My drug test came up positive for fentanyl, but I never did any illegal drugs at all for a long while now. Over a year, I think. And I haven't done any opiates in several years. She (my counselor) says she believes me but there has to be some doubt there too which makes me feel as if I'm being judged for something I didn't do. But oh well, I guess. People can think what they want. What's important is I know the truth.
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There’s also such a thing as a false positive, meaning the test shows a positive when the substance in question is not in the sample.
The interesting aspect of a test that may have a false positive or negative is that the probability of the sample itself being positive can be determined if we know how common the test should be positive if given to the entire population. This gets technical from here, but if you’re interested, ask your favorite search engine or AI bot about Bayesian Probability and test results.
If you just want to clear your name, check with your treatment provider about a retest or second order test of the original sample. The second test is fairly common and more accurate, but also exponentially more expensive. Usually the second test is used to rule out a false positive caused by a legal drug appearing to be a street drug metabolite.
I have a friend who is in recovery from meth, and at one point he came up positive for amphetamines (pre-employment screen), despite having been clean for 3 years plus. The job was pretty sensitive, so the company did the more sensitive test and it turned out to be bupropion giving the false positive.
okay, sorry for the novel. I hope something is useful there.
The interesting aspect of a test that may have a false positive or negative is that the probability of the sample itself being positive can be determined if we know how common the test should be positive if given to the entire population. This gets technical from here, but if you’re interested, ask your favorite search engine or AI bot about Bayesian Probability and test results.
If you just want to clear your name, check with your treatment provider about a retest or second order test of the original sample. The second test is fairly common and more accurate, but also exponentially more expensive. Usually the second test is used to rule out a false positive caused by a legal drug appearing to be a street drug metabolite.
I have a friend who is in recovery from meth, and at one point he came up positive for amphetamines (pre-employment screen), despite having been clean for 3 years plus. The job was pretty sensitive, so the company did the more sensitive test and it turned out to be bupropion giving the false positive.
okay, sorry for the novel. I hope something is useful there.
I know. I’m glad to hear if I was helpful. I hear often that I am too hard on myself. I get it. I hate when people around me beat themselves up, because hey, they’re being mean to someone I care about! So why do I do it to myself? It’s possibly a way to deal with the pain. Thinking that I deserve to suffer lessens the sting of it, in a twisted way.
She did say it could be some medication I'm taking that caused it. She's sending it to the lab, which should be able to disprove the test result, I hope. I just know that I didn't do it, and I don't want anyone looking at me as though I did.
I had another similar incident once when I went to the psych hospital during a psychotic episode (I heard voices and was delusional). I had taken a drug test which came up positive for meth. And they all believed I was on meth it seemed, regardless of my denial of such a thing. I hate when this happens.
I had another similar incident once when I went to the psych hospital during a psychotic episode (I heard voices and was delusional). I had taken a drug test which came up positive for meth. And they all believed I was on meth it seemed, regardless of my denial of such a thing. I hate when this happens.
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The lab test is the second order test I meant. I’m guessing the first one was a paper strip.
Regarding the meth positive, the molecule known as methamphetamine is relatively simple, which means that many other substances could look similar to it, or to its metabolites. I’m not a testing expert, but I know enough organic chemistry to know that I am not fit to be an organic chemist.
That said, I would be extremely surprised if anyone on staff in an inpatient setting would have ever heard of the concept of a false positive, conditional probability, or chemical analogues. The people who can’t find any better job than acute psychiatric care seem to often have worse disturbances than the average patient
Regarding the meth positive, the molecule known as methamphetamine is relatively simple, which means that many other substances could look similar to it, or to its metabolites. I’m not a testing expert, but I know enough organic chemistry to know that I am not fit to be an organic chemist.
That said, I would be extremely surprised if anyone on staff in an inpatient setting would have ever heard of the concept of a false positive, conditional probability, or chemical analogues. The people who can’t find any better job than acute psychiatric care seem to often have worse disturbances than the average patient
I am so sorry. I hope she is still well enough to have some good quality time with you give her plenty of hugs and try and take in every moment you can.
I’m grateful that the issues at home between my mom and I have cooled down, and that we can talk normally again.
Just feeling kind of down because I feel so ugly, even uglier than usual. My hair has been looking quite bad for the last week or so, I’m going to cut it on Saturday but I feel nervous about how it will turn out. My eyebrows are growing in and they look worse than they did when I shaved them off completely 🤭 And my stubble… gosh I would do anything to make it disappear.
One thing I’m excited about though is signing up for driving lessons. I’m just scared that I’ll be denied a license due to my mental illnesses. Over the weekend, I’m going down to the driving school I enrolled in and fingers crossed I’m allowed to take the classes.
Just feeling kind of down because I feel so ugly, even uglier than usual. My hair has been looking quite bad for the last week or so, I’m going to cut it on Saturday but I feel nervous about how it will turn out. My eyebrows are growing in and they look worse than they did when I shaved them off completely 🤭 And my stubble… gosh I would do anything to make it disappear.
One thing I’m excited about though is signing up for driving lessons. I’m just scared that I’ll be denied a license due to my mental illnesses. Over the weekend, I’m going down to the driving school I enrolled in and fingers crossed I’m allowed to take the classes.