Almost all pain management doctors in Arizona drug test their patients.The vast majority  utilize urine drug testing for the screening of patients, and some also use saliva drug testing as well. Let’s take a look at the reasons why pain clinics in Arizona drug test their patients and what exactly is all.

While treating pain, doctors often prescribe narcotic medication along with performing interventional procedures. These medications can have significant complications associated with them and it is best to use them judiciously and appropriately in both acute and chronic pain situation.

Urine Drug Testing

While the vast majority of pain management patients are on the “up and up” so to speak, there are some who abuse narcotics and divert them in order to sell the medication. This is one of the reasons that pain management doctors often drug test their patients. Another reason is that doctors across the country including Arizona are under increasing scrutiny from regulatory agencies regarding writing prescriptions for narcotics. For instance, the Arizona medical board actually has a written policy that recommends drug screening for patients receiving chronic pain medication with pain management in Phoenix clinics.

On an initial visit to an Arizona pain management clinic, a new patient will receive a baseline drug screening test. Typically this is a urine test, and looks for multiple different types of medications of abuse. Usually this includes opiates, oxycodone, PCP, ecstasy, amphetamines, methamphetamines, and others.  Also the drug test looks for heroin and often cocaine.

What this baseline check will do is to give the pain doctor an indication of exactly what kind of patient is potentially being accepted for care. If the drug test is positive for illicit substances,that is obviously a warning and a red flag that this may be a difficult patient. In addition, if the individual is under treatment by another pain doctor and switching care, for instance if they’re moving from a different state, it can show the exact levels of the medication to see if they’re consistent with what is being prescribed.

So the baseline drug test is extremely important and just know that if you are a new patient at pain clinics in Arizona it will most likely happen. It is because of those individuals that have abused the system that pretty much everybody gets an initial test these days. So it really is not a good idea to get too upset about being subjected to a drug test, as it pretty much levels the playing field for everyone involved.

Once you are an established patient, the drug testing typically continues. Studies have shown that over 20% of those receiving chronic pain medication will divert those medications for non-personal use.

Often times the individual pain contract will call for random drug testing either at scheduled visits or with random phone calls where the individual has to show up and submit to a test. With random drug testing at scheduled visits, the person may be able to stop taking illicit substances a few days before the visit to get them out of the system. What patients often do not know is that drug testing looks at metabolites of both prescription medications along with illicit substances and can pick up their existence quite a bit longer than one may think.

Another way that patients will try to fake out the system is to take their narcotic medication the night before the visit or the morning of the visit. The newest drug testing methods specifically look at the metabolites from the latest pain medications being prescribed. If the patient tries this deception, often times the testing results will show the metabolites do not match with the levels of medication being prescribed with how often they’re supposed to be taken. For this reason, patients should not try and deceive the system at Phoenix pain clinics but simply take the medications as prescribed.

Getting caught with a dirty drug screen can ruin the patient-physician relationship. Pain management in America affects over 30% of the population, and trying to get in with a new pain doctor after being fired from one for a dirty drug screen may be extremely difficult. So it is in your best interest to comply with the pain contract and the medications being prescribed.

If you need a pain doctor in the Phoenix metropolitan area, Arizona Pain Specialists has double Board Certified providers who are the best at what they do. This includes both medication management and interventional procedures along with having chiropractic services at all locations throughout the valley, such as providing Scottsdale pain management services.

Call 602-507-6550 to make your appointment today.