Took Pre-employment Urine Drug Screen. Taking Methadone For Chronic Back Pain. Will That Show Positive?

Posted on Wed, 25 Sep 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 25 Sep 2013 Answered on

Fri, 18 Oct 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I took a pre-employment urine drug screen today . The panel included methadone as one of the drugs the urine is tested for. I've been taking methadone 30mg by mouth every 3 to 4 days for the past 3 months for chronic back pain but do not have a prescription. I did not take the methadone for 5 days prior to the urine drug screen. But am concerned it may show up on the panel as positive, do I need to be concerned or is 5 days enough time to clear system and return negative test.

Answered by Dr. Sree Gouri SR (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
elimination depends on many factors

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for the query.
Methadone is usually metobolized in liver.
Pharmacokinetics of the methadone depends on many factors like:
-Dose and duration of the treatment
-Metabolic rate of the individual
-Cumulative effect of methadone
-Associated drug intake etc
The usual half life of methadone is 24 to 36 hours.
But depending on above factors period of it's appearance in urine differs from 2 days to 7 days.
So it is difficult to guess whether it can be detected in your urine sample or not.
Hope for the best.

Hope I have answered your query. I will be available to answer followup queries. If you are satisfied with the answer, please give your review at the end of the discussion.
Take care.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar