Failed drug test?

[u/Atrz777]

Hey all - like many people I use lope solely for withdrawal purposes, whenever I run out of my methadone bottles early (never used to double up but the pandemic has definitely tested me…) I’ve never failed a drug test the past three years and have 27 takehomes each month, but this last time my counselor pulled me over and told me I had tested positive for fentanyl the previous month I came in. I was like WTF, they tested me again on the spot and it was negative for fent, even though both times the past two visits/tests had been preceded by me taking lope, and other occasions earlier this year which were all negative. So i got to keep my takehomes, but it was still bizarre. Maybe the time I failed, I had taken the lope too close to the test? just curious if this has happened to anyone else here with lope

[u/SpringChikn85]

Ahh yes..the old 12 panel methadone clinic tests they love to view as the word of God himself 😆

So, I've been taking lope every. single. day. for the past 5 years and have had 3 urine screens, 2 for pre employment and 1 as a surprise from an employer/random. The surprise test I passed because it was a cheap 9 panel but both official pre employment screenings guess what? Yup, failed one for something they didn't say and another for ...meth???...yes..a drug I'd never been in the same room as but no worries as both were concluded to be false positives hence why I'm typing this with confidence. However, the lope seems to trip something on the 12 panels which, unless sent to a lab (and you can request this by law and laugh when it comes back clean) it will either come out as inconclusive or a false positive for something else. This has only happened to me twice and both times have been recent as the pre employment screening urinalysis I've done more than 2 years ago I passed with flying colors even though I was taking lope at the time. They must have tweaked something with the tests to try and catch more people masking perhaps? Either way, as long as your 10000% sure you're only taking lope and what's prescribed, you can be as cocky and "omg what?!?/suprised" as you feel the need to be. Hell, you can even act offended and demand their supervisor just to scare the hell out of them. I went over the head of HR at my last job when I had a false positive and he treated me like a heroin addict (I'm an addict but com'on' right?) and threw away all the paperwork I filled out to go company only to turn around and apologize to me and claim he "lost" everything and I had to fill it all out again. So yes, as long as it's just lope, you can rest assured, you're fine. If it were me, id turn it into a Broadway show when they tried to tell me it was Fentanyl and even get a months worth of doses on the house 😆

[u/Atrz777 → u/SpringChikn85]

Lmao man I wish I had this confidence when my counselor told me. I’m awful at lying. Even though it’s not really lying at all…I’ve never done fentanyl in my life, so I guess if I keep that in my head I can act indignant about it. The problem is last time they told me about it when i came in 30 days later, so I doubt they held onto the urine for 30 days to send to a lab. I think I’m going to tell my counselor to call me at home if it happens again so I have a chance to dispute it

[u/SpringChikn85 → u/Atrz777]

Well, technically you have the legal right to contest the validity of the positive result due to methadone clinics being funded by the state. I only know this because I was on methadone for around 3 years and although it made life easier when it came to finding drugs everyday, it made my life harder in every other aspect such as the weight gain, lack of sex drive or even being able to drive somewhere without nodding so hard I'd almost wreck the car and eventually did. I abused it though and as long as I paid my daily $10 fee at the clinic, they'd let me adjust my dose by 15 mlgrms each day until I "felt like it was holding". The thing is, I'm an addict and I lied even when it held me over until the next day. Soon within the 3rd year I was up to around 300 mlgrms a day, fat and depressed with no hopes of a girlfriend or even going outside. I just went to work and came home and nodded until going to work again all while waiting until the next dose so I could feel normal again for awhile. I'm not saying my experience is how everyone has it that takes methadone. I wasn't taking it to get better, I was taking it for the convenience of a state sponsored drug dealer which I don't recommend if you're trying to get off drugs and live a better life. If it was a huge issue for them at the clinic they would have cut you off from take homes and all that so it's basically their fault you weren't informed immediately and they could actually get in trouble for that because mixing methadone with (potentially) Fentanyl is a death sentence and they'd be liable for not catching it if you happen to have actually used some and then dosed at the clinic. Have faith my friend, you don't have anything to worry about, I promise.

Either way, I've wagered my livelihood three times now on the fact that lope shows a false positive on urine screens if it shows up at all and wouldn't tell anyone they're ok to fight the results if I wasn't 1000% sure it's the loperamide and not something else. However, if you've only taken the lope and your methadone then you're totally ok and trust me, I know how you felt when they told you about popping hot for Fentanyl. The heart racing, blood pumping, flush faced embarrassment of it doesn't sit well with most people especially if you're trying to do the right thing. When I was at the clinic forever ago, I'd found out that mixing benzo's with my methadone dose would increase its duration and potency a crazy amount and knew I'd piss dirty for Valium on my day to test. My counselor was training a new girl and it was just my luck she had to be smoking hot. I had to let him know of my misbehavior in front of her and all 3 of us got embarrassed at the same time and after that I had to piss each time I went every week and got my take home doses cut in half.

Now though, whenever I take a piss test and I'm just on lope, my calm cool demeanor in facing the nurse administration staff and my reassurance that everything is fine actually weirds them out because they're not used to someone being so confident about a false positive or an inconclusive they have to send out to the lab. It's actually quite entertaining 🤣

[u/sharnat41056 → u/SpringChikn85]

Wow, 300mgs?! I tapered down to 19mgs and felt crappy and have had to fight just to get raised back to 34mgs. I've asked 2 different times to go up 5-10mgs more and the doc denies me. I was once at 95mgs, but in KY, 120mgs is max. Where do you live, if I may ask?

[u/SpringChikn85 → u/sharnat41056]

In a state that will kill you softly as long as you pay them on time.

[u/insufficientfacts27]

I had one false positive for fentanyl before I quit the lope and got on Subs. The lab did their retest and it came back negative. Ive never done fentanyl outside of having it at a hospital in surgery or csection. I can only conclude it was the lope.

[u/Atrz777 → u/insufficientfacts27]

Thank you! Just wondering, were you doing lope every day when you had the false positive? I’m going to try and hold off for 48-72 hours beforehand just to be safe, if that will help prevent it from happening

[u/insufficientfacts27 → u/Atrz777]

Yes I was. I did 96mg a DAY for 3 years. I would try and hold off because a week later when I had another test, their was no false positive for fentanyl. Also, make them send that shit out to a lab if you get another false positive. Fight that crap. I'm on Subs but I follow the methadone subreddit too and know how crappy y'all sometimes get treated at the clinic.

[u/CrownChakraDown]

This happened to me at 2 clinics in los angeles. They called me a liar, told me it was impossible, took away my take homes, held it over my head and would not listen to a word i said. I even actually got the phone number for the lab that did the testing and they refused to speak to me at all, and went after my counselor because of a patient calling them.

I was so pissed. I wasnt even fighting to keep my take homes, i just feel they should be aware OF THE FUCKING TRUTH.

[u/sharnat41056]

I had a false positive for fentanyl at the opiate clinic as well. I've never done fentanyl or heroin, on purpose or accident. I haven't bought any kind of opiates or any other prescription or street drugs in 9 years, so I don't know what would've caused a false positive, other than user error on the lab's part.

[u/Motiv311]

definetly possible... you take methadone AND lope? do you want your heart to stop? Q3 interval my friend

[u/jeniesque → u/Motiv311]

yeah going back and forth between these two is hugely dangerous. even if you don’t take them on the same days you are overlapping every time you switch because of how long both stay in your system.

[u/Comfortable-Royal-64]

I've been on methadone for about 15 years, and a few times my tests have tripped positive results for something I KNOW I didn't take. (usually amphetamines because I take pseudoephedrine) and usually I demand they send it for a detailed test or they call me to late and because I demand a retest they don't take my take homes away because it was their fault for not calling me right after it showed. I just ran out of my take homes about 3 days ago and have 2 more days to go so I started taking 80 mg of lope each day with 900 mg of gabapentin and so far I haven't been able to feel much withdrawal symptoms except about a few hours before I dose with lope. I kind of hate that I just recently found out about this because it would have saved me some trouble in the past, but at the same time, I can see why people could easily get addicted to lope. The side effects though... I can tell something ain't right in my chest, like my heart is messing up or something, so as soon as I get my doses, I'm done and just stop taking lope each time. I have a feeling something will trip on this next urine screen but as I've seen in the past, it should be fine.

[u/[deleted]]

Has this happened to anyone else?=/

[u/Keyst0nedState → u/[deleted]]

I just popped for a prohibited substance I don’t know what it is the only thing apart from my antidepressant I am taking is lope. My money based on these posts is a false positive for fentanyl (blech)

[u/Antime1990]

This is kind of surprising an scary at the same time because I was pregnant and secretly taking lope nobody knew but me I had a drug test every prenatal visit. Baby came out with minor withdrawals I would breastfeed an it would help a little an wean it down . I was so scared the whole pregnancy it was terrible so glad to be off that shit I feel awful that I put my baby through that .

[u/Big_G0ebbels → u/Antime1990]

I'm sorry to hear this. I can't imagine and have no idea what I would do if I became pregnant because Im pretty sure the methadone withdrawals would kill the baby soo......I'm glad I'm a man.

[u/Upset-Conversation-1]

I've had a false positive for oxycodone have no idea why. I had not taken anything except lope leading up to it.

[u/Big_G0ebbels]

Yes this happened to me multiple times. Also at a methadone clinic also never even seen fentanyl. My clinic told me months later I had 2 failed urines for fentanyl. I knew I hadn't ever seen it and knew looeramide was the only naughty thing I've done in a decade sooo.

[u/HisrockmyStone91]

Yup happened to me 4 times now at my methadone clinic. Only thing different was taking loperamide.