Here’s What Happened After She Failed Drug Test During the Pregnancy
Here’s What Happened After She Failed Drug Test During the Pregnancy
While most people would not fear being tested for hard drugs, some considerations should be taken due to the fact that false positives may occur. Some street drugs are similar to prescription drugs and may show up on drug test as looking quite sinister. This has caused shock to some people as they have been falsely accused of abusing drugs. One woman’s story in particular has gone viral.
Medical Expert, Dr. John Torres, notes that while it does not occur very often, it is possible for this to happen and always garners attention. In the case of this woman, the medication from her asthma inhaler showed up in a drug test as being positive for methamphetamines.
In this case it is important to know that there are multiple forms of methamphetamine. While the “D” form is an illegal street drug, the “L” form is used in certain pharmaceuticals, including asthma inhalers. Some urine screen tests for methamphetamine will test for both forms of this drug without differentiating the two. If the test results are positive, only then is it sent away for further testing to determine which form of methamphetamine is present. This test, however, is more expensive and takes several days to produce results.
In the case of this pregnant woman, the advanced screening had to be used to clear her name of any wrongdoings. California woman Maggie Downs tested positive for methamphetamine, causing her to almost lose her newborn baby.
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She was in the middle of labor at the hospital when she was confronted about testing positive for this illegal substance. Shocked and dismayed, Downs assumed it was a joke or a mistake and responded accordingly. She submitted another drug test, confident she would pass, but failed yet again.
As her labor continued, the nurses informed her that she would not be able to breastfeed her baby. Knowing that something had to be wrong, Downs thought about everything she had consumed during pregnancy. She had followed all of the rules by discontinuing to drink alcohol, staying away from deli foods, raw and under cooked foods. Eating organic produce and drinking water that had been purified, she thought she was doing everything right. The only drugs should could recall taking were prenatal vitamins and the occasional puff from a prescription asthma inhaler.
It turns out that the inhaler was her pitfall. Downs and her husband learned that inhalers may contain traces of methamphetamine that show up on a drug test. However, the hospital was still required to report the positive drug test to Child Protective Services. A social worker met with Downs while she was in the hospital, warning her that her baby could be taken away if further testing continued to show that she had been taking illegal drugs.
Downs reported that her postpartum weeks were very difficult on her family, as she suffered from the depression of worrying she would fail further drug testing. Fortunately, however, once the further drug testing came back, it revealed that Downs was telling the truth and she had done no intentional harm. She was therefore able to keep her child.
It is important for pregnant women to know if any of their prescription medications may result in a positive drug test. You can do everything right throughout pregnancy and not dream of failing a drug test, just to have the unexpected happen.