Preparing for a Urine Drug Test

October 12th, 2009   Add Comment

The urine drug test is one of the most commonly used types of drug tests.  Urine drug tests are cheap and extremely accurate – for example, our FDA approved marijuana urine test is 98% accurate.

Another name for urine drug testing is urinalysis.  Urinalysis is the chemical, physical, and microscopic examination of urine, and a common method of diagnosing medical disorders.  While a doctor may examine the physical appearance of a urine sample to determine whether the donor has a urinary tract infection, a home drug test using urine relies upon chemical analysis of urine, a method which is so easy that it can be performed successfully by you in your own home.

Medline Plus, an official government service, provides some tips on collecting urine for a urine drug test.  When performing any of the urine drug tests from Home Health Testing, please be aware that you can collect urine at any time of the day.  Collect the urine in a clean and dry container.

Medline Plus has additional advice on how to collect a urine sample cleanly:

“It is necessary to collect a “clean-catch” (midstream) urine sample. To obtain a clean-catch sample, men or boys should wipe clean the head of the penis with a moist cloth or alcohol square. Women or girls need to wash the area between the lips of the vagina with soapy water and rinse well.

As you start to urinate, allow a small amount to fall into the toilet bowl (this clears the urethra of contaminants). Then, in a clean container, catch about 1 – 2 ounces of urine and remove the container from the urine stream.”

Make sure that you collect enough urine so that the strips of your test card can be immersed to the level of the way lines on the strip. If you follow the instructions that come with the urine drug test, you should have no problem in getting accurate results in the privacy of your own home.

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Saliva Drug Test Information

October 7th, 2009   Add Comment

A saliva drug test is a potent tool that can help you discover whether someone is currently high on drugs, or if not currently high, whether they have used drugs quite recently.  In this way, you can think of it as a disposable breathalyzer for illegal drugs.  Amphetamines, methamphetamines, and cocaine all appear in your saliva 5-10 minutes after use, and it takes 72 hours, 72 hours, and 24 hours respectively for the drugs to disappear from your saliva.  A saliva drug test is the only home drug test that gives you the opportunity to tell whether someone is high.

Saliva drug testing works because there is a high correlation between the amount of a drug in your saliva and the amount of a drug in your blood.  Edward J. Cone, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has suggested that a saliva drug test could be useful for accident victims, automobile drivers, and those about to engage in risky, safety-sensitive work activities.

The features of a saliva drug test that are pointed out as “pros” by the Office of National Drug Policy in their brochure “What You Need to Know About Student Drug Testing” include:

  • You can obtain the sample under direct observation – it is hard to tamper with it.
  • A saliva drug test is non-invasive
  • It reflects recent drug use

Another perk to mouth fluid testing is that it can measure even smaller amounts of a particular drug in the human body than a urine drug test can.  Whereas a urine test can measure 300 nanograms per mililiter of cocaine in the body, a saliva test can measure the presence of 20 nanograms per mililiter of cocaine in the body.

Home Health Testing’s saliva drug test can help you detect whether someone is currently high on one of 6 drugs:  marijuana, cocaine, opiates (which includes heroin, and morphine), amphetamines (which includes Dexedrine), methamphetamines, and phencyclidine (PCP).  If you want to know whether someone is or recently was under the influence of drugs, this is the test for you.

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Hair Drug Test Information

September 24th, 2009   8 Comments

The hair drug test is one of the most effective, and only, ways to determine long-term drug use in the home market.  Each one and a half inch sample of hair reveals a 90 day drug history when analyzed by a laboratory.  The hair test you purchase comes with the storage materials you will need for the hair, and a pre-addressed envelope to be sent off to the laboratory for confidential analysis.

It is impossible to tamper with your hair in such a way to alter the results of a hair drug test.   This is because the laboratory evaluates how much of a particular drug’s molecules are embedded in your hair shaft.  Anti-drug shampooing will not effect the hair or alter the results.  This method also eliminates external contamination as a factor.

If you are concerned that you will be unable to collect hair from the head that is long enough for the test, note that two of our hair drug tests accept body hair submissions.  Those tests are the Express HairConfirm Hair Drug Test and the Standard HairConfirm Hair Drug Test.  You cannot mix body hair and head hair when submitting your test though.  Body hair grows much more slowly than head hair and though tested the same way it must be evaluated differently due to the slow growth  - if you were to mix the two types of hair, you wouldn’t have enough of either type to give you an accurate drug history.

A hair drug test does not have very complicated instructions and is easy to perform.  It is not recommended however that you cut hair without the consent of the person whose hair is being cut.  Hair from a hairbrush will be difficult to align the way you are supposed to, and also may not be exclusively from the person you want to test.  This is an important point – when submitting a hair follicle drug test, you must be sure to keep all the hair in order, with all the root ends next to each other.  This is necessary for the lab as they measure how far from the root the drug molecules are to determine drug history.

Hair drug testing is a very effective way to determine drug use. You can buy a hair follicle drug test that tests for 6 or 7 drugs.  The drugs in common are marijuana, cocaine, opiates, methamphetamines, ecstasy and PCP.  The 7th drug is amphetamines.  Both PDT and HairConfirm lines are available.  To give you some idea of the effectiveness of Hair Drug Tests, please note that HairConfirm’s hair test technology has been accredited by the Ohio Department of Health, the New York Department of Health, and is a participant in the Federal Voluntary Hair Proficiency Testing Program.

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