My Doctor wants to drug test me because I take prescribed pain pills

7-8 years ago I experienced a compression fracture of my T-7 vertebrae. Pain-wise, it was bad. I took pain pills for it but I never refilled my script when it was due because I made a personal effort to monitor and minimize my drug use. A year after healing the pain was manageable, and I ceased taking anything at all. After a couple of years I asked my doctor to prescribe me a hydrocodone script of moderate strength dose because after a strenuous day of work or play, I was trashed with pain. We agreed on a single, no-refill script of 30 pills. When I ran out, I'd make an appointment and get another script. On the average, a script will last me approximately 6 months.

Fast forward 5 years. On my last visit the doctor told me that he must, by law, drug test me randomly to continue the arrangement we have. New Fed law said he. We had a discussion and I expressed that I thought this was government overreach and that the government was now interfering with what should be a sacred relationship between doctor and patient. He trotted out that our nation has a bad opiate problem bla bla bla. We kept it light but we did back-and-forth a bit. Bottom line: you will be randomly tested.

So I've been researching this. As best as I can tell it was a camel nose under the tent situation. Doctors first started this to monitor the patients compliance with the prescription dosage. Does the patient have little or no residual indicating he/she is not taking the med. Or perhaps the test uncovers a high residual indicating the patient is taking the med too frequently. Is Granny's forgetting her pills? Is the caregiver stealing pills from their charge? That sort of thing. Now it's more along the lines of what other drugs are you doing.

I've been drug tested most of my 34 year career. I had to do it and never liked it because each time you test you are taking the chance of a false positive. Drug test long enough and eventually the odds will catch you. Now I'm retired and my doctor says he must test me.

If I had failed a drug test while working it would have meant immediate dismissal from my job. If I fail a drug test under the aforementioned circumstances, my doctor can bar me from his practice. Any effort to find another primary doctor would require my medical records be available to the potential new doctor. You see where that could go, right? Add to that that this fall I'm starting Medicare and many doctors do not want to accept new patients on Medicare.

Besides that aspect, it galls me to think that the testing law would be totally useless in my situation. If tested, and I had recently taken a pill for pain, it would indicate I took a drug that is prescribed to be "taken as necessary", and I needed it. If there was no pain pill residual in my system, it would indicate I not taken the drug because it is prescribed to be "taken as necessary", and I didn't need it. Apparently these tests also look for PCP and marijuana. I take a drug for acid reflux called Pantoprazole that gives a false positive for marijuana. In my situation the drug test cannot render any useful or pertinent information, it can only expose me to the risk of some kind of false positive situation that would place me jeopardy.

I figure that sooner or later, under the guise of the common good, this will progress until everyone will be drug tested randomly.

Now if you will excuse me, I think there are some kids on my lawn that need chased off.

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My Doctor wants to drug test me because I take prescribed pain pills