You may need drug screening for several reasons. The most common use of drug testing is in the workplace. Employers may require a drug screening for various reasons, including:
- Before hiring an applicant.
- During someone’s employment — an employer may randomly or periodically require drug testing after they hire an employee.
- When drug use is suspected based on signs and symptoms observed in the workplace.
- After an employee has an accident or incident while working.
Another common use of drug testing is for the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of alcohol use disorder and substance use disorder. As a tool for monitoring, drug testing can help determine treatment adherence, monitor abstinence and detect early relapse.
You may need this testing for court-ordered treatment programs, as a term of probation or while participating in a substance use disorder treatment program.
Other uses for drug testing include:
- Medical testing and diagnostics: People may be tested for drug use to help determine the cause of their symptoms or in emergencies when healthcare providers suspect a potential drug overdose or poisoning.
- Legal testing: There are several reasons drug testing may be required for legal purposes, including collecting potential evidence of a crime, investigating cases of child abuse or endangerment and determining if a person is under the influence of alcohol or other substances while driving.
- Monitoring for prescription drug misuse: If you take a prescription drug with high addiction potential and/or the potential for misuse, such as opioids for pain, your provider may request drug screening to check the amount of the drug in your system.
- Athletic testing: Professional athletes often have to take drug screening to screen for drugs or other substances considered performance-enhancing.
When a drug enters your body, your gastrointestinal tract absorbs and distributes it to the rest of your body. Your liver and other organs metabolize the drug (break it down). Metabolic processes cause the drug to turn into different chemicals, called metabolites. After a certain amount of time, the drug and/or its metabolites leave your body, mainly through your urine.
A drug test screens for certain drugs and/or their metabolites in a biological sample (such as urine or blood).
The metabolic processes happen at different speeds for different drugs. Because of this, each drug and its metabolites have a different timeframe in which a drug test can detect them.
For some drugs like amphetamines, the main (parent) drug will be detected in urine. For most other drugs, metabolites will be detectable for a longer time than the main drug.
A drug test may look for only one drug, but most drug tests often test for multiple drugs with one sample. Although the drugs included in a drug panel test vary based on the reason for the test, the most common panel used to evaluate people for illegal drug use detects the presence or absence of five substances:
- Amphetamines.
- Cocaine.
- Marijuana.
- PCP.
Other commonly tested substances include:
- Alcohol (ethanol).
- Antidepressants.
- Barbiturates.
- Benzodiazepines.
- Fentanyl.
- Heroin.
- Hydrocodone.
- Methadone.
- Methamphetamine.
- Morphine.
- Nicotine and cotinine.
Oxycodone.
There’s nothing you need to do to prepare for a trigger point injection. However, as with any type of treatment, it’s important to discuss your current medications, symptoms and overall health with your provider before getting the procedure.
Trigger points are typically painful to the touch, so you’ll likely experience some pain when your healthcare provider is manually locating the trigger point before the injection.
You may feel a stinging and burning sensation when your provider inserts the needle and medication. When the tip of the needle touches the trigger point, you may feel a brief increase in your pain. Although this may be uncomfortable, this pain is a good sign that the needle is in the correct spot.
Trigger point injections are generally safe and can provide pain relief to people who have been experiencing pain associated with trigger points and have not found relief using more conservative treatments, like over-the-counter pain medication or physical therapy.
Trigger point injections can also provide significant improvement in range of motion and overall muscle functionality, depending on which muscle is affected
