Need advice on deciphering etg/ets test and course of action.
Here is some basic information that may help assist in answering my question.I am a 41 yr old 5'7" 170lb Caucasian female. I was diagnosed with r/r MS in 1996,and Hep c in 2005{my hep c is well controlled and they believe stems from a blood transfusion} I have been in pain management for 13 months due to chronic pain from MS and other sources. I take a 75 mcg duragisic patch changed every 72 hrs,5mg/325 percocet 6x daily,10mg Flexiril 3x daily,1mg, clonazapam 3x daily . As well as 2000 UT vit D and a multi vit. I had a urine screen Aug 11th 2011 and received a call Sept. 29th 2011 that my screen was positive for alcohol. After thinking on it, I advised the nurse that yes I did have a glass of wine that night prior to the test as it was a special occasion at my Father's.I generally do not drink at all due to the hep c and the meds I take,I just didn't think of it that night,my fault. She advised me not to drink any more as my contract with the office forbids me to consume alcoholic beverages.I agreed and haven't had a drink since.The improvement the medication has made in my quality of life is far more important to me than any drink could ever be. I went from being almost completely bedridden ,to being able to function fairly well and I'm usually only down for the count about 2 days a week.
I had a screen on 3-16-2012. I was called 5-29-12 and told my screen was positive for alcohol. I advised the nurse I had not consumed any alcohol and requested the original sample be retested. That was impossible as the lab { Millennium labs},destroys samples after 30days as is their policy.I requested to come in at their earliest convenience for a random test or submit to another type of test and was refused.I was told I was being discharged from the practice..
The test results are as follows, LC MS/MS type of testing , specimen collected 3-16-12 8:51 am,received 3-19-12 8:32am,tested 3-19-12 12:10 pm ,completed 3-20-12 10:48 am. Tabulated results: ETG negative, cut toff 500ng, ETS 810ng cutoff 500ng, creatinine normalized 2810 micrograms of analyte per gram of creatinine.
I do not understand why the ETG is negative and the ETS positive since I had no notification of my test results until 75 days later { the office received the results on 3/20/12} I have no recollection of any food or other item { perfume,hair mousse,sanitizer isopropyl alcohol etc. etc. } that may have shown as a false positive. They had many instances to test me in the intermittent time as I go in monthly to pick up my prescriptions. My doctor, after much leg work on my disability lawyers side allowed me one more visit on 3/20/12 to finish up my disability determination forms.He was very helpful and easy to work with as always and only mentioned he played no part in my discharge that it is decided by a board. I have had very little success as of yet in finding a new pain management clinic as I seem to be red flagged as abusive to alcohol . I only have 2 1/2 weeks of meds left and am becoming increasingly anxious and plain stressed out which does not help my MS at all . Do I have any recourse as this seems to be a very negligent and irresponsible way to operate a practice. I offered several alternatives to remedy any doubts they should have had and was denied There are no other derogatory notes in my records .What would be the best course of action and what do you believe may have caused the test results. I did read a post on contacting the lab and other organizations. Should I request a time frame on getting their reply's back? Thank you for reading my lengthy post and I look forward to any thoughts and suggestions any one may have ,Thank you again.
