I have been UA testing for ETG for the past 7 months, now down to once a week. I have never (to my knowledge) had a missed, diluted, adulterated or positive test the entire time.

I had one test in the past month come back with ETG test showing Negative, but diluted sample. Both Specific Gravity and Creatinine levels were very low, and I know it was likely due to my IBS issues as I did drink more water than usual, although not any more than the "recommended daily intake".

Since then, I have been self testing 2x/week in addition to the court ordered test, once a week, in hopes of demonstrating continued abstinence.

I just got back a result showing Negative for ETG - cutoff level of 500 NG/ML Method of testing: EIA. The Specific Gravity was in the 'Normal' range of 1.0036 (Acceptable Range 1.0030 or greater) however, the Creatinine came back BELOW NORMAL at 13.8 (Acceptable Range 20.0 mg/dlL or greater).The lab is TASC and there are no other notes on the report. There is no notation of diluted sample, like the previous one, so... what does this mean to me?I normally drink too much coffee - from the time I wake up @ 7:00am until about 8:00pm, but on this day, had about a 12 oz glass of water with lunch around 2:00pm, then went back to my coffee and tested at 6:30pm.

My main question is: If the lab considered it a diluted sample, would it show that under the Test Results/Interpretation section where it lists the Specific Gravity and Creatinine levels, as the past one did?

It probably would have but it depends on the lab and how they do it.

As well note that all liquids will affect the dilution factor. If all you drink is coffee, 10 cups a day, that still counts towards your "Water consumed a day" total. So while you don't think you had an extroidnary amount of water you did have an excessive, by the standards of that test, amount of fluids previous to that test. If you're wanting to make sure you're not diluting, than maybe you should tone down your coffee and other fluid ingestion.

Thank you for the reply, I guess I will call the main test center today and see if I can get a definitive answer, one way or the other.

At the beginning of my post, I intended to mention that I had been testing 3x/wk initially, for the first 6 months - and I agree, the total amount of liquids (coffee) is definitely more than I should be drinking, for many reasons, but because of no diluted results in the past tests - at least 75 times - drinking the same amount of coffee - no water included - a dilute was never an issue, so it certainly came as a surprise! Unless, the most recent test that is low only in creatinine is not considered diluted, then maybe I had similar results in the past, but they did consider it diluted, so I just never knew...

I will post what I find out if I can get any answers from the test facility.

Thank you and good luck. I know how hard and frustrating this situation can be. I hope it comes out in your favour.

Well, I called the main testing facility and they confirmed that if there were no notes or comments that was not considered diluted. I will be more careful about liquid intake... especially within a couple hours of testing time.

Thanks again!