Tested positive for Adderall, never took it

[Huggies123 28]

I'm completely baffled and furious about this and cannot find a logical answer anywhere online.

Background story of my WLS adventure is I had my sleeve on Aug 26. Had an absolute awful time (had hernia repair at same time). Between muscle spasms and dehydration multiple times for first three months, it's been one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I'm a lot better now. (SW was 249 current weight 176 - yea!)

So, I recently took a pre-employment drug test and was shocked to find out it came back positive for amphetamines. Even tho I was surprised, after reviewing all meds I had recently taken (for head cold/allergies), I found out some active ingredients from those meds can actually cause a false reading.

Therefore, I asked for a second test of same urine sample to confirm the active ingredients in those meds. The second result showed it was actually Adderall!

I've never taken Adderall before in my life! A high school friend of my daughters has told us some horrific stories about this drug (addictive, people stealing it, insomnia, etc). She had ADHD and is 22 years old now.

Besides the awful stories I have heard, the amount they detected in my urine was really high. One of my first thoughts was I can't take a lot of ANY medication because it makes me sick (side effect of surgery). Add the fact this is a highly-potent drug, the amount sounds like it would have landed me in the hospital (since I'm not prone to taking strong medications).

My question is how on Gods green earth could this have shown up on my drug test? I know our bodies absorb medications differently because of the surgery but I never asked additional questions about it since I do not take anything above and beyond what my surgeon/nutritionist instructed me to. I'm not sure how the active ingredients in these meds absorb into a stomach that's been reduced by 80%. Or maybe it could be a combination of the meds I recently took (cold/allergy meds).

Add another layer to this story, when I went to do the drug test, the first time I tried to pee it wasn't enough (still having dehydration issues). So I had to drink Water for an hour straight while standing where they could watch me until I could pee enough. Not sure if this means anything but wanted to add it to provide a better pic of the situation.

The MRO (dr who reviewed the drug test) does not deal with a lot of WLS patients so he's going to review everything and get back with me. I'm just terrified he's going to mark it as a positive and I won't get this job.

If you think "I'm screwed", please don't tell me. I've been told that by a couple people this weekend and since I'm already completely stressed about this, it just adds to it. )

Thank you so much, if for anything else, just listening (well, reading) )

[Sharon1964 2,530]

We urine drug test our patients. The way I understand it, the test won't show that you took Adderall; it will show that you took something that comes up as positive for amphetamines.

I believe, but am not positive, that a blood test will be more accurate (as it doesn't depend on what is excreted by your kidneys). You may want to ask for that.

[WL WARRIOR 692]

Did you take pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) recently? You mentioned cold medicine, but not that particular drug. Anyhow, Sudafed can show up as Adderall or meth during a urine analysis. You are lucky they didn't call authorities because I've heard of that happening.

I would insist on doing a blood test if you don't pass the second UA. They can also do a more reliable drug screening using your teeth, but I'm not sure how that works. Try to relax, I've heard that this happens to a lot of people. I take an antidepressant that shows up as a benzomyapine (so?) on almost every UA. It is has been frustrating to explain or prove over the years. So, I understand where you are coming from.

[Huggies123 28]

Thank you for responding. Yes, sudafed was one of them. I also heard a nasal decongestant was one that can cause a positive test. And of course I took that too (off brand of it). If I had known these could cause issues, I would have waited until the end of the 48 hours I was told to take the test within (took it within three hours I was offered the job).

I never heard about the authorities part. He didn't say that, thank goodness. I gave him my regular dr and my surgeons name, told him I'll sign whatever authorization he wants me to to talk to anyone, I've never been an addict or had issues with these type of pills before.

Thank you again for your responses, I appreciate it.

[blondebomb 580]

I dont understand the "calling authorities" part over testing positive bc of "adderall" but in your case was cold meds. I would def ask to take blood test especially for a job. Iv taken adderall for ADD an I wasnt addicted it does help. just felt the need to clear that on my end on the use of this particular drug. in fact I was suppose to take 2 daily an I did well to get 1 in daily. I couldnt feel the differance other then brain fog from the autoimmune diseases cause. Im sorry your dealing with the false positive hopefully this can get cleared up quick. if they really wanted to know the truth they could have checked on the drug list to see if your on it..anyone who is subscribed by dr legitimatly their name is on the data base for controlled substances. I know its stressful but the truth always comes out hang in there.. keep us posted ...I hope it works out for ya

[WL WARRIOR 692]

My doctor said Sudafed stays in your system for three weeks. Just something to keep in mind if this happens again down the road.

[Huggies123 28]

I didn't know there was a database for those type of medications, it definitey makes sense that there is tho. I would have thought he would have checked that right when it came up as Adderall. I'll call him tomorrow morning and ask him about it(thank you for letting me know!!)

I also didn't realize Sudafed could stay in your system that long. I hope he lets me take another test. If he does, he'll at least know of the medications ahead of time. Thanks again for your responses, I really appreciate it!!

[Sharon1964 2,530]

I didn't know there was a database for those type of medications, it definitey makes sense that there is tho. I would have thought he would have checked that right when it came up as Adderall. I'll call him tomorrow morning and ask him about it(thank you for letting me know!!)

That's not going to help you; it will just make it look like you got the drugs from a non-legitimate source (you "borrowed" or bought from someone).

[Huggies123 28]

Oh really? Okay, then I won't. I thought maybe it would provide more another resource to explore in order to prove I do not take that medication. Never thought how it might look on his end (he's probably heard all sorts of stories). Thank you for letting me know.

[Sharon1964 2,530]

You're welcome. I work in a pain management office, and we run those reports all the time. In our case, what we're looking for is that the patient is only getting controlled medications from us, and that they're only using one pharmacy.

The patient tells us what medications they are taking when they do the urine test. If they say something like "Adderall", and it's not on their drug report, we're having a serious discussion about where they are getting their medication, because it's not a legitimate prescription.

[Huggies123 28]

Let me ask you this, how would it look if I suggested taking another one. I'm trying to put myself in his shoes and wondering if that would tho make me look guilty. But I haven't taken anything since I took the drug test as I am no longer sick (other than my daily pills I take from the surgery). But, like I said, I do not want to say anything that may look "suspicious".

Also, as I mentioned in my original post, I couldn't pee enough to get a full sample. So I drank for an hour straight right before the test. Do you think that could have played a factor in all this? A friend of mine who had the surgery five years ago was shocked it was still in my system after drinking so much. Maybe I drank too much and it set off some red flags.

[Sharon1964 2,530]

Drinking a lot of Water before the test would not have mattered. I think it would be perfectly fine to reach out to the doctor and request another test. Ask him if he can order a blood test.

[Huggies123 28]

I will do that. Thank you again for your help, I really appreciate it!

[sketcher709 9]

You're welcome. I work in a pain management office, and we run those reports all the time. In our case, what we're looking for is that the patient is only getting controlled medications from us, and that they're only using one pharmacy.

The patient tells us what medications they are taking when they do the urine test. If they say something like "Adderall", and it's not on their drug report, we're having a serious discussion about where they are getting their medication, because it's not a legitimate prescription.

Wow. So a P-doc diagnoses a patient with ADHD and wants them on Adderall but is not allowed to prescribe it? So the patient with the pain doc has to go to the pain doc and convince them to gov them Adderall even though it was not the pain doc who diagnosed the disorder? Help me understand this. Seems bizarre to me....but I guess it is our system to treat pain patients like criminals and drug seekers. I have a friend who just came off fentanyl after 13 years as it was causing her pain to be exacerbated. She is lucky in that while her body was physically dependent on it, she was not addicted to it. I've seen how she is treated if she goes to the ER for anything, even if it is not something that would require any pain management. That in itself is criminal.

[Sharon1964 2,530]

Wow. So a P-doc diagnoses a patient with ADHD and wants them on Adderall but is not allowed to prescribe it? So the patient with the pain doc has to go to the pain doc and convince them to gov them Adderall even though it was not the pain doc who diagnosed the disorder? Help me understand this.

No, that wasn't what I said. What I was referring to was that a patient comes up positive for a drug that is not on their Dept of Justice report. We do make exceptions to the "all controlled substances from us" rule for psychotherapeutic medications.

I wasn't trying to give every protocol we have as that would take a novel.

As long as we're here, I'll say we're not treating people like criminals. We're trying to keep them alive. For instance, we recently found that we were prescribing Norco to a patient and they went and got Tylenol with codeine from someone else. What's the problem with that? Norco has Tylenol in it and now they're double-dosing on Tylenol which can seriously harm their liver.

My boss is well aware that long-term use of opioids can make pain syndromes worse. We try to move people to agonist-antagonist drugs when appropriate, sooner rather than later.

@@Huggies123 and also while we're here, do you get this problem resolved?