Drug Methadone

Question by naruto_acount: My husband had to go to the hospital because of a pharmacy error, and tested positive for coke, what happened?
My husband takes methadone for a chronic pain condition, and due to an error at the pharmacy they couldn’t fill the script. So he went to the hospital in withdraw, they asked for a urine sample and he gladly gave it. They came back about an hour later and told us he had tested positive for coke and pot. He hasn’t smoked in over two months and has never touched coke before. What could cause a false positive? The only thing he took that wasn’t prescribed was some low dose Vicodin that my father gave him to stave off withdraw. It was out of date, but I doubt that it would show as a false positive. So now he has to wait till Monday to see his Doctor to get this straigtened out, while the hospital wont give him anything to help. (NOTE: I know for sure that he has not been using drugs because he’s been laying next to me in bed all day in too much pain to move for the last two weeks.)
We are both disabled by various conditions, and he was prescribed the methadone by the Stanford pain clinic, they tried various thing before the methadone and found that nothing works. He did test positive for the Vicodin, but I figured anyone with half a brain would assume that. He had his Medical Marijuana card in California, and we just moved to NM. And Dean, We go shopping twice a month.

Best answer:

Answer by DeannetheGreat
Too many missing details here for any real help to be offered.

You don’t mention that he tested positive for opiates; I assume he would have if he had been taking the unprescribed Vicodin.

It would be one thing to argue away one false positive, but two? Not logical. Besides, the fact that he was taking one medication illegally, and is on methadone (which is not prescribed, as you suggest, for “a chronic pain condition”, but for detoxification of chronic opiate abusers)– all suggest that he has a propensity for subtance abuse. Two of the most commonly abused illegal substances out there are cocaine and marijuana. It is entirely within the realm of logic and possiblity that this lab test is correctly identifying substances in his urine.

You seem quick to dismiss the possibility that he is using, but we (on Yahoo Answers) don’t know you or him. I find it difficult to believe the two of you were unseparated at any time over the last two weeks– if you were, it means you have both spent two weeks in bed, not working, not grocery shopping, not going out, not doing any of the normal things that life entails. Also not logical.

Drug abusers lie all the time. I am not calling you or your husband a liar, because I don’t know you, but I work as a nurse in a hospital and can tell you that what you report here just doesn’t add up. The lab, the pharmacy, the hospital are all mistaken– but you are not. Sorry, not buying it.

Answer by Sharin
No one is even going to BELEIVE this. Drugs has never been my issue.
I have severe neuropathy, nerve damage in hands feet, arms and legs. Terrible.
Ivd been taking methadone a long time. NEVER HAD any issue with it. .
In 2009 and I got my monthy refill, few days went by, and I started noticing that my heart was beating super fast, and jumping and skipping. my pain was worse.
I usually I took the roxan brand. But most of the time I only took 2 tabs 2or 3 times a day. 10 mg Each.
It was SO GREAT for nerve pain. ,plus it helped me sleep at night.
Anyway these strange symtoms started getting worse my chest was starting to burn like heart burn, . Just don’t get heart burn. Then I started sweating at night. Then my legs and kidney started to just ACHE! I never had this, like this before.
I started realizing it WAS my methadone, , the LAST REFILL to be precise.
Once I realized that, I took some older methadone that I’d had left from my last refill. I actually slept that night.! My legs started feeling better and the sweats went away.
I bean to understand I was in with drawl. So I just took MORE of the lnewest prescription to see if that would help. Thinking that maybe somehow it was weaker than it should be
NOPE , MADE IT WORSE, my kidneys were killing me. And it was making my while body shake was it an allergic reaction to something in my methadone, something new, like a new filler? is what my doctor thought. BI got out my old pills and put them next to my new pills same brand, They looked just. Teeny tiny bit different. They were s little bit taller, a little bit whiter.. A little bit bigger ….plus what I noticed was with my other older methadone, as soon as I put it in my mouth, it would start to dissolve, just like they always had. The new ones did NOT DO THAT, and they tasted much more bitter.
So I call my doctor tell him something’s up I can’t take the methadone anymore. I’d known this wonderful doctor, for 10 yrs before he became my pain doctor.
we did my 3 month UA. THE NURSE GAVE ME THE WEIRDEST look, and rsn out of the UA room, to get my doctor, Dont even take , or aspirin.
MY TEST CAME UP POSITIVE, FOR THESE BENZODIAZEPINE, METHAMPHETOME, AMPHETMINES, MORHPINE,OXYCODE AND DARVON !!!!!!!!!! Almost every thing on the test!
I had no way to explain that to him. All I knew was that I had been feeling weird and sick ever since I’d gotten my last refill, BUT when I took some of my last left over methadone, I did not have this reaction.
Thankfully, my doctor BELEIVED me, and knew that I just would not take those drugs, and never had.
He switched me to somthing called MS CONTIN. I was fine on that for about 9 months, then the same symptoms started happening again. Here’s the really crazy thing. When this happend a second time, I went and bought several UA kits from the store. I tested one with just water, no positive results of course,then I dropped the bad methadone into Nother kit. Everything my urine had tested positive for came up positive in the UA KIT! Then I tested my old methadone. The good batch, everything was negative.
This stuff wasvactually in the pills, not just MY UAs.
I don’t know how to explain this except, they are not cleaning their machines or equipments in between making different medicine. I showed my doctor. He BELEIVED me, I did the test infront of him. The company that made the MS CONTIN was called ESSO, OR ENDO, I CAN’T REMEMBER now. Anyway I was in a panic, I had to find something I could take, or I would once again have a life of being bed ridden because my feet and ega hurt so much.
I started calling compounding pharmacies, and asked if they had any older methadone powder on the shelf, form before 2009.
I was in luck. I found a great young pharmacist that said he had a bottle of methadone powder, crystal he called it from 2005. He made me up a small amount, it worked!!!
We went long like this for bout 2 yrs. everything was ok, EXCEPT, ONE TIME they made a new batch for my refill, it was a clear liquid just mixed with water and citrus acid. after a few days I started having that bad reaction AGAIN ! Heart and shaking and kidney pain.
They were unable to get methadone from the company that had worked for me, and had to start using another manufacturer I tired several, but just could not find one I could tolerate.
It’s been 3 yrs, I think sBout it all the time. I want an answer
I’m just afraid that there are others that have tested positive for something they absolute have not taken. I’ve read about it.. But I’ve never heard anyone with my same thing.

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