In any drug test a lab looks for small concentrations of contaminates, called metabolites, to determine which specific “products” have been used. The body naturally stores metabolites in the fatty cells and fast growing cells in your body. These metabolites leach out of a person’s cells (soft tissues), into the blood, and are expelled mostly through the urinary tract. Metabolites can stay in the fat for different periods of time; your fat content, activity level, as well as your metabolism all have a major impact on how long chemicals can be detected in your system.
If you’re thinking along the lines that like an apple, orange, or grape that you squeeze to get the juice out, your chiropractor squeezed something out of your bones that flagged you as hot the answer is “No” . It just doesn’t work that way, however, many over-the-counter medications and herbal teas will come back after a piss test as a positive result for something you’re not supposed to do. For example the active ingredient in Benadryl, diphenhydramine, is an antihistamine taken for colds and allergies relief, can produce a false positive result for benzodiazepines, such as Valium, Ativan and Xanax. Another common over-the-counter medication Sudafed, its active ingredient pseudoephedrine, is used for the temporary relief of nose, sinus, and ear congestion caused by the common cold or allergies. It has been shown to produce a false positive result for cocaine metabolite.
The labs know that false positives are possible and they adjust their testing procedures as best they’re able. They look at what metabolites were detected and at what concentrations (measured as a percentage). Taking all this into account the problem programs run into are for those people whose “numbers” are borderline. So what the labs are suppose to do when they get a specimen is they have to keep part of that specimen for a short amount of time for confirmation testing. It’s a protection against false positive results for the person whose butt may be on the line.
Summary : A person takes a drug test, the specimen is sent to a lab, the lab sets aside some of the original specimen and tests what’s left. Those results are sent back to whoever, who calls you to say “there’s a problem”, and you agree because you didn’t do what the test said you did. Ok, the next thing that’s suppose to happen is your counselor (or whoever) calls the lab to authorize a confirmation test which is more expensive, but very accurate (I pray your memory is as well because after all people are forgetful). So the lab finds the specimen they’ve been saving, the one in question, and retests it using a more sensitive procedure. Labs offer their services like anyone else’s; a basic plan costs this, options cost that. Time wise a retest takes about a week so hang in there and whatever you do, do not go looking for some excuse to “use” because all this stressed you out. Take Care…
