I'm a pretty light smoker; should I risk it? Need advice!!!

[hickory]

Thanks, Ben, BT and everyone else. I'll definitely return the favor by posting the rest of my experience and results (I expect to test early next week). As of now, I took my second home test this a.m. I used "First Check", the one only for THC since that's all I may potentially have in my system (which is a diff brand than I used for my first test 2 days ago).

I went to bed at 10:30 after not drinking any unusual amounts of any liquid, but I woke up a little after 2 a.m. and had to pee. No way was I gonna stay up and test and I knew I'd have to go again later anyway, so... back to sleep. I woke up a little before 6 and was able to go more than enough to pass the "minimum" line in the pee cup and after 5 min. the result showed negative (it was a faint line and a broken line, but the manual clearly states that this is a negative same as a darker line that is not broken).

So that's two tests this week -- one at night after a lot of liquids, one first thing in the a.m. with no liquids -- and both show negative. Which makes me think I should be ok without subbing as I was considering, but I will still use dilution for sure.

The ONLY thing that worries me still a bit -- and maybe you can comment BT -- is a couple of reviews I've read of these home testing kits. Can't find 'em now but I distinctly recall one where a reviewer said "Thanks for nothing. I took this and tested negative, so went into my drug screen with a false sense of confidence and FAILED." Someone else came behind that reviewer and said "The test didn't fail, it just isn't designed to test to lower levels of THC. The employer you tested for probably tested to lower levels than this home kit."

To me that makes sense but I know you BT (and others) have said that's not really so and that the home kits are pretty much equivalent to what is used at screens, but I guess hearing the contradictory info is keeping me from feeling really confident.

I will definitely dilute some and compensate with B2 and Creatine supplements from GNC because I figure the worst that SHOULD happen there is they tell me it's too clear and make me go again. Assuming these home kits are accurate I SHOULD be able to pass just by drinking a fair amount of water and being sure they don't get my first void of the day which of course is easy enough, but I'll dilute more than that just to be sure.

Anybody got any thoughts? I was initially thinking of subbing and only using dilution as a backup plan but these home tests make me think I should be ok just diluting.

As a reminder: I've had 4 hits since Aug 16: two around 9/1 and two more on 9/7. So I'll have been totally clean for 9 days come pee time and clean except for 4 hits for ~ 30 days; prior to that I smoked 3-5x week, usually 1-2 hits from a one-hitter and only occasionally (once a week or every other week) would I indulge in 5-6 hits to really bake.

Thanks everyone!

[Burnt Toast]

Ok, I'm a master at this, I had 3 piss tests a week when I was in an outpatient rehab, people tell you about special drinks you can buy and yada yada but they don't work, what I would do is the night before the test I would try'to drink 2 gallons of water within 2 hours, and I would get in my jacket and pants, and run around tye block and sweat like a pig for 2 or 3 hours, and I would keep drinking water and try to pee, eventuallly...maybe around midnite, I would'crash and go to sleep, as soon as I would wake I would drink 4 huge cups'of black coffee, because'coffee it a dieuretic, and I would chug as much water as I could, after you've pissed 5 or 6 times, your piss is dilluted, but then comesanother problem, they can tell when your urine is dilluted because its to clear, so you need to take lots of vitamin b complex, chew 4 or 5 every 30-45 minuets, don't worry, it won't make u sick, then within an hour of your drugtest, go to the store and buy a monster energy drink, it just makes your piss'really dark, trust me, and when u go to take your drug test, see if you can bring a monster in with you, because if they say your piss is too dark now, you can blame it on the monster and just hope they don't send it to the lab.. here's a more dangerous tip I used a few times, supposedly, aspirin makes a false negative for thc on most panel drug tests, so at your own risk take 3 or 4 aspirins within 35 minuets of the test, I'm 5'8" and I weigh 165 lbs. And I took the aspirins and had no I'll effects, but for legal reasons, I do not codone injesting more than the reccomended dose on the aspirin bottle, so do it at your own risk, and good luck, I hope you pass, I've passed over 30 drug tests by this method so I assure you its reliable, but keep in mind to do all this accoording to your own height and weght. Good luck :-)

If what youre stating is indeed true, then you mustve passed those 30 tests more than a decade ago. The tips youve provided above are dated at best and no longer apply to the situations in the drug testing world of today:

a) With creatinine and specific gravity checks being lab SOP in recent years (thanks mainly to the advent of "all-in-one" assays with built-in validity checks), color became the least aspect in determining an overly-diluted urine sample. Samples with a nice color to them can still exhibit an unsatisfactory S/G and creatinine level. Therefore, when utilizing dilution techniques it is now more important to focus on the creatinine and S/G.
N2's Dilution "sticky" has tips on what to do to help keep the S/G and creatinine cops at bay.

b) Aspirin was used in the old days as an interferant for only one type of test: The first-generation EMIT screen. Since then, a second-gen EMIT (aka EMIT II) had been introduced to counter the interference issues caused by aspirin. As a result, the first-gen EMIT is seldom used by the labs anymore (if, at all).
Mechanism and elimination of aspirin-induced interference in Emit II d.a.u. assays.

[Burnt Toast]

The ONLY thing that worries me still a bit -- and maybe you can comment BT -- is a couple of reviews I've read of these home testing kits. Can't find 'em now but I distinctly recall one where a reviewer said "Thanks for nothing. I took this and tested negative, so went into my drug screen with a false sense of confidence and FAILED." Someone else came behind that reviewer and said "The test didn't fail, it just isn't designed to test to lower levels of THC. The employer you tested for probably tested to lower levels than this home kit."

The reviewer and the follower exchange above is nothing more than a bunch of anecdotes that should be taken with a grain of salt. The "come-behinder" has no clue to the actual reason why the reviewer had failed the lab test. Who knows if the reviewer had taken his home test at night after drinking lots of fluids and took his lab screen the next day earlier in the morning?
One more reason why it is stressed that the first urination of the day should be used when taking home tests.

And who knows if the "come-behinder" is not just a defending shill with direct ties to the test kit manufacturer?

I will definitely dilute some and compensate with B2 and Creatine supplements from GNC because I figure the worst that SHOULD happen there is they tell me it's too clear and make me go again.

As stated previously, creatinine and S/G checks had been lab SOP in recent years, therefore, visual inspections of color is the least aspect in determing dilution. Color inspections were sufficient more than a decade ago, but that was then. The rules of the game had changed.

[ben31295]

If what youre stating is indeed true, then you mustve passed those 30 tests more than a decade ago. The tips youve provided above are dated at best and no longer apply to the situations in the drug testing world of today:

a) With creatinine and specific gravity checks being lab SOP in recent years (thanks mainly to the advent of "all-in-one" assays with built-in validity checks), color became the least aspect in determining an overly-diluted urine sample. Samples with a nice color to them can still exhibit an unsatisfactory S/G and creatinine level. Therefore, when utilizing dilution techniques it is now more important to focus on the creatinine and S/G.
N2's Dilution "sticky" has tips on what to do to help keep the S/G and creatinine cops at bay.

b) Aspirin was used in the old days as an interferant for only one type of test: The first-generation EMIT screen. Since then, a second-gen EMIT (aka EMIT II) had been introduced to counter the interference issues caused by aspirin. As a result, the first-gen EMIT is seldom used by the labs anymore (if, at all).
Mechanism and elimination of aspirin-induced interference in Emit II d. a.u. assays.

Oh wow, thank you for correcting me in time, but I did mention above to hope they don't send it to the lab, but huh, diudnt know they have a new for of "emit" but I'm not sure what that is, I haven't had to take a u/a in years :-) I never had to deal with the labs a few years ago haha, unless my sample looked dilluted, but good luck original poster, I'm sure these guys gave you what you needed :-). And also, correct me if I'm wrong though guys, but for me, when I was in my outpatient treatment years ago, I would slip up sometimes on a Friday night and smoke around .75 grams of decent mids throughout a weekend, and dillution would be easier, if you don't smoke everyday, 4 hits, of even dro, shouldn't be too big of a nightmare, after around 12 days I was clean but I did weigh aroumd 165 then, so it doesnt neccessarily take 30 days to leave your system, and "Burnt Toast" correct me if I'm wrong, but I hear that if you don't excersise much, then you can take omega-3 fatty acids'like fish oil to speed up your metabolism, which breaks down thc faster, but for the future, I would reccomend a daily dose'of fish oil to speed up your metabolism on a daily basis for future tests, I gained weight in my first rehab, leaving at 189 lbs and I was indeed on the chubby side, and whe I got out I started taking fish oil, and I've been around 165-170 lbs for the past few years, healthy as a horse :-). I hope I helped a bit, sorry if I wrote too much for you to read :-)

[ben31295]

Also burnt toast, since your familiar with the new age drug tests, I had a friend that told me he would stick a small bottle of' visine in one of those lighter leashes and attach the clip to the inside of a jacket sleeve with a safety pin and he claims he would pull the lighter leash through his jacket sleeve and have the visine in his hand with the lid off, and he said he had it between s palm and his penis where the supervisers can't see, and he said he would squirt as much as he could in the cup and it would dilute the urine and give a false negative for all drugs, and then he would open his hand and the lighyter leash with the visine would retract back into his sleeve unseen, does that seem legitamit? If it works and gets past the lab then that could be a neat and easy trick for us innocent pot users :-)

[un1bomber]

Also burnt toast, since your familiar with the new age drug tests, I had a friend that told me he would stick a small bottle of' visine in one of those lighter leashes and attach the clip to the inside of a jacket sleeve with a safety pin and he claims he would pull the lighter leash through his jacket sleeve and have the visine in his hand with the lid off, and he said he had it between s palm and his penis where the supervisers can't see, and he said he would squirt as much as he could in the cup and it would dilute the urine and give a false negative for all drugs, and then he would open his hand and the lighyter leash with the visine would retract back into his sleeve unseen, does that seem legitamit? If it works and gets past the lab then that could be a neat and easy trick for us innocent pot users :-)

Since visine is essentially salt water with trace amounts of vasoconstrictors, I suppose it is possible that it could be used to dilute the urine unnoticed. However this would be very dangerous.
It is unknown to me whether the ingredients in artificial tears could cause interference in the assay tests. Even if we were sure that would not be the case, one would have to be very careful to not dilute your urine too much. As said before, the primary methods used to validate a urine specimen are creatinine levels, specific gravity, and pH. luckily artificial tears are pretty pH neutral so that's not much of a worry. What I'd be afraid of is diluting too much and causing the creatinine levels to go too low.
Seems like a possible last resort, but by no means would be my first choice, in my opinion.

Luckily, if the urine passes the assay tests and validity tests, GC/MS is not required.

[Burnt Toast]

Burnt Toast" correct me if I'm wrong, but I hear that if you don't excersise much, then you can take omega-3 fatty acids'like fish oil to speed up your metabolism, which breaks down thc faster, but for the future, I would reccomend a daily dose'of fish oil to speed up your metabolism on a daily basis for future tests,

The downside to this if if a person has 1 week or less before the scheduled U/A, the last thing that person needs is to have his/her metabolism in high gear - particularly if that person hasnt been passing home tests. Its a common misconception that THC breaks down in the body. Thats not how the human body processes THC. THC is stored in the fat cells. When fat cells burn, the THC metabolites are released back into the bloodstream - they dont "break down" or "burn away" when fat cells burn. The kidneys filter the THC metabolites from the bloodstream and are deposited into the bladder for the eventual exit. This is the main reason why THC carries a longer detection period than other types of drugs.
So if a person is failing home tests and the scheduled U/A is less than 3 days away, then that person needs to make every effort to bring his/her metabolic rate to a crawl - curtail all fat-burning activities and be as dormant as possible until after the U/A. That way the person wont be releasing a bunch of THCA back into the bloodstream, which will end up in the urine to be detected.

[hickory]

As stated previously, creatinine and S/G checks had been lab SOP in recent years, therefore, visual inspections of color is the least aspect in determing dilution. Color inspections were sufficient more than a decade ago, but that was then. The rules of the game had changed.

That makes sense, BT. I know when I void in normal life, sometimes it's just really clear w/o me having done anything unusual and sometimes it's darker.

So if color is not a concern, sounds like the B2 is not needed, but I'll take a multivitamin beforehand because that's what I normally do. If it makes my void more yellow, great, if not, I won't sweat it.

Two other questions though:

1. Should I eat anything before my test or just the liquid diet?

2. How do we know how much Creatine supplement to take to keep our diluted urine in the “normal” range for creatinine? In the “DILUTION Tips, tricks and guidelines” post there’s a link with more info but it takes me to a dead page… I do have the 2-3 days to use the supplements and want to boost my levels to hopefully get a "pass" instead of having to retake, but how much creatine supplement is enough or how much is TOO much? (I'm about 230lbs if that helps....)

Thx

[Burnt Toast]

How do we know how much Creatine supplement to take to keep our diluted urine in the “normal” range for creatinine?

Youre not going to know - not without knowing what your "baseline" creatinine level was prior to diluting. And you will not know what your baseline level is without testing your urine with a validity test kit.
(Do a Google search for "drug adulteration test kits"...these kits will also check the S/G)

Each persons baseline creatinine level is different. Therefore, what particular dose was sufficient for one person is not necessarily enough for another person.
In order for the urine sample to be not ruled "too-diluted", the creatinine level must be over 20 mg/dL. Creatinine levels between 2-20 mg/dL are ruled too-diluted. If the urine sample is between 2-5 mg/dL, the retest will be done under direct observation. A urine sample with a creatinine level between 0-2 mg/dL is ruled "not consistent with human urine" (aka "substituted specimen").

There are no upper limits established for creatinine. As long as the creatinine level is over 20 mg, its satisfactory. However, this doesnt mean you should go overboard with creatine supps. Too much creatine can result in long unwanted bathroom sessions, sitting on the toilet seat.

[hickory]

Ok, makes sense. I don't see stores really advertising these, mainly websites but if I order today with overnight I can have 'em in time. So that will give me by baseline. Let's say hypothetically it's 200-250 mg/dl. How will I know how much I need to have it boosted by come test day? In other words, how do I know what the effects of the all the dilution is beforehand? Do I do a dry run?

And sorry, but what about food? Does it matter if I eat or not beforehand and if it's best to have food in the system, is there any type(s) of food(s) recommended?

Thanks again for all the info!!