False Positive Drug Test At My Methadone Clinic In Pittsburgh Pa

I've been going to the same methadone clinic for 6 years. I'm on a low dose of 44mg a day and am a model patient. For me, methadone was the answer. It gave me a life. I was living a terrible life before that. I had an awful childhood, started doing drugs as a teenager, eventually got hooked on opiates and worked my way up the ladder from vicoden all the way to H. Multiple rehab and jail stints cleaned me up temporarily, but I always relapsed. The last few years I lived in hotel rooms, and did what I had to do to get money. I was miserable. Finally my boyfriend and I decided we had enough and joined a methadone clinic in a last ditch effort to end the pain of our lives. After the first 3 months I never got a dirty urine again. I earned my privileges one at a time, right on time, and after 2 years I only had to go to the clinic once a week and the rest were take home bottles. I also take an anti-depressant (cylexa) and a benzodiazipine (klonopin 0.5mg, 3 times a day). It's all on the up and up and I never took another drug again. I haven't to this day. I only take my methadone, cylexa, and klonopin - AS PRESCRIBED. In that time period my boyfriend (who was doing just as well as me on the methadone clinic) moved out to the suburbs to a cheap apartment, cut off contact with every single person we knew, and devoted ourselves to living a good,decent, moral life. We started working with a homeless cat organization and that is still what we spend our time doing. We got married too.

Then, in 2012, we actually managed to purchase our own home. We had a good car too. We had a life! It just didn't involve very many people. We had lost trust in people and also didn't want to ever go back to the horror of our former life; we figured animals were the best company and we are very content in our rather isolated exsistance. In the last 6 years the only visitor we've ever allowed in our home is my husband's aunt who raised him and we feel safe, secure, and stable. I only tell you all this because it makes what happened so much worse. I get random urine testing monthly, and even though I take my meds every day, I always come up negative for benzos. So my counselor told me I didn't have to keep bringing in forms every month from my doctor because my tests didn't show benzos. Well that counselor left and after 6 years with him I got a new, jerk of a counselor. But whatever... I only go once a week and only have to do a half hour counseling per month. ("counseling"...what a joke). Then last week my urine came up dirty for benzos. I thought this was strange because it had never happened before, but the head-honcho of the clinic told me they just started using a new drug testing lab. (of course they fed-ex the urines to a lab out of state, and they would only switch to a new lab if it was going to save them money). They said you can't take your bottles home, you've lost your privilages until you bring in a form from you doctor. I said I'll go right now and get the form filled out and bring it back. They told me if I paid $35 for a retest that they could then give me my week's worth of take-homes and I could bring the form the following week. And as long as the test comes back just showing klonopin, then I would have my $35 refunded. They said this test actually tests to see what kind of benzo you're taking. I said "fine" because I had nothing to worry about. But the next week they said the test showed I was positive for alprazolam-metabolites, NOT colozapam-metabolites. And they didn't believe me when I told them this is wrong. Now I'm convinced the cheap lab mixed up the results the first time.

People who take alprazolam/Xanax do show up positive most of the time, but me and my husband who both take prescribed klonopin always show up negative for benzos. Other people who take klonopin have told me their tests always show negative for benzos too. Now they have taken my privilages. And it just so happened that our car was in the garage getting major work done on the transmission at that moment and going everyday has been a hardship. We got our car back today, but I don't drive, so now my husband has to go everyday too because he has to drive me. And most of all it is so difficult to have these people treat me like I'm a liar and a user. I have been a model patient and so has my husband (and even though they always say "it's not about him, it's about YOU", they still gave him weird testing that they never did before, to check the type of benzo he's taking, and they only did it because of me) They told me I had to sign these papers admitting to it but I refused. I'm innocent. I offered to do a hair follicle test that shows everything in your system for the past 90 days and they said it wouldn't matter. I just want to use an outside lab that can be trusted. But they don't want to help. If anyone has any idea what course of action I can take to prove my innocence to my methadone clinic please let me know. I am not afraid of any legitimate test because I'm telling the truth. I'm just afraid of them screwing me over. It's either error or it's fraud. Obviously the mistake was made on the first, simpler test, that came up positive for benzos. So the retesting of that urine in a specialized test could've been testing the same mixed-up urine from the first one. I NEED ANSWERS. I've done everything I'm supposed to. It's been a tough road but I've been proud of myself for years now and they are making me feel like crap. Please tell me what I can do to resolve this. Thanks for reading this whole tirade.

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I am currently at a methadone clinic and at this specific clinic I have been there 9 months just about. Well I was getting take homes for fri sat and sun but I recently messed up (1sttime) and was tested positive for benzo. I felt terrible about it and knew I was Not gonna make that mistake again. I was so close to my one week take homes. So the test came back positive like I knew it would so my counselor gave me another UA and I knew I was gonna pass this one bc there was no way I wouldn't. A couple weeks go by and get switched to a different counselor and was time for another UA which was fine I had not done anything I knew id pass. Well I get called back to talk to my counselor today thinking she was gonna tell me I am getting to phase up to my 1 week of take outs. Instead she told me that the last 3 UAs came back positive for benzos!!! Ok like I said I did mess up on that (1) but the 2nd and 3rd one there was NO WAY In the world that could be right bc I haven't done anything since that 1 slip up .25 peach football. Omg.. So here I am shocked and I know they hear this ALL the time but hell no I haven't touched anything and was proud of myself as well looking forward to coming once a week. I told her there has GOT to be a mistake she said she would fax it to the lab to see exactly what benzo showed positive (again I haven't done ANy benzo to make anything positive). I racked my brain the whole way home and all I could think was I take over the counter sleep aids every night to help me stay asleep. So I searched the ingredient in the sleep aid - diphenhydramine. Googled the ingredient asking if it can make a drug screen A false positive for benzo and there was plenty of info that states that it is common especially in large doses. I take 4 a night to help me sleep and not keep waking up every 20 min. I'm wondering if she sends the positive results to the lab if it will show that ingredient in the sleep aid or if they will just retest it for benzo and that is it. That is all it can be but now I got to pay $10 for every failed UA on top of whAt it costs daily for their mess up!!! Does or has anyone else had this problem or one similar and if so please let me know how it turned out. I'm so frustrated!!! I need answers !!!

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Mickey,

I read your post (you're the first one to post since I started this thread in Feb.) and I totally understand your frustration. Since I originally posted when my U/A result was first inaccurate, I have learned a lot. I found that drug testing errors or not false-positives, but human clerical errors. I know the U/A results that caused me so much distress were not from my urine. Somewhere along the way someone else's urine was tested and their results got assigned to my name. You should check out this link about how unregulated and unreliable drug testing facilities are: davekopel.com/CJ/IP/DrugTesting.htm

I don't know what state you're in, but most state's stay pretty close to the federal guidelines. If you want to chat about this issue, I could share some of what I've learned while I've been battling my methadone clinic. And I've made progress too. It's taken a while, but I think I will finally vindicate myself and prevail over my clinics tyrannical methods within the next 2 weeks. Post a reply if you'd like to chat.

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First saidm so sorry and I can understand what is happening to you because I have the same basic backstory and am dealing with a similar issue.I also live very close to PittsburghI had my take homes 1time a week for the last 4yrs! I am on klodapin as well 3mg total a day, but it comes up and they automatically do a confirmation test to see what benzo it is. So, they said my u.a came up dirty for heroin..wich I never did and expressed this but they refused to do anything yada yada.They said in 60days I can go back to 1time a week as long as my urines were clean. The 1st one after that no problem then the 2nd urine 13days b 4 im about to get them back they say I came up dirty for morphine!!!! What? I did nothing either time and they won't believe us no matter how well we've been doing for how long.It is baffling! Someone told me they get paid for ppl coming daily.I have no clue what to do.This has got to be a lab cross contamination. I am speaking w the highest boss I could get to. The allmighty nurse wants me to start from the very beginning with take homes! Nah no way should I have to restart w 1day wk, then weekends then 3days week n so on. My advice to you is to go and get an appt w the highest up person you can. I mean not some one who is the boss to all the ppl at your clinic. They have to give u the number. Also fill out a "grievance" just let me know what happens and I'll do the same. They do get paid per head count daily as well as med ammt.good luck!

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I'm really sorry to hear you're having those issues. My post that you replied on was from back in April, and I did get my weekly privileges back, but it took over 3 months. My clinic owns 13 other clinics in 4 different states, so I ended up filing a grievance that I escalated to the highest level in the main corporate office. It took some doing. I did a lot of research, and my husband acted as my Patient Advocate doing tons of research and basically conducting an investigation into the inner workings of their business. We uncovered a lot of dirt! The kind of dirt they'd rather keep quite. I also filed a grievance with C.A.R.F., and I'd bet money your clinic is CARF affiliated too. They almost all are. If they loose their CARF accreditation it has a devastating affect on their bottom line. It's funny how all of these things Methadone Clinics are supposed to inform patients about ends up being hidden from them instead. They look at us like we're all uneducated *****s who can be easily manipulated and misled. They use this against us, and as a point of fact, the director of my clinic actually failed to follow Company Procedure, thinking that I wouldn't know what to do to go above him. They actually told me a month into this that I would never get my privileges back, that they didn't have to give me privileges, and that they told me they would deny they ever said that to me. Well, I did get my privileges back, and CARF, along with the Pennsylvania State Drug & Alcohol Bureau who handle Methadone Clinic Rules & Regulations for all clinics in the state, did their own investigations and found my clinic to be in default of multiple regulations. The director of my clinic won't even look at me anymore, but no one bothers with me either. I got switched to a new counselor too because they got quite a bit of heat for telling me, for months, that I couldn't switch counselors. Even though I told them that my counselor (a man) screamed at me and called me degrading names and that I was afraid to be around him, they still screwed with me and made me see this guy! They were totally out of line! They were running their own fiefdom because they never told anyone (even if you asked) how to contact anyone at a higher level. I best most of the patients don't even know their is a higher corporate office. Or a State Methadone Regulation Department. Or CARF. Unfortunately the reason they think that we're all uneducated fools is because most of the patients have submissively taken whatever draconian punishments they've had dished out to them because they really don't know any better. But to actually get to a point were you think that every single methadone patient fits the same mold is extremely foolish on their part. Since I resolved this incident and got my privileges back in June, I've been trying to get information out to other patients at my clinic. My husband has even offered to act as a voluntary patient advocate for anyone patients that feels they have been treated unjustly. You can overcome your situation too! If you'd like to discuss your situation in more detail, I'd be happy to help you in any way I can to get your privileges back. You shouldn't have to start all over. I do need some more details, but if you want to explore your options, leave a reply to let me know. Then I'll give you a way to get in touch with me. Hang in there. You can get through this and come out on top. In the meantime make sure you don't do anything like miss a day, or commit any other infractions that they can use against you. I know it sucks, but you need your methadone everyday, and you don't want to let this situation lead you back to any kind of negative life choices.

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Hi Mandy! Yes, I'd love to chat more on my situation and this CARF you mentioned...along with everything else! We are being productive members of society again and these clinics are walking all over us. They do assume we are all going to take it and are uneducated but I refuse to be another one. I thank you for your reply and look forward to chatting soon!!

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Dear Mandy, hello again! I, in doing some more reading here, have a few things I'd like to add...The original screen was "automatically confirmed" so they said and came back "dirty for H" This is after years like 3 or 4 or cleans at my methadone clinic! Which by the way is not far from Pittsburgh, P.A. It is actually in the county over.well in others' writings I see things like that get dismissed because it is out of character! That was not a correct result as I know what I do but they said nothing I can do because it came back dirty.I took it not knowing better but stated it was wrong.never signed anything. Then they said 60 days I can have my 1 time week back so, next urine was obvi correct as it came back clean w my prescription in it only. Then the very one before my privs were to be returned I had my 30min counseling and asked to do paperwork for my privs back n my counselor said it came back dirty!! I told them that it is incorrect and I was not just going to take it again! What do they care! I asked for copies of my u.a. screens when this began and after a bunch of crap got them. The first "fail 3mos ago" says they did a 6MAM and it had morphine AND codeine in it, next clean urine, then the next was prelim for opiate fail.I asked why did they not do a confirmation and was told "it's expensive so we wanted to ask you first!" Really!? I said send it because it is wrong and when it came back Over 11days from original screen date, ir had positive morphine at .89 circled! Not any codeine But the nurse wrote on my u.a. 'MUST BEGIN TAKE HOME PROCESS DUE TO REPEATED HEROIN USE." WHAT!? No...I won't be walked on...these are both wrong results w a clean in between and never in 3yrs at this place and 3 at another have I come back dirty!!! I definitely need to know what CARF is and would love to touch base.I know the u.a. procedure is very wrong at my clinic and I get short end while ppl using seem to now have privs!! Help appreciated!!

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Hey. I've been on methadone for thirteen years. I'm from Chicago, and last year me and my husband ho is also on methadone moved to myrtle beach south Carolina. After Christmas they accused us of falsifying a drug test cause they saw me hand something to him on camera, which was actually his bottle to return , and they put us on a ten day administrative detox. We of course appealed, and were still kicked out. Our lives this last month have never been worse. We went straight back to using because there are no other clinics here, we don't have insurance and the only other option is suboxone which no doctor's in the area are either taking new patients or not taking patients for months and even then it's 300$ each for us to see the doctor.anyway they have ruined our lives over speculation. I made enough waves for them to review case and that's Tuesday. I'm so scared. If they don't take us I don't know what to do. What do you think,any advice?

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So what ended up happening, you got your take homes back. This clinic im at here in San Antonio told me i came out dirty for benzos. All ive taken is ibuprofen, cough syrup, and my migraine med. But they said i still came out dirty. I'm tired of fighting this place. I wish i could just get off n not go anymore.

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I am currently on methadone 21 mg a day and the took away my take home bottles well first they took a u.a and it showed that I had benzodiazepines in my system which wasn't true because they used a dip stick method to test it and I was currently on keflex. Ibuprofen. Topomax. Lamotragen, clonodine, resperidone. And they don't have benzodiazepines in them at all my counselor said they had to take away my bottles until the lab showed that it was negative for benzodiazepines. Which it showed negative two days later. But they still took away my bottles because I didn't turn in my medicine for keflex which is messed up now I need to write a letter to the main nurse hoping she will either give them all back or some because I can't afford to drive there and it's a hassle riding the bus every day. I was once a week.

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That sucks. Keflex isn't even a narcotic, is it? Regardless, if it was prescribed your doctor, than it shouldn't be a problem. I had a similar situation once, and I to produce my prescriptions for the past 6 months. If you ask the pharmacy, they can print out a record of any prescriptions they filled for you with dates. If you still have a problem getting your privileges back, tell them you want to file a "Formal Grievance", or whatever their equivalent is. Also, most clinics are accredited by an organization called CARF (you can easily find out if your clinic is), and clinic directors hate having a grievance filed against them with CARF. So tell them you plan to file one. And make sure to tell them all of this in a calm, professional manner. Confident, but not argumentative. Your simply stating that you want to file a formal grievance, and that you plan to file one with CARF, because you have done nothing wrong, and you can provide any evidence of prescriptions for Keflex from a doctor. If you're still having trouble in a week, post a reply and I'll try to help you figure something out. I've been an advocate for a few fellow methadone clinic patients since my own problem. I had to work hard, and I learned a lot, but I did prevail after about 3 months. And I've helped others successfully dispute issues. I hope it works out well for you. Good luck!

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Well I need some advice.... I have been going to a methadone clinic since November 2015 and I have not touched any opiates since January 1st 2016... I have probation and CPS linked through my methadone clinic so they can see my progress..... I've been fighting for my children for 2 years and I have completed everything that CPS and probation required of me including 90days of weekly random observed UA's, I have not had one positive UA since January 2016 since i stopped using.... I just went to court and got granted unsupervised visits with my son three times a week and in less than a month I will be moving forward with his transition home. I have worked so hard for this and I am very proud of myself and truthfully have no desire to use ANYTHING! in fact the only reason why I was using before I started the methadone was so I wouldn't be sick and could keep my job. Anyways i'll get to why I need advice....On June 28th at 5 a.m. I gave a urine sample for testing, currently I am doing 2 random urine test a month, (I am only required to do one but I requested to do 2 a month to be sure that I would have 1 to give probation every month before I went to see them) anyways the sample that I gave on the 28th of June came back positive for opiates less than 36 hours after I gave the sample, keep in mind the lab that the samples are sent to is in San Diego California and I live in Washington State, so how they got the sample and tested it within 36 hours? This is still a question I'm not sure how to answer! I paid for the retest on the urine sample and it took a week and a half to get results and it still came back positive for opiates! WTF!! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE I AM CLEAN!! the test does not specify what type of opiates it just says opiates, I told my counselor there has to be some sort of mistake, there is no way that I am dirty for anything!! Why would I risk everything I have worked so hard for? Especially since the ua's that I take are not observed and many people at the clinic that I attend faked their uas and seriously I would not walk in there knowing I was dirty and give a dirty sample, that is just crazy!! The methadone clinic does not follow Federal standards for urine testing ... The cup that you use to collect you're sample is simply a plastic Dixie cup that is not sealed and sit out in the open 24/7 anyone could walk up and grab one of the cups off the top of the rubbermaid cupboard that they keep the samples in and call the "ua station"... Open until 1 week ago they did not have a UA Tech, whichever counselor was free at the time was who was conducting the UA and most of these councillors did not wash their hands or change gloves in between ua's nor did they clean the restroom... The sample that you give is then poured into a tube that most of the time is already open when they hand it to you and in the federal guidelines states the collection container is to be sealed in plastic and have a tempurature strip and tamper proof lables and seals and also that your sample is not to leave your site at any time, but once they collect the sample from you they leave the room to go place your stickers on it, which you are suppose to sign and be present.... The restroom that they use to conduct the Ua'S is the only restroom in the facility and everyone has access to it which is over 500 patients a day most of which still use on a daily basis ....Your sample is then placed into a plastic ziplock bag inside this rubbermaid cabinet that is missing a door and cannot be locked and in federal guidelines it states that any sample that is not being transported to the laboratory within 2 hours of being given must be refrigerated and kept under lock and key and must have no access by anybody other than a licensed professional.... I presented all of these concerns to my counselor and also told him that I want to get to the bottom of what is going on, either the sample was contaminated or was mixed up because there is no way that I am dirty!! my counselor at the clinic insist on calling my probation officer and has literally hounded me every single day about doing so and I keep telling him no not until I know what is going on, he is supposed to send probation monthly reports which he has not done this since January even though I asked him to do so every month and my probation officer also called him and request one every month but he still does not do it in fact I had my social worker for CPS request reports for February March and April and I personally give them to my probation officer because he would not do so and now that he is going to get me in trouble he wants to do it right away? this seems funny to me? why does he not want to help me figure out what is wrong? is it because I am a recovering addict? I am in the process of filing complaints with the attorney general's office and filling out a grievance report for methadone.org and also for samhsa.gov and it would probably be best if I contacted my probation officer and told her before he sends a report. I am terrified, I know I haven't done anything wrong, but getting someone to believe a recovering addict isn't easy especially since they've probably heard every excuse and story in the book. Oh, did I mention that this Clinic has had hundreds of complaints about their UA system and false positives? Does anybody have any advice they can give me? This incident could stop my child from coming home and that to me is more important than anything else in the world!! Oh, also when I was talking to my counselor and he pulled up my file and all my Ua's to show me that it was testing positive for opiates, he said oh well it looks like there is another positive UA from June 10th but it has been more than 30 days so we cannot ask for a retest on this one! What WTF!! Why did he not see this before when we were going over the initial accusation of a positive UA? We went through my whole file and he just didn't see this? Does anybody else find this funny? I honest to God I have not touched anything! I changed my phone number I have moved and I do not talk to anybody and anybody that I've used in the past I have blocked on social media, I have absolutely no desire to go back to that lifestyle and I am looking to God for support, i attend Narcotics Anonymous at least 3 times a week for support because God knows you do not get it at the clinic, all they care about is a paycheck and this may sound like some sort of conspiracy theory but what if they are giving me these dirty ua's so they can say that I am not ready to get off the program? I started discussing detoxing with my counselor when I found out my son would be coming home because I do not want him being exposed to any of this and he doesnt need to be around people that use, or what if they are just charging people for testing and aren't really doing it and just giving people positive results once in awhile just to make it look like they are testing the samples? I know it sounds crazy but another clinic that is owned by a different company was caught doing this about 5 years ago. the clinic that I attend used to be privately owned and was Cash pay only they never accepted insurance and had no federal funding whatsoever they just recently started taking insurance and federal funding within the last year, so is it possible that this Clinic is just used to doing whatever they want because they have never had anyone to answer to before other than their own company? As far as I know this clinic is part of a larger or Corporation, anyways I will stop with the the conspiracy theories LOL I just can't help but think there's got to be some reason why they are doing this to me, why would they want to ruin my life for no reason? Especially when my counselor knows what is on the line.... my freedom, my children, my entire life that I have worked so hard for I literally have not been able to work or find any sort of employment little own think about working because of everything I have had to do on a daily basis the last 9 months I have literally ran nonstop from 3 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday to get myself clean established a comfortable and proper home for my son and jump through all the Hoops that CPS and probation told me I had to do and then to just throw it all away for a high that I probably would not feel because of the methadone or risk overdosing? And then walk in and give a dirty sample knowly and knowing that they do not watch you or test the temperature I would have to literally be asking to go to jail and not want my sin home and give up everything I've worked so hard for in the last 9 months almost sounds as crazy as the conspiracy theory right?

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Holy crap! That is crazy & there is no way u would get a dirty u/a when if needed you can get away with it... Its bulls*** all the way around but even worse that you haven't actually used. Id read up on here & on everything you can find & fight it! Keep up good work & hang in there. You will get your son back! Def need a new counselor... I just read of similar issues w/ clinic & false pos. Just really sucks 4 u bc of what's on the line is way more than loosing take homes. Was your po cool about it? Hope u got to talk to him 1st.

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I havent been able to get ahold of her, and she wasnt in the office on the day of my appointment so no i haven't been able to talk to her, but my counseler went behind my back after telling me he would wait to tell my social worker for a day or two until i got ahold of my atterony so my atterony and i could talk to her first, and he sent it to her that day after i left. My sw called me immediatly, while i was drafting an email to my atterony, i explained that i hadnt used and that i am more then happy to provide additional testing to prove it. But my counseler going behind my back like that just made it look like i was trying to hide it from them when in actuality i was trying to investigate it and figure out what could be done. I dont know what to so i just keep praying that the sw will believe me...and trying to figure out a way to prove that the clinic isnt following federal guidelines on urine testing

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Hi Mandy, my name is Melissa. I am going through the same thing! Since I had a false positive for Oxazepam, a drud I have NEVER heard of, I have been tirelessly looking on the internet, calling drug companies etc. I was called a liar from the doctor at my methadone clinic, and I am completely blown away at being left in the middle of nowhere on this situation, with my word against the doctors! Thanks for sharing all the info! I am going to try to navigate through it today. Thanks again!

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Hi mickey just wanted to say i too have been going to a methadone clinic for 14 longggg years now. Ive been doing really good up until last week. I have been clean for almost 7 years with no dirty drug screens. I was tested last week and i know im going to fail for opiates. Now my biggest problem is i get 2 weeks worth of take homes and i dont want to lose them. I made the dumbest mistake. I do take my recovery very seriously. I go to alanon every week and after i screwed up i got a sponsor to have someone help me figure all this out. But if u ever want to chat id love to because i dont know anyone well enough that has this in common with me. An id like to hear what you think they will do once they get my test results back.

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Onmyown4realz,

I applaud your tenacity and 7 years is a long time. Perhaps finding a sponsor and attending NA not alanon would have given you the support you needed to prevent that relapse. I have 19 years on MMT with 27 day take homes and still attend NA 3 times a week, use my sponsor often, see my physiologist once bi weekly, yet it's still a struggle. Earth people think that MMT patients feel high and use and do nothing. Well Nothing can be further from the truth. We experience the same everyday struggles that every normal person feels. I hope you figure it out and keep your take homes. Remember 1 day at a time and stay strong. Best wishes.

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Can I get some more details I currently go to a new clinic that just opened up in Greene County PA and since I've been there 2 out of 5 of my UA 's came back with benzos and they r trying to take my weekly take homes which I have beyond earned.. When I asked them to retest it he said he refuses and it's my responsibility to come back clean. I have been to the clinic for 3 years NEVER failed a urine test EVER and never had any issues til I started this new clinic less then two months ago. I'm either being set up or something is being messed up cuz i know for a fact I've been clean since starting the clinic over three years ago.

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Re: Mandy (# 2)

I had my m13 stat status taken away from me for a benzo dirty that is not true I have been dirty one time in three and a half years at the same methadone Clinic. And that was over 2 years ago I have been clean for 3 years off of heroin and in one day they took away my M13 and they dropped my dose from 180 mg to 160 mg's in one day! Now I wake up sick every morning I have not relapsed which I cannot believe I got the strength to do but I have this anger inside me that that says I'm not going to let them win I feel that they want you to fail I hate this Clinic I hate the counselors it's a joke. And after one year of being clean me and my husband started our own business where we are making almost $100 an hour and neither of us have used for over 3 years and he has his M27 so he only has to go in once a month and now I have to go every day I had my M13 for a year so you can imagine I wake up first thing I do is take my dose I live an hour away from the clinic so now it takes me half an hour to get dressed and hour and a half to get to the clinic so that's 2 hours later than what I normally dose and that is making me very sick and in withdrawal. It took me almost a year when I first got on the clinic to get adjusted on methadone to get to a blocking dose and even though I have not relapsed I don't believe I'm at a blocking dose anymore and I'm trying to tell them they have turned my world and my husband's upside down and I had a complete mental breakdown and still have not relapsed don't plan on it ! want to not be on methadone anymore I hate these clinics They Don't Care About Us they just want our money. What's weird is the clinic I go to changed names and went through a different company and ever since they did that six months ago so many people have been kicked off the program and or have left because of how people are being treated at this Clinic I don't think when you're an adult I'm 37 that anybody should be able to tell me what I can and can't put my own body. I had a meeting with supervisor n clinic director and they said that I could be eligible for a hardship, which I don't know what that is or how to get it, does anyone know about hardship process? Or maybe switch to suboxone and go to a Dr not a clinic. Any advice would help. I am so lost!

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Re: Mandy (# 4)

Wow I am in Rochester ny and just had a false Benzo positive I have ten years clean never took benzos but this one time they are claiming it I know what I didn't do and its frustrating if I did it I did it and its like where does doing right all that time get you now I have to go from once a week to everyday but Sunday it's so disturbing and it hurts to fight so hard for the right thing to get screwed my thing is how do I figure it out to protect my self in the future I know it's something else causing it I'm scared for it to happen again

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Re: Mandy (# 4)

I have recently lost my level 2 days ago from a supposedly failed drug test for oxazepam which I did not take. I had no idea what this was so I looked it up and it is something called Serax. Once again right before I am supposed to get my levels my fourth UA comes back with low creatinine and now this positive for a benzo I did not take two weeks before I am supposed to receive my next level for take-homes. I have not taken any benzos and I have insisted that I will pay $20 to have it retested. The nurse said there was no need, it is already tested twice. Not to mention it took two weeks for the results to come back. I have done some research and it says that hydroxyzine or Benadryl or ibuprofen can show a false positive and I take all of these. I have also done research about low creatinine levels and it says that if the samples are left out too long or too old it can lower the creatinine in the urine because I have creatinine in my UA but they said it was too low. This conveniently happens every fourth UA so I cannot get my levels. What really makes me angry is that the front desk receptionist is the one to hand you the cup and he placed your urine sample on her desk. She is not a licensed lab technician to be handling UA's. Also, there is a nurse who gives you your medicine but also decides how much medicine you can take and is in charge of your levels. I do not think that this is with protocol, but this is a privately owned clinic in Texas so I do not know who I need to report this to?

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Re: Mandy (# 4)

I've had a similar issue with my methadone clinic here in lansing michigan. I've been clean for 10 plus years and all of a sudden show up with opiates in my urine??? Only thing I've taken was antibiotics and prednisone. I swear on everything I wouldn't mess up my sobriety and damn proud of it! But of course they don't believe you and took my take homes away and was only going twice a month. I had them retest it and they said it came back codiene. Wth??? Especially when I haven't touched anything but my methadone, prednisone antibiotics and cholesterol and blood pressure meds. What can I do???

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Re: Worried (# 3)

Hey I go to a clinic about an hour from Pittsburgh and I keep getting false positives and I haven't taken any opiates in 3 in a half years. And all of a sudden I get positive results twice, both right when I'm supposed to get a take home kit!!!! And guess what? I never thought to ask a couple days after what my results were because I have been off of opiates since starting on Methadone. Only took 3 vicodin after a horrific car accident and was in the trauma ER ... all documented..... and this was at the beginning of this year 2022...

So I get told in my monthly counseling session when I'm all excited to be like this was my last one !!! Whawhawhahwha yeah freaking right she says, no you tested positive for opiates as I'm eating a baggie full of everything pretzel thins which I eat every morning for breakfast ... I know it's the poppy seeds but I thought since I'm quite a plump lady it would never affect me ... then she says oh well the lab only keeps your urine for 14 days and this was in the first week of the month..... um ok aren't you getting paid to maybe keep an eye out for this s***, reach out to me see what's going on because you can clearly see in my past 42 drug tests I've only come up positive twice in the last 6 months and I got cleared the one time. But it's still on there and now it's too late. I can't fight and pay the 25 bucks to prove I'm right!!!!! Nope of course not....now I see why all the clients say they try and set you up and they don't want you to dose down to get off the s***... They get paid so much for every milligram of that s*** we are each on!!!!!! And if I was to relapse again you can see what I usually relapse with and it's not opiates so they should just know I'm telling the truth. Like y'all ain't doing s*** for me and my recovery. Actually you are giving me all this damn stress about take homes!!!!!!

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Not supposed to mix methadone and benzodiazepines!

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Re: Mandy (# 2)

I’m having the same problem right now with my clinic and I’ve asked four others that go to the same clinic and the have failed for benzos also without taking any and we all five have Medicaid. I’m not sure how they would be doing this. Can you please share with me what you learned through your experience ?

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I called my State of CT, Consumer protection, Department of Health, Investigative Services. Tell them your story and they will send many forms that are very tedious. Do that and send them copies from Pharmacy who you get the pills from, and also ask for a "Over the counter products that create false positives". Then go have another blood test and take it back to the clinic. Each State is different, but, most of the Pain Management Centers copy the criteria of the Federal laws. Good Luck.

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Re: Gypsy Nurse (# 21)

First of all gypsy thank you so much for believing in me I cannot tell you how much that means right now I know for a fact for a while that they are in violation of procedures on you a there are no seals put on are urine samples at all after you go to the bathroom you returned your urine sample on the receptionist desk with no seals at all also I know for a fact that creatinine levels are affected by time the longer your samples go before being tested your creatinine is lowered in the urine I am a CNA I have some medical knowledge and I have suspected for a while that things were not on the up-and-up here I told the counselors and the nurse what I know about procedures and proper lab samples and they have not taken too kindly to me questioning them it is so hard to be controlled by your addiction and also to be controlled by them the previous Clinic I went to I came every other week and it was at this time I was able to finish school unfortunately I had to move out of state to another clinic and have had problems ever since having to go up there so many times a week makes me feel like I am using again like I am chasing my fix thank you so much for your advice that is exactly what I needed to no and that you believe me is what I needed to hear I will do exactly what you said and call those places some people close to me said that I should inform the clinic that I was going to call on them or get a lawyer but I knew threatening these people would not work and then they would definitely have it out for me like you said make some trouble famous with me I'm going to mess with them and yes I will some vindicationfrom this also please excuse the poor grammar I am using dictation right now to text thanks again

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First of all, congratulations on a job well done! No matter what happens you know the truth and for that reason hold your head high! They can't take that from you! Unfortunately, ppl in methadone clinics are at the mercy of directors who often have attitudes against the very ppl they signed on to help. Some, not all have egos the size of Alaska and anyone questioning their authority or procedures are marked as a trouble maker. So what to do? If the shoe fits.....MAKE TROUBLE. Call DOH (dept of health) and initiate a complaint against them. Do they have a written policy in place? They should, including what they do when someone questions the results. I would ask what percentage of people who tested positive retest as positive? What about chain of custody? Did you initial the sealed bottle so it couldn't be tampered with? How soon after you gave specimen was it tested? You don't say what state your clinic is in but all states must have written policies to address discrepancies. Call their governing authority (either JACHO or CARF) and lodge a formal complaint if procedures were not followed. Regardless of the outcome, I know what a drag it is to have take homes suspended and to not be believed but as I said before, you know the truth. You know how far you have come. You know that you are doing the right thing. No one can take those truths away from you. Dont let their foolishness and unprofessional attitude threaten you by making you so upset you lose sight of what's truly important. You are to be commended for what you have achieved. You give hope to many by showing people that the addicted brain can recover and flourish. Good luck! P.S. I am a registered nurse btw.

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