Adderall nabbed?

ANTVGM64

Howdy, so, I have a kind of tricky question pertaining to a few things, so hopefully I can get a little more info on the subject.

Long story short I was prescribed Adderall a little under a month ago after making an appointment with a neurologist, and explaining about all the various work-related problems I had. We talked for a bit and he eventually said I would be drug tested randomly (I'm assuming my next appointment) since I mentioned I had previously smoked Marijuana.

So, I get the adderall, and it's great, I can focus at work, and aside from accidentally washing like three of them, it's a life changer. I was given a 30 day supply, and since there was more than thirty days between appointments, and already being down three due to washing machine related oopsies, I opted to not take any this past week. I open my drug cabinet in my home and find I only have three left.

I haven't smoked pot so I'm not worried there, but the problem is I think someone is taking it from the cabinet. I'm 99 percent positive I had more than three remaining, but I'm not sure. Obviously I can't prove people have taken it from the cabinet, and going forward I will keep the bottle on my person or hidden away, but my question is about my next appointment.

When they drug test me I figure they're probably looking to 1) See what kinds of drugs I have in my system and 2) make sure I had been taking the Adderall and not like selling it. So I guess my questions are

1) With...13 days until my next appointment, and only three of them left, if I continue to take these as normal, will I then not show up as on Adderall when given the drug test?

2) Do I tell my Doctor (actually it'll be a nurse practitioner) that I think someone nabbed them to explain why the Adderall level may not be 'up to speed' or what not? Would this get me in trouble?

Essentially I'm worried that it's going to look like I wasn't taking it, which I was, and I don't want to throw out the fact I think someone was taking it, because I can't prove it. This is seriously my first ever prescription and I feel like I fucked it up, and I'd hate to have to go without it, since my life has changed so drastically, for the better, since coming to terms with ADHD and all of that.

TL;DR - How do neurologists test for Adderall in your system, and what should I expect?

SaraLuna

I can't really speak to the drug test, but I'd recommend getting a small lockbox of some sort to keep hidden in your room.

sadly, adderall is one of those things you can't leave laying around - even if you trust your housemates, you can't trust everyone they might bring into your home.

and personally, I'd tell my doctor what happened now & see if there was any way to move up the appointment.

Erios

People steal Adderall.

I've had mine ripped off at work. I work in an office with consummate do-gooders, so there you go. Now I just keep my pills for the day in a plastic bag that never leaves my pocket.

My best advice is to spend the money on some kind of lock box, like @pablo_price said. Now the kicker is to never mention said lock box exists, nor that you have adderall. Hide the box in a benign place and don't draw attention to it.

ANTVGM64

Yeah I did the plastic bag thing then washed my pants haha. But yeah, I guess my big concern is how understanding the doctor will be. I know it has the ability to be abused and the last thing I want to do is be the guy who seems like he's scheming for adderall.

Mad Jazz

There's usually a lot of things that go into suspecting someone is deflecting medication elsewhere. If your doc knows that you have a stable job and you don't act super shady (i.e., tell him/her the truth about what happened, don't try to embellish anything) and you don't make a habit of it, you'll probably be fine.

LostNinja

I have to agree with everyone else here and say just tell your doctor (or nurse practitioner) the truth. They more than likely have seen this sort of thing happen a dozen times over and will be reasonably understanding if you are upfront about it rather than trying to hide something. My guess is that the drug test is more to see if you've been smoking weed in order to gauge your likelihood of abusing rather than testing the actual levels of aderall in your system.

zepherin

I've always put my lunch and anything I wanted for myself at work in a brown bag marked stool sample.

You should probably tell your doctor someone stole your Adderall. They will generally get you another script as long as you don't make a habit of it.

schuss

If they're really worried you're selling it, they'll just give you fewer pills more often, as that will make you call in. If you have a habit of "losing" them, that's when they'll get actually suspicious. No need to worry on them honestly getting stolen and washing a few.

ANTVGM64

Thanks everyone. I'm going to call the neurology clinic tomorrow and see what they say.

ANTVGM64

Howdy friends, so this turned out pretty okay, and I've been on a tear of productivty and general good mental health since getting this whole thing figured out.

However, I just found out today while re-filling my prescription, that tomorrow, I have a 10 panel drug test / tox screen (I assume those are the same things). The paper I'm supposed to bring to the drug test people has a thing that says "please confirm amphetamine" and then something else about checking for OxyCodone?

I'm assuming this is 1) To ensure I have the Adderal in my system, and 2) to make sure I'm not taking any other drugs, which I'm not - outside of like two hits of a bowl of marijuana I smoked last week because I forgot for about 30 seconds I wasn't supposed too.

Anyway, I'm curious how badly this having doobie in my system thing could eff up my program - though it was the first bowl I had smoked in weeks and may not even show up at all - who knows.

Additionally I'm curious if I should take my adderall before this drug screen, or not? Would taking it mess up the test and make it seem like I have too much in my system, or am I wildly over thinking all of this because I'm paranoid about the bit of weed I smoked last week?

DevoutlyApathetic

Adderal is amphetamine. I would not change your medication routine unless explicitly told to.

Pot sticks around forever in your system depending on how they test. I do not know how big an issue this will be with him.

Also, you don't do illegal drugs except for this thing last week and then later you say that was the first bowl you smoked in weeks when you started Adderal and the no drugs restriction almost a year ago.

I am not going to suggest lying to your doctor but if you do lie at least make sure it takes more than a moment's thought to see the inconsistencies. Really, even if you have lit up you are like 90% better off telling your doctor who is prescribing you psychoactive medications. Looking for advice and falsifying the information is going to lead to false advice.

Natas_Xnoybis

go for the truth, there is a reason why they have to fill out a triplicate form for the prescription. Don't leave it lying around, keep it in your backpack, bike messenger bag, or locked up.

I had the same issue in the 90s. "friends" were crushing it and snorting it.

*edit* by go for the truth I mean, call in the nurse now and say "hey, I am down to three pills" I think someone stole some. Whoever is living with you/taking it is a douche bag, you are trying to get your shit together and they are interfering with it.

Windburn

I don't prescribe Adderall, but I do prescribe narcotics. I'm not involved in drug screening, so I won't comment on the potential for Adderall or THC to show up. So this comment is really in reference to your original question and to assist others that may have the same issue.

If you are an established patient without a history of abuse, I will write a small refill for lost/stolen medications (enough to bridge until your next appointment). If it happens again, I will insist on establishing a pain contract.

If you are a new patient and this is the first script I have written for you. Calling my office with the story above sounds extremely fishy. I will consider calling in a Schedule III narcotic to bridge you until your next appointment, but I probably won't provide a new script for the Schedule II. If they are legitimately stolen or are destroyed (e.g. fire) get a police report. I will be happy to replace under documented circumstances.

This may sound unreasonable, but I am held accountable by the DEA for the medications I prescribe. If you are selling them, my license could be revoked ("Dr. so-and-so sold me the oxycontin). If you are abusing them and, say, hit and kill a pedestrian, I could be held criminally liable.

Doctors know that some of their patients are honest and bizarre stuff happens. Sometimes the dog really does eat your homework. However, I am not a walking lie detector. Some of the most reasonable sounding people are the biggest abusers. In fact, the longer they scam the system, the better they get at it.

TL:DR - Guard your high abuse potential prescriptions like gold, because if you lose them, most of time it will simply be too bad.

ANTVGM64

Windburn wrote: »

I don't prescribe Adderall, but I do prescribe narcotics. I'm not involved in drug screening, so I won't comment on the potential for Adderall or THC to show up. So this comment is really in reference to your original question and to assist others that may have the same issue.

If you are an established patient without a history of abuse, I will write a small refill for lost/stolen medications (enough to bridge until your next appointment). If it happens again, I will insist on establishing a pain contract.

If you are a new patient and this is the first script I have written for you. Calling my office with the story above sounds extremely fishy. I will consider calling in a Schedule III narcotic to bridge you until your next appointment, but I probably won't provide a new script for the Schedule II. If they are legitimately stolen or are destroyed (e.g. fire) get a police report. I will be happy to replace under documented circumstances.

This may sound unreasonable, but I am held accountable by the DEA for the medications I prescribe. If you are selling them, my license could be revoked ("Dr. so-and-so sold me the oxycontin). If you are abusing them and, say, hit and kill a pedestrian, I could be held criminally liable.

Doctors know that some of their patients are honest and bizarre stuff happens. Sometimes the dog really does eat your homework. However, I am not a walking lie detector. Some of the most reasonable sounding people are the biggest abusers. In fact, the longer they scam the system, the better they get at it.

TL:DR - Guard your high abuse potential prescriptions like gold, because if you lose them, most of time it will simply be too bad.

This is awesome, thanks. Yeah more than anything else I am trying to be insanely careful about where I keep my medication - I haven't lost any or whatnot since the initial post in October. The tricky part has been the no 'drugs' thing, which isn't even tricky, I just keep forgetting because I'm an idiot. The one thing I've tried to communicate to my doctor over and over is that I do not want to be a hassle / that annoying guy with all the questions - this is my first time on any kind of medication for a long-term period.

But the thing I'm worried about is last week I took a hit (or two or three I didn't count) from a bowl, and seeing as how the past 28 years of my life did not involve random drug tests, I simply forgot that I could be. Low and behold today I'm told I'm being tested tomorrow.

If I had to venture a guess this test is primarily to ensure I am 1) taking my adderall (which I am) and 2) make sure there's nothing else in my system, which there isn't aside from the bit of doobie. My concern (and this is my own fault) is that I'll pop the test for marijuana. Can doctor's tell like, 'levels' i.e they can see it was only a 'bit' of pot and not like bowls and bowls of the stuff?

Regardless they said a bit ago that a psychiatrist would probably be a better idea for me anyway since I have roughly, oh, 6000000 questions pertaining to mental health and Neurologists probably have bigger fish to fry.

But thanks! I appreciate the honesty.

The Ender

A basic, cheap drug test will only show that you've got THC in your system. It will not show how much is there (you have to do a more complex / expensive blood test for that).


Really, you shouldn't be dismissing this as 'forgetting'. Mixing narcotics is a terrible idea, even with 'safe' drugs like THC, and you risk being (rightly) cut off from your prescriptions if you keep 'forgetting'. If you don't exercise some maturity & self-control, expect to be treated like an immature person with little self control.

joshofalltrades

I'm pretty sure the doctor won't care about how much marijuana you've smoked, if it pops up on a test (and, if you're being forthright about how much you smoked and that it was only a one-time deal, it will stick around for 1-6 days, maybe more, depending on your weight, body fat, amount used, etc.) he's going to, at minimum, want to have a chat with you. Doctors don't like prescribing controlled substances to people who are known users of illicit drugs.

I'm not your dad, and this isn't the Lecture/Reprimand forum, but you should really be abstaining from marijuana anytime a drug test is a possibility. It sounds to me like the Adderall is a good thing for you, and it's improving your quality of life significantly. Is getting high worth dashing that progress?

In any case, I strongly recommend telling your doctor about the weed before you take the test, as long as you're reasonably certain it will show up. Being forthright about it will at least show the doctor that he can trust you to be honest about what you're doing. If you are intent on quitting, tell them that too.

If your doctor would drop you for smoking marijuana period, then telling them ahead of time won't hurt you and you can at least rest assured that you were honest. If they will allow some leeway, you are far better off with them not finding out from a drug test and you having to reluctantly admit it later on.

Darkewolfe

Somebody smarter than me would have to comment, but I also believe that lying about it could potentially get you in trouble with your health insurance provider.

JaysonFour

Lying to your doctor is never a good idea.

If you're worried about the doctor ratting you out, there's this little thing called HIPAA that says, pretty much, "if the doc rats you out to the cops, not only will they lose their medical license, but you could sue them and the hospital for every cent they had".

Will they encourage you to quit? Yeah, they will. But it's important to let them know to avoid possible drug interactions that could kill you outright.