Do pain killers (percocet, vicodin, etc..) show up on drug tests?

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Cougar

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
If you can go 3 days without your medications before the test you should pass and not have to explain any medical conditions.

It sucks that employers discriminate against people who have medical problems.

Only 3 days? I thought I heard that these tests can go back as far as 6 months?

No...

I'd say 3 days is pushing it, even. The only drug that I know of that is detectable more than 2 days after using is marijuana, because THC readily binds to fat.

AFAIK, just about all other drugs are flushed out of your system as fast as your body can manage.

Of course, unless they take a hair sample.. but if it's just a urine test, there is no way to detect drugs unless they are active in your system.

But really, all you need to do is get your doctor to write you a letter telling them that you were needing to take the medication at the time of the test. They should just overlook the positive for the prescription. I don't think you need to give them your full medical history or anything.

Actually:

Opiates- 1-5 days in urine.
Methamphetamine- 2-8 days.
Ecstasy- 1-5 days.
Cocaine- Up to three days.
Benzodiazepine- Light usage is 1-3 days. Moderate to Heavy usage can be weeks if not months.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Cougar

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
If you can go 3 days without your medications before the test you should pass and not have to explain any medical conditions.

It sucks that employers discriminate against people who have medical problems.

Only 3 days? I thought I heard that these tests can go back as far as 6 months?

Well what kind of test is it? Blood? Urine? Hair? Patch?

 

[Dznuts007]

If you're abusing the drug it shows up on the test. If you're not abusing the drug it doesn't show up on the test...

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Dznuts007
If you're abusing the drug it shows up on the test. If you're not abusing the drug it doesn't show up on the test...

Well, no.

Millennium is correct.

BTW, how would your kidneys know whether to pass drug metabolites based on need?

Also guys, employers CAN refuse to hire people based on drug usage and medical condition. Imagine a paper wants to hire an art reporter, and a blind person shows up. How about someone who drives a bus or operates a crane, yet has to take medication that puts others in physical danger? Quadrapelegic basketball player? No, the employer has the right and indeed the obligation to maintain a safe work environment. If someone who is employed develops a debilitating condition while working, then laws regarding disability kick in. This is where Cougar had a beef if he was tossed.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Millennium

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Cougar

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
If you can go 3 days without your medications before the test you should pass and not have to explain any medical conditions.

It sucks that employers discriminate against people who have medical problems.

Only 3 days? I thought I heard that these tests can go back as far as 6 months?

No...

I'd say 3 days is pushing it, even. The only drug that I know of that is detectable more than 2 days after using is marijuana, because THC readily binds to fat.

AFAIK, just about all other drugs are flushed out of your system as fast as your body can manage.

Of course, unless they take a hair sample.. but if it's just a urine test, there is no way to detect drugs unless they are active in your system.

But really, all you need to do is get your doctor to write you a letter telling them that you were needing to take the medication at the time of the test. They should just overlook the positive for the prescription. I don't think you need to give them your full medical history or anything.

Actually:

Opiates- 1-5 days in urine.
Methamphetamine- 2-8 days.
Ecstasy- 1-5 days.
Cocaine- Up to three days.
Benzodiazepine- Light usage is 1-3 days. Moderate to Heavy usage can be weeks if not months.

Yeah.. I was being too general. I realize it completely depends on the person and their metabolism... Interesting about the benzodiazepine though. Wasn't aware of another besides cannabinoids that will stay for weeks.

 

[Cougar]

Are you saying that you take Vicodin(hydrocodone/codeine) and Percocet(oxycodone) INSTEAD of morphine? Please clarify your statement because it makes your whole post sound suspicious. Believe me morphine is much more effective at combating pain than either of said pills. Why wouldn't you divulge your condition? Just give a basic idea of what it is like. Your post sounds suspicious if you don't clarify.

Opiates are detectable between 1 and 5 days depending on which opiate you took and in what form. Secondly, if it is a hair test then opiates can be detected up to 3 months.

Why would you be afraid to give your medical records to the lab or your employer? They cannot discriminate on the basis of your handicap. File with the EEOC if they deny you based on your handicap. I am not a litigious person, but this is something that we cannot allow in our society. If you can function and do the job then they are in the wrong.

Suspicious? What's so suspicious? I've got a slew of drugs at my disposal (oxycodone, percocet, vicodin, dilaudid, and methadone) and the level of pain will determine the drug that I take. If nothing works, which has happened a few times in the past, then I have to go to the hospital and get dilaudid through an IV. Morphine used to work, but it doesn't any more (at least not when it's really bad).

That pretty much sums up my condition. I get to live with chronic pain and pain killers are how I manage to keep my sanity.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, I don't want to give my medical records to any employer because I HAVE been dicriminated in the past. I work in the IT field and I don't need to give any future employer a reason to pass over me just because of my health. There's a million people fighting for the same job and if I have to hide something to level the playing field then so be it. I don't like it and my life would be easier if I could just be open about this but it has been proven to me that I can't.

 

[olds]

This was covered but I will summarize.
When you go to take the test they will have you fill out a form listing any drugs you have taken. If it is covered by a Dr's orders, you will not fail the test. It may or may not tip the employer off to a pre-existing medical condition which you may or may not have already told them about.
I am subject to random drug tests as a condition of my employment. I take vicodin for migraines as well as Midrin. I have yet to have them say one thing about them to me as I always I write it down on the pre-test form.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Cougar
Title pretty much says it all. I've got to take a drug test for a job I'm getting and while I don't do drugs I do take pain killers for my condition. Is it possible that my medication could show up as some sort of illegal drug?

Is it just a urine sample? And is it a "drop" test, not a lab test?

If so, they won't show up...

 

[Cougar]

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: Cougar
Title pretty much says it all. I've got to take a drug test for a job I'm getting and while I don't do drugs I do take pain killers for my condition. Is it possible that my medication could show up as some sort of illegal drug?

Is it just a urine sample? And is it a "drop" test, not a lab test?

If so, they won't show up...

I'm not sure what kind of test it will be. I'll find that out on Monday.

 

[LikeLinus]

As you stated, you showed up to work "doped up and in pain". I don't think you've ever taken into consideration the liability issue that the company has with someone coming to work "doped" up and around other employees.

 

[AmerDoux]

You dont need to give them a medical diagnosis. You dont need to tell them how long you've been taking the meds or how long you plan to take them.

You do need to tell them you are currently taking prescription(s) medications. Due to the type of medications you have listed, you will need to provide some type of proof that they are legitametly prescribed by a physician.

When you go to take your drug test, bring your prescription(s) with you. That's all they need to know, that you have a prescription for them.

Good Luck!

 

[Cougar]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
As you stated, you showed up to work "doped up and in pain". I don't think you've ever taken into consideration the liability issue that the company has with someone coming to work "doped" up and around other employees.

Hmmm...perhaps doped up isn't the proper word, but I was medicated nonetheless. And what kind of liability am I if my job is to sit in front of a computer all day fixing problems? There's no life or death situations that I deal with. If someone can't get their CD-Burner to work people won't start dropping dead. I could understand if other people were in harms way, but that just simply isn't the case and it never has been.

I'm a geek and I fix computers...that's about as far as it goes. If I were say, Homer Simpson and I had to make sure a Nuclear Power plant didn't melt down then I could see why the employer would care. Although if that were the situation then I would never take the job to begin with. I'm well aware of my limitations and try my best to make sure that they don't affect anyone else. I don't know how else else I can put it without people doubting me. I'm the one who bends over backwards for my employers, not the other way around.

 

[XMan]

Are you saying that you take Vicodin(hydrocodone/codeine) and Percocet(oxycodone) INSTEAD of morphine? Please clarify your statement because it makes your whole post sound suspicious. Believe me morphine is much more effective at combating pain than either of said pills.

I don't think it sounds suspicious at all, Millenium. Certain people react differently to different drugs. I had a friend in the hospital with a 6mm kidney stone, and morphine wouldn't touch it. Percocet was the only thing that made his pain go away.

 

[Spac3d]

Good luck man. Sorry to hear about your situation

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: Cougar

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
As you stated, you showed up to work "doped up and in pain". I don't think you've ever taken into consideration the liability issue that the company has with someone coming to work "doped" up and around other employees.

Hmmm...perhaps doped up isn't the proper word, but I was medicated nonetheless. And what kind of liability am I if my job is to sit in front of a computer all day fixing problems? There's no life or death situations that I deal with. If someone can't get their CD-Burner to work people won't start dropping dead. I could understand if other people were in harms way, but that just simply isn't the case and it never has been.

I'm a geek and I fix computers...that's about as far as it goes. If I were say, Homer Simpson and I had to make sure a Nuclear Power plant didn't melt down then I could see why the employer would care. Although if that were the situation then I would never take the job to begin with. I'm well aware of my limitations and try my best to make sure that they don't affect anyone else. I don't know how else else I can put it without people doubting me. I'm the one who bends over backwards for my employers, not the other way around.

Employers are NOT there to bend over backwards for YOU. You are an employee, hence you get paid to do a job and you are the one that needs to bend over backwards for them. Not the other way around. They aren't there to please you, you're there to please them. If you don't like it, find another job. Thats usually what people do.

It's funny that you say you compensate by going into work "medicated and in pain". If you are not cut out for the job, which appears in your attendance record, then the employer has the right to worry. If they have other people who do their job in a timely manner without having to miss work, you are hence, a liability because you might not show up for work one day when something is critical. You realize that you are "Support" and if you cannot be trusted to be at work or to show up work on drugs, you don't see the problems here?

ANY person who shows up at work on Percoden or other heavy narcotics is a serious liability. The fact that they are highly addictive is another problem because of fears of drug addiction and the things that follow with that. Not that you personally could be come a drug addict, but the chances are a great risk to an employer. You could take too much medication and overdose, or a variety of other things.

What's odd is the fact you won't tell what you have wrong with you. You are wanting to hide your, um whatever disease/problems, from anyone and everyone. Sounds more like a drug problem than an illness. If youre not honest to your employer in the beginning, how can they trust you at all? That's another liability issue if you go into a job trying to hide something from a drug test.

Its pretty stupid to try and hide the fact that you are on drugs because the second you get on their health care policy they are going to know exactly what you are taking anyway. So it's better to be honest up front.

 

[Cougar]

Employers are NOT there to bend over backwards for YOU. You are an employee, hence you get paid to do a job and you are the one that needs to bend over backwards for them. Not the other way around. They aren't there to please you, you're there to please them. If you don't like it, find another job. Thats usually what people do.

It's funny that you say you compensate by going into work "medicated and in pain". If you are not cut out for the job, which appears in your attendance record, then the employer has the right to worry. If they have other people who do their job in a timely manner without having to miss work, you are hence, a liability because you might not show up for work one day when something is critical. You realize that you are "Support" and if you cannot be trusted to be at work or to show up work on drugs, you don't see the problems here?

ANY person who shows up at work on Percoden or other heavy narcotics is a serious liability. The fact that they are highly addictive is another problem because of fears of drug addiction and the things that follow with that. Not that you personally could be come a drug addict, but the chances are a great risk to an employer. You could take too much medication and overdose, or a variety of other things.

What's odd is the fact you won't tell what you have wrong with you. You are wanting to hide your, um whatever disease/problems, from anyone and everyone. Sounds more like a drug problem than an illness. If youre not honest to your employer in the beginning, how can they trust you at all? That's another liability issue if you go into a job trying to hide something from a drug test.

Its pretty stupid to try and hide the fact that you are on drugs because the second you get on their health care policy they are going to know exactly what you are taking anyway. So it's better to be honest up front.

My my, how we've managed to twist things around. Because I choose not to divulge my medical history with a group of strangers on the internet or to potential employers, all of a sudden I'm a drug addict? I guess it must be sad to see the world through your eyes because everyone could potentially be a threat if they don't tell you their life story upon first contact.

Since you brought up the employers role in this situation lemme clarify something for you. This is a direct quote from the US Dept. of Justice

The ADA protects you from discrimination in all employment practices, including: job application procedures, hiring, firing, training, pay, promotion, benefits, and leave. You also have a right to be free from harassment because of your disability, and an employer may not fire or discipline you for asserting your rights under the ADA. Most importantly, you have a right to request a reasonable accommodation for the hiring process and on the job.

Employers are bound by law to at least make a reasonable attempt to accomodate people with any sort disability, and firing or not hiring someone on those grounds is illegal. I have never milked the system, nor do I ever plan on doing so. If I wanted to I could sit my butt at home and get paid by the government and hardly work a day in my life. Instead I'm out there working for a living, paying taxes, and trying to make my own way in life and you have the gall to accuse me being a drug addict and expecting my employers to pity me? You sir, have no shame and it's attitudes like your that keep honest hard working people from ever succeeding in life.

Take your cynisism a shove it.

 

[stev0]

Originally posted by: Dznuts007
If you're abusing the drug it shows up on the test. If you're not abusing the drug it doesn't show up on the test...

ROTFL. that right there is dumbest answer to a question i have ever seen on these boards. so the drug test is going to be able to tell if your abusing a presription drug that you are on? depending on body weight and what you are on the medication for. the same does that a doctor could prescribe a 250lb man could be the same size dose that would get a small teen flying. but in a drug test, it's going to show up in both people, regardless of legit use or otherwise.

your best bet is to listen to millennium, he knows what he is talking about when it comes to these sorts of things.

 

Most pain killers will stay in your system for ~3days.
If you have a prescription for them, bring it with you to the test.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Hayabusarider

Originally posted by: Dznuts007
If you're abusing the drug it shows up on the test. If you're not abusing the drug it doesn't show up on the test...

Well, no.

Millennium is correct.

BTW, how would your kidneys know whether to pass drug metabolites based on need?

Also guys, employers CAN refuse to hire people based on drug usage and medical condition. Imagine a paper wants to hire an art reporter, and a blind person shows up. How about someone who drives a bus or operates a crane, yet has to take medication that puts others in physical danger? Quadrapelegic basketball player? No, the employer has the right and indeed the obligation to maintain a safe work environment. If someone who is employed develops a debilitating condition while working, then laws regarding disability kick in. This is where Cougar had a beef if he was tossed.

I am only saying he has a right to work IF and only IF he can do the job and perform it to his employer's specification.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: X-Man

Are you saying that you take Vicodin(hydrocodone/codeine) and Percocet(oxycodone) INSTEAD of morphine? Please clarify your statement because it makes your whole post sound suspicious. Believe me morphine is much more effective at combating pain than either of said pills.

I don't think it sounds suspicious at all, Millenium. Certain people react differently to different drugs. I had a friend in the hospital with a 6mm kidney stone, and morphine wouldn't touch it. Percocet was the only thing that made his pain go away.

It should not matter. I am not 100% positive of the pharmacology behind morphine and oxycodone, but Morphine is a much stronger agonist especially when taken IV. Percocet is not in the same class as morphine. Opioid receptors in the brain can't just magically change except for tolerance issues. I think what your friend experienced was a simple placebo effect. I cannot see how anyone would find more relief in an Analgesic such as Oxycodone over an Analgesic such as IV morphine. All I can think is that the dosage of morphine was TOO small for the amount of pain.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Cougar

Are you saying that you take Vicodin(hydrocodone/codeine) and Percocet(oxycodone) INSTEAD of morphine? Please clarify your statement because it makes your whole post sound suspicious. Believe me morphine is much more effective at combating pain than either of said pills. Why wouldn't you divulge your condition? Just give a basic idea of what it is like. Your post sounds suspicious if you don't clarify.

Opiates are detectable between 1 and 5 days depending on which opiate you took and in what form. Secondly, if it is a hair test then opiates can be detected up to 3 months.

Why would you be afraid to give your medical records to the lab or your employer? They cannot discriminate on the basis of your handicap. File with the EEOC if they deny you based on your handicap. I am not a litigious person, but this is something that we cannot allow in our society. If you can function and do the job then they are in the wrong.

Suspicious? What's so suspicious? I've got a slew of drugs at my disposal (oxycodone, percocet, vicodin, dilaudid, and methadone) and the level of pain will determine the drug that I take. If nothing works, which has happened a few times in the past, then I have to go to the hospital and get dilaudid through an IV. Morphine used to work, but it doesn't any more (at least not when it's really bad).

That pretty much sums up my condition. I get to live with chronic pain and pain killers are how I manage to keep my sanity.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, I don't want to give my medical records to any employer because I HAVE been dicriminated in the past. I work in the IT field and I don't need to give any future employer a reason to pass over me just because of my health. There's a million people fighting for the same job and if I have to hide something to level the playing field then so be it. I don't like it and my life would be easier if I could just be open about this but it has been proven to me that I can't.

I find it SHOCKING that IV morphine is less effective than Oxycodone or Vicodin. In fact, I would wager that is quite impossible.

 

I find it SHOCKING that IV morphine is less effective than Oxycodone or Vicodin. In fact, I would wager that is quite impossible.

Believe it. There are many synthetic opiates that make morphine and heroin look like childsplay.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Cougar

Originally posted by: Nocturnal

Originally posted by: Cougar
really? I should tell them up front? last time I told some one about my condition I lost my job. Since then I've told nobody that I've worked for.

I would've got some sort of proof if you're sickness is a legal and legit one and sued them.

Believe me nocturnal I can get all the proof I need. I could have buried the company and had my boss shipped off to Siberia but I chose to take the high ground. I was burned up for weeks after it happened but eventually I simmered down and realized that it wasn't worth it. I didn't want to "make it" in life by suing an ignorant weasel...I didn't want to stoop to her level.

you just let him do it to someone else, i dont think you took the high ground at all.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: SammySon

I find it SHOCKING that IV morphine is less effective than Oxycodone or Vicodin. In fact, I would wager that is quite impossible.

Believe it. There are many synthetic opiates that make morphine and heroin look like childsplay.

Uh Huh. Which one? I am talking about Vidodin and Oxycodone vs Morphine. Not even a fair comparison. What are YOU talking about? Seems like you are about to go off on an unrelated tangent.

 

Here is a good resource for information about opiates.
Many of you need to learn a LOT before you open your very uneducated mouths.

Millenium: I believe that phenalyne (sp) patches are around 500 times stronger than heroin.
It is so strong, that 1-3 micrograms is enough to kill pain for around 8 hours.

Oh, gotcha, actaully, oxycodone time release tabs are as effective as morphine.