AboutDr Alan Galbraith Expertise I can answer most questions on most drugs. Answers can be given in either technical or layperson terminology. My main areas of interest are psychiatric, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular drugs.
Experience I have been a university lecturer/head of department for almost thirty years, but am now retired. My research interests were alcohol, smoking and cardiovascular disease. I am already a well established and highly rated expert in the pharmacy section of this site.
Publications Principal author of "Fundamentals of Pharmacology" Editions 1-4 published between 1994 and 2004 by Pearson Education, Australia. Author of the 5th edition published 2007.
Author of many scientific papers.
Education/Credentials BSc(Hons);MSc;PhD;HECert
Awards and Honors The 4th edition of my textbook was awarded the the Educational Book of the Year Award in Australia.
Past/Present Clients See my profile in the pharmacy section.
Question my childrens mother left my kids with me two and a half years ago because the department of social services was investigating her for drug abuse and neglect.a week ago she shows up with police saying she has custody of the children.Itold police the reason for her leaving them here and they decided to put them into protective custody until they figure out who has custody and where the safest place for the is.so they have been in foster care for the past week,calling me 2-3 times a day begging to come home.i have not slept very well since they have been gone and have been drinking night time cold medicine to try and sleep.social services has to go through a long process of investigation and one part is a urine test for drugs.i took my test today and it came up as an inconclusive negative for methadone.i am not on any prescription medication and do not use drugs,that is what she was in danger of losing the children for,and i would definitely not knowingly go take a drug test if i had illegal substances in my system,knowing the seriousness of the results and what it would mean.could the cold medicine be the reason for the false positive?it contains acetaminophen dextromethorphan and doxylamine succinate. thank you for your help and what do you suggest i do?
Answer Dear Daniel
Dextromethorphan is similar in some ways to methadone but in a properly conducted analysis there should be no confusion. Unfortunately, many laboratories in the US are unreliable with these tests and all members of this site receive multiple questions of a similar nature. All I can really say is you demand a repeat test at a reliable laboratory. Any samples taken should always be done in duplicate and the second sample sealed for reanalysis in case of dispute.
