Bomb319
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2011
- Messages
- 583
I got called in to the clinic today - supposedly to do a random urine sample, as those are needed as long as I receive a certain number of carries (take-home doses for those unfamiliar with 'done lingo) which currently stand at 4 per week. Anyway, when I got in they told me that on my last urine test which took place before my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment to get my Rx refill, I apparently tested POSITIVE FOR:
-Crack (showed up as cocaine on the test of course, yet they still told me "crack" in particular)
-Heroin
-PCP
-LSD (didn't even think this was freaking testable)
-Benzodiazepines
-Marijuana
-MDMA
Basically, all illegal drugs. All this despite the fact that I've been completely clean (except for one very short and minor two-day opiate relapse only), and most of the drugs on that list I have never even TRIED before, let alone have been addicted to or taken at the time. I found out that the receptionist working the front counter that day and therefore administering and being in charge of the urine samples - was brand new. She quite obviously somehow switched my sample with someone else's by accident...OR..I'm wondering if it's possible that she could have been bribed by a heavy user to switch my sample with a dirty one?? Has anyone ever heard of this actually happening?
And as if that weren't bad enough, they actually acted as though I really HAD just suddenly done all those drugs even though in my entire history there, they have only ever tested me positive for opiates, coke and benzos, with no positives for nearly a year. They were rude to me, threatened to imemdiately eliminate my take-homes, and basically all the other stigma these people have toward methadone patients. A lot of the time, you can just feel the eyes of judgment upon you - believing you to be scum of the earth because you have an addiction (even if that addiction was caused by being prescribed hundreds of opiates per month, as mine was). I finally managed to convince them that there was a mistake and that it wasn't mine - only because whoever produced that sample apparently tested NEGATIVE for methadone, and every test I've ever had has shown my blood methadone levels to be consistent with daily dosing.
Can you guys believe that?? Even after that, I had to do another random sample while there (as I expected I had to do in the first place) which was no problem since I'm completely clean now and have nothing to hide. Yet some asshole went into the one and only men's washroom ahead of me and locked himself in there for at least half an hour! As I was waiting with ever-increasing frustration, I could hear him shooting up in there; you know, laying his spoon on the counter, the sound of a syringe wrapper being opened, and other sounds that are more than obvious to someone who has injected pills and heroin for nearly 8 years as I have. I complained to the fronty when this began to get ridiculous and told them what was going on. That bitch simply replied, "Don't judge people". and told me to use the women's washroom (which I had fucking asked her if I could do 15 minutes prior to that, which she outright denied).
Does anyone else have methadone clinic horror stories? Or have you experienced some other variation of the incredibly common stigma toward people wddicted to a substance? It's horrible. Truly and utterly horrible. They really can make you feel like a useless piece of garbage. Even though I have a science degree, most of a pharmacy degree and years of job experience and sales, as soon as I began methadone and related counseling, the change in the atmosphere surrounding me was almost palpable.
-Crack (showed up as cocaine on the test of course, yet they still told me "crack" in particular)
-Heroin
-PCP
-LSD (didn't even think this was freaking testable)
-Benzodiazepines
-Marijuana
-MDMA
Basically, all illegal drugs. All this despite the fact that I've been completely clean (except for one very short and minor two-day opiate relapse only), and most of the drugs on that list I have never even TRIED before, let alone have been addicted to or taken at the time. I found out that the receptionist working the front counter that day and therefore administering and being in charge of the urine samples - was brand new. She quite obviously somehow switched my sample with someone else's by accident...OR..I'm wondering if it's possible that she could have been bribed by a heavy user to switch my sample with a dirty one?? Has anyone ever heard of this actually happening?
And as if that weren't bad enough, they actually acted as though I really HAD just suddenly done all those drugs even though in my entire history there, they have only ever tested me positive for opiates, coke and benzos, with no positives for nearly a year. They were rude to me, threatened to imemdiately eliminate my take-homes, and basically all the other stigma these people have toward methadone patients. A lot of the time, you can just feel the eyes of judgment upon you - believing you to be scum of the earth because you have an addiction (even if that addiction was caused by being prescribed hundreds of opiates per month, as mine was). I finally managed to convince them that there was a mistake and that it wasn't mine - only because whoever produced that sample apparently tested NEGATIVE for methadone, and every test I've ever had has shown my blood methadone levels to be consistent with daily dosing.
Can you guys believe that?? Even after that, I had to do another random sample while there (as I expected I had to do in the first place) which was no problem since I'm completely clean now and have nothing to hide. Yet some asshole went into the one and only men's washroom ahead of me and locked himself in there for at least half an hour! As I was waiting with ever-increasing frustration, I could hear him shooting up in there; you know, laying his spoon on the counter, the sound of a syringe wrapper being opened, and other sounds that are more than obvious to someone who has injected pills and heroin for nearly 8 years as I have. I complained to the fronty when this began to get ridiculous and told them what was going on. That bitch simply replied, "Don't judge people". and told me to use the women's washroom (which I had fucking asked her if I could do 15 minutes prior to that, which she outright denied).
Does anyone else have methadone clinic horror stories? Or have you experienced some other variation of the incredibly common stigma toward people wddicted to a substance? It's horrible. Truly and utterly horrible. They really can make you feel like a useless piece of garbage. Even though I have a science degree, most of a pharmacy degree and years of job experience and sales, as soon as I began methadone and related counseling, the change in the atmosphere surrounding me was almost palpable.
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