I have been required to take weekly drug tests. Expect for 3 tests, my urine creatinine level has been in the 9-14 range. These tests are considered fails and I have been accused of flushing my system, they say it is impossible to get levels this low. I am not flushing (I heard it takes about a gallon of water consumed 1 hour prior to the test to get this low of a reading), however I do drink a lot of water through the day. Is there any possible explanation for this, the highest creatinine level I ever rec'd was 52. Could I have an unknown health problem? Is it possible for people to just produce low levels of creatinine??
Any insight is greatly appreciated. Also, the above lab is not doing density tests on my urine just creatinine testing, is that legal? My tests are negative except for the creatinine issue.

Drug testing facilities interpret creatinine only within the limited context of sample validity, above 20 OK; below 20 invalid.

While creatinine production and excretion is directly related to muscle mass and is sex and age dependent, the creatinine range you cite is very low and should be looked into. Random urine creatinine concentrations range from 40-300 mg/dL in males and 37-250 mg/dL in females*.

Following is a brief article on Low Creatinine levels.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/19...tinine-levels/


*range based on testing methodology used by drug test labs.

Hi DrBill-a follow up to my post above. Went to my Dr. who said everything is fine with me. She referred to a nephrologist who said everything is fine with me. Stated because I drink so much water my levels are low-he says no big deal. However this isn't good enough for court-they are saying every low creatinine test is a fail and a sure sign I am drinking and they will be calling in an expert witness to testify to this. Any thoughts. Now that I know this I have severely restricted my water intaKe on test days, but what to do about the bad tests?

It is recommended that EtG tests use a system of U100EtG. That would have allowed the test to determine EtG in relation to creatinine. That can still be done. Please see Ethylglucuronide for both the recommendation and method.

It is also possible to have some blood tests. PEth (Phosphatidylethanol), MCV (Mean Corpuscular Volume) both or each of which can detect alcolhol consumption for a longer period than EtG/EtS.