A false positive can be caused by a wide range of items, including everyday products such as poppy seeds and ibuprofen. These substances may be ingested for reasons such as medical purposes or as ingredients for our everyday foodstuffs. However, they are broken down in the body and may present as metabolic forms of illegal substances in simple tests.
One requires complex and, often, expensive tests such as GC-SM or high-performance liquid chromatography to accurately establish if the metabolic forms were introduced into the body from illegal substances. Here are ten everyday products that may cause a false positive. Can you imagine your desire to satisfy your need to eat is the reason why you get a positive drug test? Well, it sounds crazy, but food can be a source of a false positive during a drug test. It is possible for your drug test to come back as a false positive for alcohol once you consume a lot of food that is rich in yeast.
During the metabolism of yeast, ethanol is formed as a by-product. Once you are subjected to a breathalyzer after you have consumed food rich in yeast, the ethanol that forms during metabolism can bring back a false positive for alcohol.
As such, food such as bread, ripe fruits, and pizza ought to be avoided when you are going to be subjected to a drug screening in a few hours. Granola bars can also lead to a false positive. Granola bars have hemp seeds as one of their ingredients. The hemp seeds can bring a false positive when testing for cannabis or THC. A harmless substance used to treat sinusitis, nasal congestion, and allergies resulting in breathing difficulties, Sudafed can lead to a false positive during the screening of drugs.
Manufacturers use manufactured amphetamines to make Sudafed; hence, when broken down in the body, it can lead to traces of methamphetamines or amphetamines being detected in your blood. These compounds are detectable during drug screening for up to two days after consumption. Can you believe that curing pain with ibuprofen can lead to a false positive?
Ibuprofen is routinely prescribed by doctors or physicians to cure sickness or inflammation in the body. It is a member of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory class of drugs. Once ingested, it takes around three hours for ibuprofen to lead to a false positive of cannabis, barbiturates, and PCP in your urine. The wrong positive shows for people whose consumption falls within the range of to milligrams per day.
These users of the drug can have a false positive for marijuana use in the IA test. Subsequent confirmatory tests such as high-performance liquid chromatography and GC-SM test are required to ascertain whether the first positive result is genuine or a false positive.
These are common drugs that have efavirenz. This component presents itself as an illicit substance during screening. Efavirenz can easily be mistaken for the presence of benzodiazepine and marijuana in the blood.
Often administered in conjunction with alcohol breathalyzer checks, the 5-panel tests detect the following substances:. More comprehensive panel tests are gaining popularity with employers. In addition to the substances included in the 5-panel test, the panel test detects five commonly abused prescription drugs:.
Additional panel tests can be ordered at many labs to test for specific substances, including opioids such as Oxycontin and Oxycodone, which behave similarly to opiates in the body and share their addictive nature , but are not detected by standard opiate tests. Panel tests employ paper strips impregnated with antibodies that react and change color in the presence of a drug or its metabolites —substances produced when a drug breaks down in the body.
The panel tests, also known as immunoassays, detect drugs much the same way home pregnancy tests change color in the presence of pregnancy-related hormones. False positives occur when a substance in the specimen is chemically similar to the target substance.
Makers of immunoassay test materials continually refine the sensitivity of test panels to reduce the likelihood of false positives. Nevertheless, the vast and growing number of substances, particularly prescription drugs, that can masquerade as illicit drugs or their byproducts means false positives will always be an issue with immunoassay testing. Over-the-counter OTC and prescription drugs have the potential to cause unexpected results in a urine drug test, including painkillers like Advil, Motrin and Aleve; cold remedies like Benadryl; nasal decongestants like Sudafed; cough suppressants like Robitussin and Delsym; sleep aids like Unisom, Tylenol PM and Advil PM; diabetes medications like Metformin; and antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft and Seroquel.
The table below is just a sampling:. To safeguard against false positives, drug testing labs re-test specimens that return positive panel-tests to rule out the possibility of a false positive. The confirmation tests use testing methods far more sensitive than panel tests—typically gas chromatography—mass spectrometry GC-MS or high performance liquid chromatography HPLC. These test methods are extremely precise and can distinguish between target substances and chemical imposters that can fool panel tests.
A medical research officer MRO is a physician with expertise in substance abuse and drug testing. At a drug test lab, the MRO is responsible for reviewing all test results, ensuring that specimens are handled securely from the time of collection through the testing process, flagging any indication of specimen tampering or adulteration, and documenting all testing procedures. In the case of a positive test result, the MRO may contact the test subject to check on any prescription medications, nutritional supplements, or over-the-counter medications they may be taking.
Finally, the MRO makes a final certification as to whether the individual being tested passes or fails. OK My Bookmarks. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark. Delete Cancel. You have successfully removed bookmark. Delete canceled. Please log in as a SHRM member before saving bookmarks.
OK Proceed. Your session has expired. Please log in as a SHRM member. Cancel Sign In. Please purchase a SHRM membership before saving bookmarks. OK Join. An error has occurred. From Email. To Email. Send Cancel Close. In fact, I have been clean and sober for more than two decades. However, I also take a variety of herbal supplements and Chinese medicines. I assume something I'm taking must have created a false positive on the test.
What can I do? I don't want to lose my job over an incorrect test result! Your first step should be to talk to your employer. Many drug testing programs have a medical officer or someone else who is designated to speak to employees about their use of legal prescription drugs, a common source of positive test results.
Find out who you should speak to and schedule an appointment right away. Bring all of the medications and supplements you are currently taking, and be prepared to give details about dosages and amounts. One of your supplements may be a known false positive trigger. Particularly if your employer has contracted with an experienced laboratory, there should be an easy way to find out whether your drug test result can be traced to your use of over-the-counter supplements.
It's also possible there was simply a mistake on the first test.
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