False Negative Urinalysis

[Tina1961]

I recently had a urinealysis done at my doctors office.  I was being tested for my morephine levels. When visiting with my doctors associate the other day he told me that I tested negative for morephine use.  The doctor accused me of selling my pain medication.  I have a tear in my anterior portion of a disc in my lower back.  I have been taking my morephine as prescribed and I would like to know how the morephine would not show up in my urinealysis, but, the diazapam and the marijuana I smoke from time to time showed up.  How is that possible???  Was the Physicians Assistant that I was seeing messing with my head to test me to see if I was selling my morephine or what???  I am confused as to why this test showed negative when I have been taking my morephine as prescribed???  I am concerned that they may throw me out of the practice for this and I have no way to prove that I am not selling and apparently their urinalysis was wrong.  Should I suggest a blood test to prove that I am taking my meds as prescribed or what???  The PA refused to give me my refills, cuz I get a new script every 7.5 days cuz my regular doctor does not want to prescribe anymore than that at a time.  Could you please help me find a solution(reasonable) to this situation that I am in.  I cannot afford to loose my pain medicine.  I will be back to not being able to walk right again and be in horrible pain again also.  Could you  please write me back and let me know what the possibilities could as to why the test showed a negative result for my morephine usage???

Thank You For Your Time In This Matter
Have a Good Day
Tina

[sandee1818]

Hi Pain_Patient,
I am so very sorry to hear about what your going thru!
I myself have been there too and it is very hurtful and frustrating and yes it does make you very angry that the doctor will not even discuss the possibility that something went wrong!
I was friends with my doctors wife and him as well. Although he was nice and explained he could not treat me any longer I still felt so betrayed.
He even set me up with a great doctor to replace him but I have to now rebuild the doctor/patient relationship and I am still hurt by his decision to drop me as a patient.
he has explicit rules that state if you fail a test your out that simple.
Today doctors do not want that close doctor patient relationship because they know they may have to drop you sometime in the future and it is hard on some of them to do this.
Don't get me wrong I am NOT making what they are doing sound okay because it is not ok.
They need to have some compassion and entertain the thought that a mistake may have been made somewhere either at the office or lab or there may be a health problem that is causing the false negative.
I would immediately start trying to find a PM doctor. I am assuming that your PCP is the one who dropped you otherwise I would tell you to go to him for a referral.
Write a letter explaining everything and include that you were willing to retest or have blood work. they have to include this in your file. Then call around and find a PM doctor and see if you can find one that will take you w/o a referral if not then ask your doctor will he refer you to a PM doctor being he is not one he may do this.
When you do see the new doctor DO NOT LIE to him/her! Never ever lie to cover this up as it will come back to bite ya.
I wish you the best of luck! I know how you feel and as I said I am sorry this has happened to you.
I want to also mention that some states require the doctor to treat you for 30 days or until you find another doctor.
Keep us posted please:)
We will help anyway we can.

[pain_patient]

People make many judgements when they've never had to go through this. Just recently I had a false negative.I have been treated for Chronic back pain due to severely degenerative discs for many years now and when I had to have a urinalysis done nothing showed up. I take my meds and have 20+ people that can testify to this. My Dr's office didn't even investigate why they just discharged me as a patient. This is a dr that I have been going to for 15years. He made the choice of managing my pain vs a pain specialist doing it because we had many years of history together. I am absolutely distrought over this because they didn't even have to decency to let me speak to my dr. Some associate who I don't know called me, made the accusation,then hung up on me!! I'm hurt more than anything, but Im also pissed! There are many reasons as to why the meds didn't show up in my system. For starter's, Im a gastric bypass patient and malabsorption is the main factor to the surgery. I know that i dont absord certain meds well because I've had them come out in my stool. Also all I drink is water and tea(which is a diuretic) I have no way of knowing if my test had been tampered with or that they even retested me. I know the DEA is coming down  on Dr's for certain class pain narcotics but I have never and will never by or sell drugs. I do not do any illicit drugs and have always been careful with my meds for the sheer reason I never wanted any trouble with my dr. I believe it's safe to say without my meds I would be almost disabled  but I am 27 yrs old and don't want to throw in the towel. There are others out there who need disability more than I do. My biggest fear is what will happen wihen I run out of my meds.I know that it can cause seizures and if bad enough... death. I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. It seems like dr's these days don't care like they used to and don't want to do anything past the minimum.There seems to be no more thinking outside of the box with at least the dr's I've dealt with. We put our faith and trust in these dr's. (dont get me wrong, I know they've got a lot on there plate and compliance rules have changed in the past) but to just write someone off after all of this time just blows my mind.

[sandee1818]

Hi and I too am sorry your having trouble but as I see it you have brought it on yourself. I do not want to sound like I am preaching here I just want you to realize the magnitude of what your Dr. found. I make sure everyone here knows about the ones who cause us harm by illegally getting drugs and those who abuse their Dr's trust and misuse their meds or sell them. These peole make it very hard for those who really need pain management to get it and I am appalled at their behavior.
I am NOT saying you are one of these people but by your own admission your using an illegal substance so you are hindering not only your treatment but millions of others to by your actions. I do believe your taking your morphine and Mollyrae has an excellent article about ways it will not show on your test. I would not expect any further refills from your Dr for the morphine though when he sees there was an illegal substance in your system that will end your relationship with him and you will have a very difficult time finding a Dr to treat you now because of the illicit drug use.
When you are taking pain meds and especially morphine you have to be careful about what your taking as you see the Dr's do not like to see their Pt's using marijuana or any other illegal drug. If he was to refill your script at this point knowing your using illegal drugs he could lose his licence and even face criminal charges. Dr's who prescribe these kinds of meds take on a HUGE responsibility and they know this and they know they can lose everything including their freedom for prescribing these medications to the wrong people. We have to realize they are risking themselves and their families by helping us with our pain and your actions only make them more wary of helping those who need it.
There are fewer and fewer PM Dr's everyday because they see the risk and realize they are not going to take that risk any longer because of people who do take advantage of them and use them.
You can ask for your records and try and find a new Dr but the chances are slim to none you will get a new Dr to prescribe you meds that one was not in your system and two illegal drugs in your system.
Good luck

[PromisedLand]

Yes, I'm afraid the marijuana was not such a good move and tend to agree with Mollyrae.
While I believe there certainly is a lot of mishandling of cases by PM's, I'm not sure that is the case here.  Maybe I missed it..is the diazepam prescribed?


Jim

[Mollyrae]

Hello Tina and welcome to MH.

I'm sorry that you are in such a mess with your script. It IS possible to have Morphine NOT show up in the tests that the Doctor is using.1.) Some tests are not sensitive enough if you have a small amount in your blood stream. 2.) Some Medications will cancel out the Morphine in your system. 3.) your just not taking your Meds. Of course I don't know what it might be in your case. Are you taking anything else besides the Diazapam or the Pot?

I have an article posted in my journals about certian medications canceling out the Morphine. You might want to take a look.

Also, It is not advisable to smoke pot when you are seeing a PMS. Most all Doctors when finding that in your system will "cut you off" just for finding that, never mind that you don't have the Morphine in your system. Pot usage would get you kicked out immediately. I can understand why a Doctor would not want to treat you for your pain.
Your record has a red flag on it now and it is gong to be very hard to find a Pain Specialist.
I wish you well in finding help and good luck in the future.
Mollyrae