How Long Does Cold Medicine Stay in Your System?

The common cold can cause more than just uncomfortable symptoms such as a runny nose, cough, and sore throat. It can cause you to lose your job or fail to get a job you’ve applied for. That’s because people who take cold medicine to mitigate the symptoms can also get a false positive on a drug or alcohol test. Needless to say, this not only hurts employees and job applicants but also business owners who may be distraught to discover that a trusted worker or potential employee has failed a drug test.

Cold Medicine Effects on Drug Tests

Cold medicines contain an array of ingredients. All are legal and in most cases, a person taking cold medicine won’t run into problems taking a drug test. Unfortunately, some medicines can trigger a positive result on urine or saliva drug tests, while others may trigger a false positive on an alcohol test. This is especially true if a person is taking a lot of medication and/or the test has a low threshold for certain substances. Knowing which medications can put a person at risk of flunking a drug test is important in order to ensure accurate results.

OTC Medications That Can Affect Drug Tests

Codeine

Many over-the-counter and prescription cold medications contain codeine. These include Tylenol with codeine, Phenflu CDX, Maxiflu CDX, Rolatuss, Calcidrine, and Fiortal with Codeine. These medicines can cause problems if you take a drug test that tests for Codeine.

Hydrocodone

Hydrocodone can be found in Hycomine Compound, Norco, Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet, and Vicodin ES. Standard drug tests don’t typically test for hydrocodone, but extended test panels do. Hair and urine drug tests will flag hydrocodone as an opiate.

Dextromethorphan (DXM)

Mucinex DM contains Dextromethorphan (DXM), as do Vicks NyQuil Cold and Flu Nighttime Relief, Triaminic Multi-Symptom Fever, Coricidin HBP Maximum Strength, Tylenol Children’s Cold + Cough + Runny Nose, and PediaCare Cough and Runny Nose Plus Acetaminophen. Drug tests that test for heroin, morphine, and/or opiate use will flag dextromethorphan in your system.

Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed)

Pseudoephedrine can be found in Claritin as well as decongestants such as Sudafed 24-Hour, Sudafed 12-Hour, SudoGest, and Sudafed Congestion. It can cause a false positive on a drug test that is testing for morphine, methamphetamines, or ecstasy, especially if you’re taking a higher dose than recommended by your doctor or the medication’s packaging. In fact, pseudoephedrine found in cold medicines is one of the most common reasons for a false positive on a drug test.

Ephedrine

Ephedrine, like Pseudoephedrine, can cause a false positive on a drug test for methamphetamines. This ingredient is often found in decongestants and medications for people with Asthma. These include Rezipres, Akovaz, Primatine Intermittent Asthma, Bronkaid Max, Corphedra, Mudrane, Mudrane GG, and Asthmacon.

Alcohol Based Cold Medications

Alcohol based cold medications can cause problems not only for people taking drug tests but also people pulled over by police and subsequently asked to take a breathalyzer test. If you have alcohol in your system, it will be flagged by a test no matter where the alcohol originally came from. What’s more, taking a cold medicine with a high amount of alcohol can affect your work performance if you drive or operate heavy machinery.

While it’s not illegal to take alcohol-based cold medicines, you should avoid these if you work in a dangerous field such as construction or transportation. Some medicines to watch out for include Benedryl, Contrex, Dristan Ultra, Nyquil, Quiet Nite, Daycare, and Formula 44D. Ask your doctor about alcohol-free medications that you can use in place of the ones listed above, and be sure to read the ingredient list of any new OTC cold medication you purchase to avoid problems at work and/or on the road.

How to Avoid Complications on Drug Tests While Taking Cold Meds

If you’re applying for a job, choose your cold medication with care. You may be better off treating your cold with herbal tea and a sleep-in on the weekends than risking a false positive. Potential employers will likely rescind an employment offer rather than ask you the reason why you may have tested positive. What’s more, “DIY workarounds” such as drinking lots of water and doing lots of exercises won’t beat a drug test.

Employees facing a drug test should talk with their employer about cold med usage. Showing the prescription or bringing in the medicine box showing the ingredients will give the employer a heads-up that the test may show a false positive. If the result comes back positive, the employer may have an appeals process you can use to request a second test.

How Long Does Cold Medicine Show Up on Drug Test?

How long does cold medicine stay in your system? It’s impossible to give a one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on how much medication you’re taking, how long you’ve been taking the medication and the type of medication you’re taking. However, generally speaking, cold medicine will show up on a saliva or urine drug test up to three or four days after one has stopped taking the medication. This time period extends for up to 90 days for tests that use hair samples.

What About Cough Syrups and Alcohol?

One more thing to be concerned about if you take cough syrup of any kind: most liquid medicines that prevent coughing will contain a limited amount of alcohol. If you get tested for alcohol, it could show up depending on the time between you taking the medicine and the drug screen. Alcohol is often a major component of cough syrups and other OTC medications, so it may be a good idea to keep aware of how much alcohol your medications actually do contain. Unfortunately, the laws against driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) cannot distinguish between blood alcohol content (BAC) that comes from drinking alcoholic beverages or from medications. It’s all the same to an Alco-Screen 02 test and in the eyes of the law.

Alcohol Percentages of Commonly Used OTC Cold Medicines

If you prefer, ask your pharmacist or physician about alcohol-free cough medicine as an alternative. They will be able to provide you with more detailed information and suggestions. For your convenience, we have listed some of the most common non-alcoholic cough medicines.

Non-Alcoholic Cough Medicines

We can’t stress enough how important it is that you keep a record of any medications that may affect your next drug screen. I suggest that you write a list of any medications you are taking prior to providing a sample specimen. That list may serve as a useful reminder should an explanation be required. However, if you need verification, be sure to ask for confirmation by Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). This test is more expensive, and you may have to pay for it yourself, but it will confirm or dispute false positives with extreme accuracy.

Drug Tests Rapid Detect Offers

False positives don’t only hurt employees and potential employees. They also hurt business owners who are looking for new employees. They also cause problems for business owners who may have a hard time replacing employees who may have failed a drug test.

Buying reliable, high-quality testing kits from a professional drug testing company can reduce the odds of a false positive. What’s more, professional companies offer bulk purchase options and fast delivery to help you save time and money. Rapid Detect Inc. offers a range of drug test options to meet the needs of any industry, including standard test panels, extended test panels, urine tests, saliva tests, and alcohol tests. Get in touch with us to find out more about our testing kits and how they work, or contact us for a custom quote for your business.

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