Health - Will cocaine show up in specific blood tests?

[GForce]

SWIM was diagnosed with ADHD today and his psychiatrist is sending him for blood work before he starts his adderall treatment in order to have specific tests performed to make sure adderall will be safe. The first test is a CBC test (blood cell count), the second test is a TSH test (thyroid test), and the third test is quite illegible but SWIM believes it says LFT (liver function test) and his psychiatrist did mention that one test would be a liver test.

Anyway, SWIM wanted to know if using cocaine will effect the results of these blood tests or perhaps even idicate that such a substance is in his system.

[Jatelka]

Cocaine should not affect the results. Neither will these tests indicate that cocaine is SWIY's system. Also be aware that SWIY's psychiatrist cannot test for substances without SWIY's explicit consent

[GForce]

Thats good information to know. SWIM knew he wasn't getting drug tested because he had the actual prescription with the three tests listed. SWIM also did a bit of his own research as well, and it seems as though the only effect it could have on the results (on the LFT) would be if SWIM was a chronic user of cocaine and he is not. Anyway, he did the coke last night and just had the blood tests done so if anything interesting happens he'll be sure to let you guys know.

[jdrug]

Originally Posted by GForce

Anyway, SWIM wanted to know if using cocaine will effect the results of these blood tests or perhaps even idicate that such a substance is in his system.

It seems that cocaine will very likely affect the liver test and result in abnormal numbers (depending on various factors -- how much, when, everybody's different, etc). However, it seems unlikely that a substance such as cocaine would be identified unless it is something specifically tested for as there are a seemingly infinite number of reasons why liver function tests come back out of the normal range. The typical response is a follow up test to verify that the first test wasn't an anomaly (along with questions about diet, alcohol, etc).

Keep in mind the "testers" and doctors are going to ask before testing for drugs, regardless of the legal aspects, diagnosis is tricky business and blood sent for a specific test is only used for that test and depending on the results, further tests may be requested...

[GForce]

What numbers in specific are you referring to? All of the resources I checked out regarding a basic liver function test doesn't mention cocaine or any chemically-related substances as causing an affect except in chronic users. Even then, the information wasn't very conclusive.

Cocaine is extensively metabolized, primarily in the liver, with only about 1% excreted unchanged in the urine. The metabolism is dominated by hydrolytic ester cleavage, so the eliminated metabolites consist mostly of benzoylecgonine, the major metabolite, and in lesser amounts ecgonine methyl ester and ecgonine.

When looking at guides (such as http://www.gastromd.com/lft.html ) these chemicals don't seem to be tested for. I'm genuinely interested but when you come on the thread and say "it seems very likely" that it will change "numbers" it doesn't really help me much.

[jdrug]

I did say "depending on various factors" as we don't know if a chronic user or occasional user is being tested, if the subject consumes alcohol w/cocaine, nor do we know how much cocaine the subject used or how much time elapsed from the cocaine use to the test. We also don't know the route of administration, and I don't know if it matters.

As you quoted, cocaine is partially metabolized by the liver and this is the primary reason I would suspect a liver function test might be affected. That isn't to say it'll be off the charts, obvious, or guaranteed, but recent cocaine use seems likely to affect liver enzymes (AST, ALT). I don't know if these are tested or not, and I don't have a good reference to back up my opinion, so take it for just that -- I could be wrong. I'm just saying that if a liver function test were to come back with some numbers outside the normal range, cocaine might be the culprit.

Here's a study that concludes liver function abnormalities are rarely associated with non-parenteral cocaine use:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

I didn't intend to communicate cocaine use will be detected or the liver function tests will be way out of whack, it just seems reasonable to me that something metabolized in the liver might affect a liver test...

[GForce]

I didn't think you were telling me cocaine could be detected, I just thought you were telling me there was it would be very likely it would affect some measurements. I do recognize the fact that there are many factors that can play a role and even myself I am not 100% positive nothing will be affected because of this. It just seems that the liver function test, in line with its naming scheme, tests live function. By that I would imagine it would check for the presence of certain types of cells and chemicals that would indicate damage or a deficieny in a certain function of the liver. I don't believe cocaine damages the liver if used in moderation, however, just uses enzymes that are there in the way it would them for another appropraite substance (could be anything). And while the biproducts of the enzyme reactions might be specific to cocaine, that would definitely not be something they would be testing for. I think the general idea is that they're basically just performing a diagnostic on your liver to make sure everything responsible for every task is in working order.