i couldn't sum it all up in the title, but heres my story. my husband takes dexadrine and i take concerta. he takes his for add and i take mine for mood stability and narcolepsy(more like constant fatigue syndrome:-) ) Anyway, sometimes i take his med when i feel like i am still tired and i need an extra kick in the butt to get motivated to do whatever needs done. anyway, friday i had taken 3 of his 10mg dex and i had already taken about 72mg of my concerta. i work at a hospital in the pharmacy. apparently someone had gotten into the CII safe and stole almost all the morphine in there. so of course the hospital admin decides to do a random drug test. yay me. since i dont have a script for his dexadrine i will probably get fired when they find amphetamines. does anyone think i can pull it off by saying that the concerta made amphetamines show up in the drug test??? i know that methylphenedate isnt an amphetamine....but :confused:

methylphenidate is an amphetamine - like stimulant. Here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylphenidate

Why not go to your prescribing MD, explain about the tiredness, and let them know the predicament you are in? If they know your medical background, and can agree that your use of the dex was not drug abuse, they might be willing to write a letter which basically covers your ***....

Jon

thanks guys, ill try that

I don't know how a doctor can cover this. It is illegal to take somebody else's prescription medication no matter whose medication it is and no matter how good the intention for taking it is. Dexadrine and Methylphenidate are two different medications chemically. methylphenidate is "amphetamine - like" but not the same as an amphetamine.

Do you actually have to provide written documentation to the admin of these prescriptions? Have you already taken the drug test? Did you tell them up front that you were only taking Concerta?

Perhaps a lawyer would be more help than a physician?

I think some doctors would be more ammenable to helping a patient than others; no way to know without asking. A lawyer would also be a good place to seek advice, as this could snowball into unexpected legal problems.

Needless to say after the fact with 20/20 hindsight, tell your doc when your meds arent working instead of dipping into the family pharmacy.... However, you are not the only person to use the family pharmacy, especially when more than one person in the house has similar illnesses or similar prescriptions, it seems rather harmless and quite practical. I have trouble calling such behavior a criminal act, but on the other hand, in this case, and quite inadvertently, it could result in getting canned. Wouldnt you like to get your hands on the person who caused the drug test! I guess we should all beware and be warned that unforseen circumstances could result in unexpected drug testing, and other family members legal prescriptions might be illegal in our system.... sounds obvious but its not always as obvious as it sounds when you are in a situation where something seems to be a convenient and harmless solution.

Good luck...definitely seek help somewhere, doctor or lawyer.

Jon

I think you should consult a lawyer, because

1. You took the Dex illegally. i know your intentions were innocent, but I don't know if the DEA would say so.

2.You do not want to talk to a doctor about this until a lawyer tells you what all the legal twists and turns that would involve.

3. This was your husband's Dex Rx. And again, while everybody's intentions were innocent, again I don't know how the DEA would view the situation. I do not know if the DEA would ask if your husband knew you were taking the Dex--and you do not want to implicate him unnecessarily.

4. You still have rights RE the drug test and what results from it.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe a lawyer is the person who can be most useful to you at this point.

I wish you the best.

DBR

Do the pills look at all alike? Is it possible that your meds got mixed up?

Since I work at the pharmacy, I thought it would be a good thing to tell my manager about it. She said of course everything you guys did about it being illeagal and all, which i knew already *(thats why we put those fancy federal law labels on there that say 'not to be transferred to/used by any other person for it is against the law' on your bottle((or whatever it says))* Anyway, she called poison control and asked what exactly shows up in urine and how long in hours/days it stays in system for it to show up. They faxed her proof that methylphenadate does show up and it stays in sys for 1-4 days depending on use. So that nice little piece of information will save my ***. It would have also been convienient for me to ask my doctor this week to write a script for the dexadrine since hes right around the corner in his office at the hospital...but he left this afternoon. I havent taken any since the drug test so if they do another one it may or may not show up again...but what is the point if i have a script in the first place for the concerta?? anyways, im safe. to answer the pills look alike question, no they look TOTALLY different. dextostat* is brand and looks like a small round yellow wafer that is scored. the concerta i take (18mg now) looks like a rabbit pellet. lol.

Uh...so long as you didn't steal all the **** out of the safe, don't you think you should have nothing to worry about?

I mean, honestly, sometimes you people make me laugh.."I didn't steal anything, but this drug test will show something completely unrelated and I'll get fired"..Uh..how about NO.

Worst comes to worst, consult a lawyer and sue the **** out of them for raping your civil rights if they end up firing you.

Uh...so long as you didn't steal all the **** out of the safe, don't you think you should have nothing to worry about?

I mean, honestly, sometimes you people make me laugh.."I didn't steal anything, but this drug test will show something completely unrelated and I'll get fired"..Uh..how about NO.

Worst comes to worst, consult a lawyer and sue the **** out of them for raping your civil rights if they end up firing you.
bcaddkid
The problem was created because the lady had taken somebody else's Dex--which is illegal. The DEA might not have considered it to be a mere coincidence had a drug test shown Dex in the urine of someone who had no Rx, who works in a pharmacy where Dex had just been stolen, and who has a husband who takes Dex.

So "we people" gave the best answers we could given the info.

Anyway, i'm glad it turned out ok.

DBR

I hate to bring this up but.....the powers that be might not be able to tell the difference between you 'stealing' your husband's dex, and 'stealing' the morphine. Both are illegal (certainly by a big difference of magnitude), but for people without any experience or need for psychotropic drugs, anyone who 'steals' meds to alter their mental state, even if it's from your own husband.....might also feel the need to similarly 'steal' morphine for the same purpose.

It might be something to take a close look at anyway. If you realized that taking your husband's dex was something that helped you from time to time, you might think about why you didn't discuss this with your doctor when you first found this out. How do YOU feel about this? And did you not mention it to your doctor because you thought he/she might not approve?

I'm not trying to say that I think you have a problem; I'm just suggesting that you think beyond the immediate problem of how it's going to affect your job. By all means, whatever happens, talk to your doc about the dex and get his input.

Good luck!

ok....maybe some are confused. everyone in the pharmacy got tested, pharmacists, my manager the other tech...as a precaution. i was freaking out because even though they are looking for morphine, they cant just single it out on a standard drug test. so amphetamines and marijuana and cocaine would all still show up along with opiates on the test. and the drug test lab doesnt know that, all they know is to do a drug test. the morphine only matters to the hospital admin. but since the drug test ppl were concerned about me having dex in my test, they as well made it a big deal. but like i said b4, its all ok now. i had talked to my dr about the dex i told him i took it a couple of times becasue i was tired but i also said i didnt like it because it made me grumpy as i was coming down off of it and real shaky. my nxt appt is nov 1st and i will tell him about all of it. maybe to be safe i will ask for a script of like a whole #20 for occasional use. he may or may not do it...its not a big deal. i have my own med and i just just stick to it.

Sorry I misunderstood; I'm glad you talked to your doc. If he was aware of what you were doing, he will be able to substantiate the reason for the presence of dex in your system.

I'm a bit surprised that he didn't address the use of your husbands meds, and offer a solution where you wouldn't have to do that.

Ok you're worrying about something that might not happen as in getting fired. Keep it you'll get ulcers...I had six...believe me you don't want them. Also, if you go to the doc now and ask for a script it will look like you're trying to hide something.
If you're questioned why not just tell the truth and show them your husband's script????????????????????

. i was freaking out because even though they are looking for morphine, they cant just single it out on a standard drug test. so amphetamines and marijuana and cocaine would all still show up along with opiates on the test. and the drug test lab doesnt know that, all they know is to do a drug test. the morphine only matters to the hospital admin. .

AeRo.

Glad it worked out ok for you.

The question of what shows up in a drug test has been addressed on some other threads re preemployment drug screens.

Let me see if I'm understanding the quoted statement correctly. On an initial test, the testers could identify all the drug classes--amphet., opiates, etc.

Did the Concerta show up as amphetamine? That is, could the initial drug test differntiate Concerta from Dex?

Sorry if I'm being dense.

thanks in advance for the answer.

DBR

Why not go to your prescribing MD, explain about the tiredness, and let them know the predicament you are in? If they know your medical background, and can agree that your use of the dex was not drug abuse, they might be willing to write a letter which basically covers your ***....

Jon
This will definitely work. My parents do this all the time lol It isn't illegal..