Question: In February 2014, I was prescribed Hydrocod/Hom5-1.5 mg/5ml for a persistent cough I had that wouldn't go away. I did not take all of the cough syrup so when my cough came back in August I decided to take the last remaining cough syrup that I had left. A couple days later, I was given a random drug test.When I took the random drug/ urine test it showed up that I had codeine in my system and not hydrocodone. Therefore, I failed my drug test. I know that hydrocodone is a synthetic for codeine but the lab stated that hydrocodone does not show up as codeine on a urine test. My job placed me on paid leave for a month and now I have an upcoming hearing on Tuesday 9/9/14 to clear my name. If I can't explain why codeine was in my system, my job will most likely terminate me. I am very distraught because I have not taken any medication except for the cough syrup I was prescribed. I rarely even take medication ( except for high blood pressure medicine and a baby aspirin), never take other people's medication, or never abuse drugs. What could have caused my urine test to test positive for codeine when I didn't take anything with codeine in it? Could the hydrocodone have metablized differently in my body since the prescription was almost 6 months old. The only other explanation that I can think of is if the pharmacy put the wrong medicine in my prescription bottle, but I can't prove it. After I took the last of the cough syrup, my prescription bottle was thrown away. Never in a million years, would I ever think I would be placed in this predicament. I don't know what to do. I have been 100% honest with my job. I even provided proof that I was prescribed cough syrup. Unfortunately, it is not what was found in my system, during the urine test. My job claims that I had no prescription for what was in my system. My wife is almost nine months pregnant and we rely heavily on my income. Without my job, I don't know how we will make it. Please help!!!!!!

Thank you Dr. XXXXXXX XXXXXXX my name is XXXXXXX XXXXXXX I want to inform you that my job did do a drug test that only tests for codeine and morphine and no synthetic substances such as hydrocodone. Actually the drug test was given on Wed., July 30th so my cough came back in July and not August. I took the last of my cough medicine on Sat. August 2nd. I was informed of my positive results on Monday, August 4th. However my medicine bottle had already been thrown away. Again, my lab results only yielded the presence of codeine. The lab informed me that it could not have come from eating XXXXXXX seed bagels because I would have had both morphine and codeine in my system and the lab stated that only codeine was found in my system. So they are saying that it could not have come from the XXXXXXX seeds nor from hydrocodone. After my failed lab results, I did pay my job $175 dollars to resend the same specimen off to another lab for them to perform a more detailed test. From my understanding, I was informed that the second lab test would pinpoint the exact medication that the codeine was found in, and would be able to tell me what was in my system. I was hoping when the second lab results came back that it would prove that the codeine was found in a cough syrup. This would prove to me that the pharmacist made an error while filling my prescription. However, when the second results came back, it only stated that it came back positive for codeine. I am unsure of what test they performed. Even if they did perform the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer Test and it showed up as codeine in my system and not hydrocodone how can I dispute these findings when I know that I only took what was prescribed to me? Is their a specific lab test that can pinpoint the exact type of drug/medicine that was in my system instead of just telling me it was codeine? In your experience, do you think that the pharmacy that filled my presciption could have made an error and put the wrong cough syrup in my medicine bottle? How can I be more accurate at proving that this is a false positive test? I know what I took! It bothers me that I am accused of something that I know I did not intentionally or knowingly take. My reputation means a lot to me and I really want to be able to clear my name and prove to my job that I am innocent of these charges so that I won't be terminated. I am very concerned that I could possibly be terminated for taking cough syrup that was prescribed to me. Even if I have a headache, I normally will sleep it off instead of taking an over the counter pain relief medicine. I do not abuse drugs and want to clear my name. Thanks!