Can someone help me out??

ut0pia

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Okay so I'm doing a favor for my dad and I'm not successful so far. The thing he asked me to do is find out which prescription medicines are considered "drugs" and can show up on a drug test as illegal. The reason why he asked me is because when we were over in Europe this past month, he went to the dentist and since he has a gum disease the dentist prescribed to him a medicine that isn't available in the US, well it is but they are still doing experimental trials and haven't released it to the public. He works for the government and if he takes anything that's considered a drug, he can get in trouble for. Last time he had taken a prescription sleeping pill, but the prescription was not from a US doctor and it showed up on a drug test, and they told him that he cannot take medicine from a non US doctor and pretty much told him to stop taking it!! Can they even do that? Anyways I was like that can't be right but apparently he doesn't care enough to go challenge it and he just went to his US doctor to get a prescription from her, but with this he can't because it's something not available here in the US. Lol anyways...The ingredients in the medicine are spiramycin and metronidazole (both antibiotics). so pretty much can someone help me find a list of all drugs that show up on drug tests? If anyone can guide me to a site that explains it, I'd appreciate it SO MUCH! He's probably being paranoid, I mean what drug tests screens for antibiotics?? But he really wanted to be safe and even wants me to show him where I get the info...
 

snake_lady

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hmmmm, that would be quite difficult.

A couple thoughts though: could he call his Dr. and ask them what medications he can and cannot take?

or

Can he call his employment and after explaining why the question, ask them?
 

snake_lady

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I know this is about the importation of meds from other countries:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=50366

but it makes me wonder. Would consumming the med be considerred importing it? If thats the case, then anything he gets outside of the US would not be "legal".

I do know that any med can show up if the do the right testing.... I do not know what the standard testing tests for.

ETA: I know I'm not answering your direct question, I'm just trying to brainstorm different thoughts that others can elaborate.

But I think the answer to your question would be any medication that is not fda approved, would be considerred a drug in your dad's case.... if that is correct, you could check fda site when he's prescribed a med in a different country and see if it is approved in the US.

ETA: Do you know which drug test they do on your father? Some are named....if not, do you know if its blood/urine/saliva/hair or sweat test?

ETA: sorry, I keep finding info, and don't want to always post new replies... Anyways, you asked about a list of drugs that show up on tests:

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/...ng_info1.shtml

I am not surprised about the sleeping pill to tell you the truth. They can be highly addictive, misused, etc. Sleeping pills can be barbiturates which will show up.
 
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ut0pia

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I told him to ask our family doctor. But he's afraid that she will say it's illegal even if it may not show up on a test, she may just go with protocol and like you said importing is probably illegal no matter what, even if it's for your own consumption with a prescription from your primary care physician. My grandparents came to the US last year and brought with them all their medicines, they are quite sick and that was a lot of drugs they brought a lot of them were in the dangerous category. That's what puzzles me, they are not US residents they are coming to visit and need those medicines to support their life during their visit so I don't see how it can be illegal. And the situation with my dad, although he lives here he does have a primary care physician overseas because my dad has spent quite a long time there before moving to the US, the physician knows him and he trusts the physician just as much as he trusts the one we have here. Oh and my dad physically brought the medicine with him when we came back to the US, he didn't like order it online from a pharmacy outside of the US. I dunno if I made that clear..
Anyways, another headache coming from being a dual citizen. I feel like it has more disadvantages than advantages.
But I don't think the routine randomized urine drug tests they give out to all government employees tests for all every possible drug.
This is more complicated than I thought.....
 
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ut0pia

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

ETA: Do you know which drug test they do on your father? Some are named....if not, do you know if its blood/urine/saliva/hair or sweat test?
I'm pretty sure it's urine

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

ETA: sorry, I keep finding info, and don't want to always post new replies... Anyways, you asked about a list of drugs that show up on tests:

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/...ng_info1.shtml

I am not surprised about the sleeping pill to tell you the truth. They can be highly addictive, misused, etc. Sleeping pills can be barbiturates which will show up.
Thanks! Thats a good site..
Yea I know about the sleeping pills, he used to be on them a while ago but no longer is. But eventually he got a US doctor's prescription so it was legit. The thing is the whole experience of thinking you're taking a legit medicine and then ending up to have to defend it and show proof of presciption and the possibility of them not accepting it was quite scary so now my dad is kinda paranoid and doesn't take anything without a prescription to avoid that problem again, so even this antibiotic is in question for him whether to take it or not. That's why he's asking me to research for him..
 

strange_wings

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I have never heard of anyone abusing antibiotics, they're no where near considered controlled substances - which would be what drug testing would check for. He'll likely be given very basic screening probably similar to what an ER does. To test for everything and for every employee would be incredibly expensive.
 

momofmany

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What type of test do they run - urinalysis or blood test?

DH used to work in one of the national labs where they sent drug test results to for analysis. The standard "tinkle test" doesn't look for antibiotics and in fact only looks for a few drugs. There's a more comprehensive tinkle test that looks a little further, but still doesn't look for antibiotics. If what they are giving your dad is a blood test, I can't say as DH never talked about those.
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

I have never heard of anyone abusing antibiotics, .
People abuse antibiotics everyday! It's why we are seeing "super bugs" that are resistant to the strongest antibiotic that we have available to use.

Doctors feel pressured to prescribe antibiotics to someone who has cold symptoms and absolutely refuses to leave without a prescription! So the doctor caves and gives them a prescription to shut them up and get them out of his office. People who get a prescription often don't finish taking the entire course of medication and instead stop when they feel "better" and then save the rest for another time when they are sick. Not only does that give the bacteria that you have a taste of the antibiotic so that they can adjust and adapt and become immune to it, but said antibiotic may not even be right for the next illness that you get.

So yes, while people don't usually dope up on antibiotics like they do on narcotics, antibiotics are abused, probably more so than narcotics are because there are more people doing it.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

People abuse antibiotics everyday! It's why we are seeing "super bugs" that are resistant to the strongest antibiotic that we have available to use.
Doctors have drastically cut back on that - at least in the US. So much so that there have been cases of people getting extremely sick or even dying because their rather simple infection wasn't treated early enough.

The only time I've had antibiotics that I didn't need was from a dentist who was overly concerned about an abscess. He thought that antibiotics should get rid of all traces of it and tried to do so with three courses....


I suppose you frown on antibiotics given as a preventative, as well?

But to put the tread back on topic - the OP's father did need antibiotic treatment. The human mouth (and all mouths in fact) are nasty and infections there can spread and kill a person. The spiramycin won't be looked for. If by chance they do find out he was taking these antibiotics it will likely be easier to settle than if he was taking something considered a control substance here... because apparently everyone taking those is equivalent to a junkie.
 

mrblanche

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If he was in Europe for a legitimate reason and given a drug to use THERE for a legitimate purpose (say, falling down a flight of steps in Stockholm and breaking a wrist), and IF he keeps a copy of the prescription, he SHOULD be OK. Lots of qualifiers there.

I'm in an industry (trucking) subject to random, pre-hire, and for-cause drug testing. Marijuana shows up for almost 30 days, but most others disappear within less than a week. All the opiates are in that class.

I am not allowed to have a number of different drugs in my system that might be perfectly legal for the dispatcher to take. Ambien is a good example.

By the way, before anyone criticizes our government's reluctance to approve new drugs that might be commonly used in foreign countries, just remember that Thalidomide was never legal in the U.S; anyone who took it did so without the FDA's approval.
 
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ut0pia

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Thanks guys. I showed him the first site that Snake_Lady gave me and he was pretty much satisfied that these aren't controlled substances that he's taking.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

If he was in Europe for a legitimate reason and given a drug to use THERE for a legitimate purpose (say, falling down a flight of steps in Stockholm and breaking a wrist), and IF he keeps a copy of the prescription, he SHOULD be OK. Lots of qualifiers there.
lol a legitimate reason to be here? That sounds weird... he was in Europe because he is a dual citizen and he was spending time in his native country? lol is that legitimate reason? Anyways if I see what you're saying correnctly, then it's not legal to just go over boarder and get treatment and medicine there and just fly right back and stay on that treatment.
But yea I know about trucking, I mean I'm pretty sure it's illegal to drive on some prescription medicines even if you are aren't doing it as a job....My dad doesn't operate any kind of machines he's in the city government and does some kind of accounting there..
 
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