, 2016. Does anyone know why this happened?

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4

Re: Dan (# 3) Expand Referenced Message

Have you taken any thing for sleep like Unisom are like a generic Unisom containing the drug diphenhydramine?

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