Medications That Could Cause A False-negative For Oxycodone? (Top voted first)

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My grandmother is prescribed 10mg Oxycodone, 4 times daily. Every month she goes into pain management and she gets a False-Negative for Oxycodone. This woman has been through hell and is trying to just get to the next day. She takes a list of medicines: Bupropion, Lisinopril, Atorvastatin, Citalopram, Carvedilol, Omeprazole, and 81mg Aspirin; she must take anywhere from 2-4 pills per medication daily. She sweats a lot, drinks plenty of water daily, doesn't eat much, and is trying her best to perform daily tasks due to her 5th shoulder surgery and heart valve replacement surgery. Any help would be appreciated. I don't want her to keep stressing over this without answers.

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12

I'm sorry for her situation. I am on oxy 15 mg 4 times a day and no one has ever said I had a false+, but my pain doctor is really cool and works with me and would never speak to me like that. He want her on the patch because once you put it on it works for 2-3 days based on how quickly you metabolize the drug. The elderly tend to metabolize slowly. The person who said to be careful of fentanyl is right in my opinion. I was on it for quite some time and it is the strongest opioid made, way more than morphine, etc. And it remains in your system for a whole day after you take the patch off. The only weird thing is fentanyl won't turn up on a regular drug panel. It has to be sent to the lab and have special diagnostics to even find it which costs a lot of money. I believe they have to use gas chromotography. If I were her I would get a new doctor. It isn't easy these days but she will never accomplish anything with this doctor ever again. He has already made a judgement of her and is not going to change his mind. Fentanyl can be good for some people but for me it was way too strong and I was actually overdosing on it without the doctors understanding it. I ended up in the hospital after passing out in an office. I'm surprised you cant find the patch as it has been around for like 20 years and I also live in TN. I used to get the patches in Murfreesboro where I used to live and then I got them in Clarksville where I live now. They are really expensive so if the insurance won't do the prior authorization it may be very difficult to pay for them. I strongly suggest finding someone new to see for her mental and physical state. I wish your grandmother well and hope she finds a caring doctor who will take care of her.

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10

I have been on Morphine for years. To me it is a gift from God. It's been the one pill that finally keeps my pain in control.

With Morphine Sulfate (Kadian) you need to take it at the same time every day. After a week or so it levels out in your system. This drug as with so many, the Generics don't always work the same as Brand name. That's just a fact!!!

If I ever were to get a negative on a U/A, they would call me right back in. I would have less than 24 hrs to give a specimen. If it came back negative a 2nd time, you are out of the program. Your levels in your blood and urine show how much you are taking. If you fail to be at the right levels, that means one thing. It means you are not taking all the meds you say you are. Once you start taking the Oxy's and narcotics, they don't mess around anymore. Not excuse will work. They've heard it all. My doctor can call me at any time and tell me to come in for labs. He allows me to go to the nearest facility to give the specimen. But it must be completed in less than 24 hrs. The sooner the better.

If you need these meds, and they are working for you, then you will do whatever they tell you to do in order to comply.

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11

Alyssa, there's a study that was published in the Journal of Opiod Management that showed the drug panels done in doctor's offices that give an immediate result give false-negatives and false+ for opiates 40 to 50% of the time. Your grandmother's doctor sounds like a real jerk. I realize he probably deals with people every day that are just there because they want drugs or ones that divert the drugs he prescribes, but his response was outrageous. I doubt seriously that your grandmother is giving away or selling her oxycodone and, by his response, and it seems he implied that's exactly what she's doing. Any reasonable doctor would look at the information you found and perhaps agree to sending her specimen to a lab to be evaluated. What they would not do is let their ego guide their decisions. For your own ease of mind, you could take her to a lab yourself to have a specimen evaluated. I'm sure her primary physician would give you an order for the drug panel if you need one. But don't expect her pain doctor to accept it since he didn't have control of the process. I sure wish your grandmother would consider going to a different doctor. She doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. You might consider reporting that guy to the medical board, but I wouldn't do it until she has another doctor. He's the kind that would treat her even worse if he thought she was causing problems for him. Also, be very cautious about the Fentanyl patch. I was given some after having been on oxycodone for some time and I had an almost instant reaction that made me feel like I was having a stroke - couldn't walk right, couldn't speak words that anyone could possibly understand, and couldn't think clearly. It really terrified me, but very shortly after removing the patch I was back to normal. I'm not saying this will happen to your grandmother, but please monitor her carefully the first few times she puts them on if that's what she ends up having to use. Good luck to both of you. I hope you can find someone who will treat your grandmother with the respect and compassion she deserves.

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2

I realize this is a trying situation. It is one that happened to me as well. Sad to say this is one of those "rock and a hard place" situations - there's not much you can do. If the doctor actually called her a liar and refused to look at the information then she needs to find a different doctor. Although there are new federal regulations which make the prescription of opiates much more difficult there is absolutely no excuse for a doctor to talk that way to his patient and refuse to listen them. Every clinic and every hospital has a department to which you can complain about a doctor's behavior and I would suggest you do this. If you feel you were wronged then you can consider talking to an attorney. But as for what to do with the actual medication and getting replacements I'm afraid I don't know of anything there, and think that there isn't a lot you can do.

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4

Personally im on 4 10 mg oxy a day and it does very little to control the pain. I have a neurological disease with alot of damage and nerve pain in my feet. The problem is, like in your grandmother's shoulder, you cant get away from moving those areas and you spend alot of your day in pain. At the very least the dr should try the oxy every 4 hours instead of every six. I feel bad for her because im in the same boat and its no way to live. Maybe tbe dr can try to add lidoderm patches to the shoulder area and she if that helps.

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7

Some meds do that. I used to be on the Fentanyl patch (Duragesic) as well as Fentanyl short acting for breakthrough pain. In my opinion this medicine or long-acting morphine worked the best for me. One time they did a U/A & blood work the same day... One was positive & one was negative, so it was in my blood but it didn't show in my urine, how crazy is that? If your grandmother can get Fentanyl patches and if her doctor will get it up to a dose that works, it's great (usually they start you at 25 mcgs. I had to be on 100 mcgs.). Good luck in TN...different states as well as different doctors all treat chronic pain so differently.

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8

The doctor needs proof she is taking her meds and not selling them, or taking too many at a time in a day; and then she is out of oxycodone long before the test date. Sorry, but people don't always tell you WHY on many occasions. So, the next time she goes to see her doctor tell her to do as I do and take her meds (oxycodone) with her to show that she still has some, or you can check her count of the meds yourself before the month's end.

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9

Also it sounds like she should be on OxyContin OR some type of long-acting med. In my opinion, they work MUCH better for someone with CHRONIC PAIN. There are quite a few long-acting meds such as the FENTYNAL patch, L/A Morphine, OxyContin.

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13

Just a thought, but her dr. should realize every human metabolizes any medicine at different rates. I myself have been on ms contin oxycodone, hydrocodone, xanax, ritalin, asprin and prednisone. I get false+ results frequently due to an inherited blood disorder i was born with called hemochromotosis aka iron overload. Have her checked for blood disorders.

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1

My grandmother went to the pain clinic the day after I posted this question, she took with her a jump drive of sites that show how a False-Negative could happen... To which her doctor basically said, "I will not look at it. You are lying. There is nothing you can do. And I'm lowering your quantity of the Oxy and switching your Fentanyl patch to ???" I am not sure what she was switched too but, I do know that no pharmacy in Lebanon, TN has ever heard of this patch and now, 2 weeks later roughly, she has been denied on the Pre-authorization from insurance. My grandmother called the doctor and asked what was going on and the only thing the doctor could say is, "I can put you on Morphine." Which that right there is a no go. My mother, her child, passed away partly because of morphine and in my instances, I know it as "The Dead Man's Drug". Any help would be appreciated. Please

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3

I've been addicted to opiods for at least 20years. I also am prescribed many antipsychotic meds/ anti depression meds..same stuff as your grandmother. She needs a lawyer!if she has ssi and insurance then there is your answer to why she isn't getting better. There milking her ins company and not accually curing her pain and suffering. As long as there getting paid for her to come in and out they will keep her suffering until her end. See, just by the number of medications tipped me off of what's really going on. Now I don't know all of your grandmother's info but the# of meds and if there billing an insurance company I can nearly promise that's what's going on.. I tend to be very critical of doctors and pain mang clinics. That's how I got where I am now. If I'm completely wrong about all this I'm sincerely apologize. I wish you the best. I'm very sorry for your grandmother.

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6

When I see these stories it really upsets me, cause a lot of doctors think people are not educated enough to know what to do. If anyone has a problem with a doctor and they way they are being treated, please first call the insurance company to inform them of what's going on because they keep a list of all complaints against doctors and when they get enough the doctor is done with that insurance company. If you feel this is not enough every state has a certified board that licenses doctors, you can file a complaint with the board concerning the doctor or doctors that you are having an issue with. The next step is to go to another doctor or pain clinic for care switch the doctors till you find the right one. I realize this is a lot to do but if you don't do something this will keep going on in this country.

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14

Re: SheriAmore (# 7) Expand Referenced Message

Tennessee is one of the worse states in the opiate addiction so that is why you can't get treatment for pain here. Regular docs are afraid and pain clinic docs never wean patients off. It is a sad state of affairs. And our politicians

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5

Do her a favor and give her mollases a table spoon once a day.
My grandmother said this cures all.

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