Test Overview
A toxicology test ("tox screen") checks for drugs or other chemicals in your blood, urine, or saliva. Drugs can be swallowed, inhaled, injected, or absorbed through the skin or a mucous membrane. In rare cases, a tox screen may check your stomach contents or sweat.
A tox screen may check for one certain drug or for up to 30 different drugs at once. These may include prescription medicines, nonprescription medicines (such as aspirin), vitamins, supplements, alcohol, and illegal drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.
Testing is often done on urine or saliva instead of blood. Many drugs will show up in a urine or saliva sample. And urine and saliva tests are usually easier to do than blood tests.
Why It Is Done
This test may be done to:
- Find out if a drug overdose may be causing life-threatening symptoms, unconsciousness, or strange behavior. This test will be done right away in this situation. A toxicology test can also be done up to 3-4 days after a possible overdose.
- Check for drug use in the workplace. Testing is common for people who work in public safety, such as bus drivers or child care workers. Some jobs require a toxicology screen as part of the hiring process.
- Check for drug use in people going through a drug treatment program.
- Look for the use of drugs that enhance athletic ability.
- Check for the presence of a date rape drug.
How To Prepare
Many medicines can change the results of this test. So give your doctor a list of all the medicines you have taken in the past 4 days. Be sure to include any prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and natural health products.
How It Is Done
Blood test
A health professional uses a needle to take a blood sample, usually from the arm.
Clean-catch midstream urine collection
You may be asked to collect a clean-catch midstream urine sample for testing.
- Wash your hands before you collect the urine.
- If the collection cup has a lid, remove the lid and set it down with the inner surface up.
- Clean the area around your penis or vagina.
- Start to urinate into the toilet or urinal.
- After the urine has flowed for several seconds, place the collection cup in the stream. Collect about 2 ounces (a quarter cup) of this "midstream" urine without stopping the flow of urine.
- Don't touch the rim of the cup to your genital area.
- Finish urinating into the toilet or urinal.
- Carefully replace the lid on the cup.
- Wash your hands.
If you are being tested for drug use, a trained person of the same sex may watch you give the sample. This is to make sure that you are providing your own urine and that you have not added anything to the sample. The temperature of the urine may also be tested to make sure that it is fresh.
Saliva test
The person who collects the sample will either:
- Swab the inside of your cheek, or
- Ask you to spit into a tube.
Watch
How It Feels
Blood test
When a blood sample is taken, you may feel nothing at all from the needle. Or you might feel a quick sting or pinch.
Urine test
It is not painful to collect a urine sample. Another person may watch while you collect the sample. This may make you feel uncomfortable.
Saliva test
It is not painful to collect a saliva sample. Another person will collect the sample or watch you collect the sample.
Risks
Blood test
There is very little chance of having a problem from this test. When a blood sample is taken, a small bruise may form at the site.
Urine test
There are no known risks from having this test.
Saliva test
There are no known risks from having this test.
Results
Most tox screens are qualitative tests. This means they only find out if drugs are present in the body, not the exact level or quantity. Follow-up quantitative testing is often done to find the level of a drug in the body and to confirm the results of the first test.
Toxicology testsNormal: | No unexpected drugs are found in the sample. |
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Levels of prescription or nonprescription medicines found in the sample are within the effective (therapeutic) range. |
Abnormal: | Unexpected drugs are found in the sample. |
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Levels of prescription or nonprescription medicines found in the sample are: - Below the effective (therapeutic) range, or
- Above the therapeutic range, or
- High enough that they may be toxic.
|
High values
High levels may be caused by a drug overdose, either by accident or on purpose. A drug overdose may be caused by one large dose of medicine or long-term overuse of a medicine.
Interactions between medicines also can cause problems, especially when you start to take a new medicine. A high level may mean that you are not taking your medicine correctly or that your body is not processing the medicine as it should.
Low values
Low levels of prescription or over-the-counter medicines may tell your doctor you are not in an effective (therapeutic) range.
Credits
Current as of: November 15, 2023
Author: Healthwise Staff
Clinical Review Board
All Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.
