“Can medications give you a false positive on a drug test?”
My goddaughter went to rehab for 30 days for alcoholism, marijuana, and taking Xanax. She has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, AVTH, ADHD, ADD, and PTSD. She is on probation. She was released from a 30-day program on May 2nd and was given the Vivitrol shot at that time. She is also taking Zoloft, Minipress, and Trazadone daily. On May 9th she was seen by her probation officer and was drug tested. He said she had Fentanyl in her system. She has never taken that drug ever. My question is can the medications that she is taking give her a false positive and for what drugs will they read.
Female | 21 years old
10 Answers
There are a couple of issues-
First and most important, is that your goddaughter's parole officer is playing a PO's favorite game of "GOTCHA!" We use urine drug tests for treatment- if there's a positive, let's talk about it and figure out what's going on, not "how can I nail you now?"
He is undoubtedly using what is called a point of care test, which is probably a cup, or a dip stick, that uses a process called immunoassay. This uses paper impregnated with antibodies to various drugs that react with a specific drug to show a Line on the strip. These have a high incidence of false positives and i NEVER make a decision based on a POC test alone. Before any action is taken the specimen should be sent to the lab for confirmation where they use a test system that identifies the specific molecule. False positives are very rare. We use a slightly more accurate immunoassay system in our office, and we still very frequently see positives for fentanyl that come back negative on confirmation.
Finally, yes, trazodone can cause a false positive test for fentanyl on immunoassay so the specimen should be sent out for confirmation. Sertaline (Zoloft) can also cause a false positive for benzodiazepines (Xanax).
Your goddaughter's attorney should vigorously challenge the PO's finding.
Congratulations to your granddaughter for doing the hard work of recovery. Stay strong. \
CFL
First and most important, is that your goddaughter's parole officer is playing a PO's favorite game of "GOTCHA!" We use urine drug tests for treatment- if there's a positive, let's talk about it and figure out what's going on, not "how can I nail you now?"
He is undoubtedly using what is called a point of care test, which is probably a cup, or a dip stick, that uses a process called immunoassay. This uses paper impregnated with antibodies to various drugs that react with a specific drug to show a Line on the strip. These have a high incidence of false positives and i NEVER make a decision based on a POC test alone. Before any action is taken the specimen should be sent to the lab for confirmation where they use a test system that identifies the specific molecule. False positives are very rare. We use a slightly more accurate immunoassay system in our office, and we still very frequently see positives for fentanyl that come back negative on confirmation.
Finally, yes, trazodone can cause a false positive test for fentanyl on immunoassay so the specimen should be sent out for confirmation. Sertaline (Zoloft) can also cause a false positive for benzodiazepines (Xanax).
Your goddaughter's attorney should vigorously challenge the PO's finding.
Congratulations to your granddaughter for doing the hard work of recovery. Stay strong. \
CFL
False positive for fentanyl are less likely to happen compared to other opioid drugs but, Trazodone has been reported as causing false positive for fentanyl.
Diphenhydramine, mdma, methamphetamine can cause false positive for fentanyl
Also risperidone , ziprasidone also false positives
Also risperidone , ziprasidone also false positives
Many prescription medications can mimic different results in a drug screen, I would need more specific information about her medication to be able to tell you if what she is taking can test positive for fentanyl.
Most initial drug tests are "screening tests," which are simpler and less expensive than confirmatory tests, which are far more accurate. Many substances can give false positive on screening tests, but confirmatory tests will give more accurate results. Fentanyl is now found in a bunch of counterfeit pills, and if your goddaughter is using any medications bought on the street or from friends they may be contaminated/adulterated with fentanyl. Phony Xanax cut with fentanyl has been associated with several deaths. Make sure your goddaughter is not taking such counterfeit medications not obtained from pharmacies. Any positive screening test MUST be followed with a confirmatory test if there are consequences for the positive test, according to the current standard of care.
The probation office should not trust a "dip test" explicitly. The should automatically send it off for confirmation from a lab. The lab will be able to break it down so it is either confirmed fentanyl or whatever else it is.
Urine drug screens can be done on site and read rapidly. There can be false positive or even negatives. All urine tests should be sent to a lab to do a full quantitative analysis to determine if it was a false positive or a true positive.
It depends on the type of test. Some tests are presumptive such as the ones that are done directly in the specimen cup. Others are sent to labs for mass spectrometry and are considered definitive and don't usually have false positive results. A person who is taking illicit substances never really knows what is in them. Fentanyl is used to adulterate just about any illicit substance including counterfeit pills.
Many can, but the best way to avoid this is to request that the test be sent for gas chromatography confirmation which precisely identifies the metabolites in the urine. Since Fentanyl is a very specific synthetic opioid it has very specific detection process. The confirmation will rule out a false positive.
I'm sorry to be a bearer of bad news. None of the medications she's taking will cause any sort of false positive drug test. Drug dealers are adding fentanyl to virtually any drug they sell, because it's dirt cheap and addicts really like the high. There's no way to tell if a drug you buy on the street contains fentanyl short of doing a chemical test. So, your daughter used something, not clear what, that unbeknownst to her was laced with fentanyl. And unfortunately, that's also a great way to die of a drug overdose.
