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 HEALTHSERV (SASK), we average 2700 Drug and Alcohol Tests per month for occupational purposes.

At HEALTHSERV (SASK), we average 2700 Drug and Alcohol Tests per month for occupational purposes (pre-employment testing, post-accident testing for example). That’s a lot of pee! Those tests plus all the services related to that such as policy development, training and consulting makes up 70% of our business. And we take it very seriously.

But some people don’t and that can make for some days that are very enlightening regarding the human condition. In other words, we have ample opportunity to collect evidence that drugs do affect your brain. I submit the following events that happened over the last few months:
 

• We have multiple ways to identify if someone is cheating on their drug test. But folks still try. The most popular way to cheat is to buy synthetic urine (yes, you read that right) from the hemp store. It is called “Urineluck” and it doesn’t work. It is near impossible to keep it to body temperature, it has no odor and it has a lovely fluorescent yellow/green color. None of which passes our “sniff test”. It shows up every week though. At $30 a pop it’s not cheap to cheat.
   
• A worker’s test showed positive for Marijuana almost instantly: a giveaway that the testing device had no trouble finding the illegal substance in his sample. When the results were explained to him, he went into a detailed and serious explanation about how, really, it’s his cat that’s addicted to Mary Jane. Maybe it was this second hand smoke that caused him to be positive. Our staff person didn’t know what to say! The worker went on at great length about how much the cat was hooked on weed and smoked every day. He ended with, “But she died 2 months ago.” It does beg the question: did the cat roll her own smokes or did she use a pipe?
   
• One of our Client Services Agents reported this event. “A worker came in for a test and I told him to have a seat and someone would be right with him. I then went back to the caller on the phone. The next thing I know the same worker goes up the Computer Service Technician who was working on the wall panel and starts in on him because he needs to go …pee! The Service Technician tells him he doesn’t work for HEALTHSERV and that he’s sure someone will be right with him. This does not register with the worker and he persists with the computer guy. I put my caller on hold for the second time to intervene and tell the worker, the Service Technician does NOT work for HEALTHSERV so please have a seat and we’ll be right with him. The next thing I know the worker is back asking the Service Technician if he can get him in right away... Yikes! When it’s finally this worker’s turn to go into the testing area, he has no photo identification with him but “My mom is in the car and she can ID me.” Good grief! (When all was said and done, he tested positive for whacky weed! What was your first clue?)

Hard workers and perfectionists at higher risk for extreme stress
This article by Dr. David Rainham first appeared in Occupational Health and Safety Canada Magazine September 2010. It is reprinted here slightly condensed for space.

Are you suffering from burnout?
Try this individual checklist to help you live a stress-free life.

• I’m aware of burnout, and I know the symptoms.
• I associate with positive, upbeat people.
•  replenish myself physically with diet and exercise.
• I replenish myself mentally with regular relaxation, yoga, Tai Chi, etc.
• I use rational thinking, e.g. My boss is not an ignorant, critical SOB, but just another fallible fellow human being.
• I pick my wars carefully. I don’t take on too many tasks at once.
• I pace myself. Good time management gives me time to unwind on weekends.
• I have a sense of humour or try to cultivate it.
• I set clear, interesting goals in different areas of life and make time to achieve them.
• I stay out of groups of complainers and negative-thinkers.
• I feel a sense of personal accomplishment
• I feel I am making a worthwhile difference, either at work or at home - or both

How did you score???

Burnout is more than feeling stressed from overwork or constant excessive demands. Anxiety and depression are part of it, but its hallmark is becoming emotionally distant and seemingly uncaring.

Most people want to give their best to their work and to their families. Most of us want to make a difference in life. We expect our bosses, coworkers and families will appreciate what we do, and our efforts and sacrifices will be worthwhile. Then the reality hits that we can bust our gut, but our work and family don‘t seem to notice, and just want more.

Burnout is a gradual process. Life becomes less fun, you can’t play anymore, you lose your curiosity and creativity. You start thinking very negatively about everything. Being in a busy, rapidly-changing job, including being a stay-at-home parent, means a constant drain on your physical and mental energy. Being female with an inborn high level of concern for others increases the rate of drainage. So you must keep it replenished.

Work-related burnout results from a combination of all of the following: a poor match between the demands of the job and who’s doing it, responsibility without authority, little recognition or appreciation, lack of control over how things are done, and work overload.

Stages of Burnout
Different models of burnout have been proposed, but the stages are fairly similar:

1. Full tank or the “honeymoon”. You have high energy and you get satisfaction from trying to solve problems. You find the job interesting most of the time and you feel you can develop your own special abilities.
    
2. Fuel starts to run low. You feel the gradual onset of frustration, tiredness and loss of interest. You start to distance yourself from co-workers and clients. Physical symptoms of anxiety increase, like early morning waking and fatigue. “Escape” activities increase: drinking, drugs, eating, buying things, smoking.
    
3. Towards a crisis. Symptoms and dissatisfaction with the job dominate all areas of life. You want to be alone, you reject help, you feel lots of anger and maybe even abuse alcohol and/or drugs. You can’t seem to relax. You think of extreme measures such as resigning, moving, or even suicide.
    
4. Apathy. Energy is very depleted and symptoms get worse. Depression.
    
5. Almost everyone gets some symptoms at some point, but not everyone totally burns out. It’s often the best workers who are most at risk for burnout and depression because they invest the most energy, emotion and commitment. Early burnout may not be quite as serious as late burnout because people can learn from it and become more flexible in their approach to work, and design a more resilient personal life.

Review the checklist at the top and identify the areas that you need to work on for burnout prevention. If you have too may gaps you should consider talking to a trusted friend, your Employee Assistance Program at work, a Counsellor, your physician or clergy. Allowing burnout symptoms to continue to dominate your live will only lead to physical and mental ill health.

Dr. David Rainham is the founder of Optimum Health Centre in Waterloo, Ont., specializing in stress, weight/nutrition and pain management. You can contact Dr. Rainham by phone at 519-897-3670 or visit www.stresswinner.com or www.optimumhealth.ca.

Just when I think I’ve seen it all, something comes along that surprises me.

If we’re open to it, these surprises can show us another side of life and teach a lesson.

Such was the day last week when I was making a routine call to discuss some drug test results with a worker. He and his tradesperson buddies had traveled from Ontario where jobs were hard to find. They were eager to get going on the construction jobs that were lined up for them. They were staying in a hotel until their drug tests cleared and they could be dispatched to site.

Except I was calling to say his test was positive for Cocaine. “Well, I don’t know how that could be. I never do the stuff. That would be stupid because this would cost me my job. Everything I’ve worked for. Coming all this way? And blowing it on drugs?” There was silence on the other end as I explained the levels of Cocaine that were confirmed by the lab.

“My buddies invited a bunch of Party Girls into the room and they were blowing crack cocaine smoke into my face. That’s what it must have been! It must have been that second-hand crack cocaine smoke!”

Well, that’s a new one for me! You can order up Party Girls to your hotel room? No, really I mean, you can get high from second-hand crack cocaine smoke? I told him I would look into that and get back to him.

It seems that researchers have wondered the same thing. Especially after the death of 2 infants in a “crack house” with significant amounts of cocaine found in their bodies post-mortem (1988 USA). The next year there was another report strongly suggesting passive cocaine inhalation in four infants and toddlers who lived in crack houses. American Journal of Diseases of Children 1989 Bateman and Haegarty.

To sum up the research, passive inhalation of crack smoke by people who were standing near or even holding the pipe of people who were smoking crack cocaine rendered cocaine levels of 22 – 123 ng/ml. That isn’t even close to the 150 ng ‘cutoff’ which would cause a test to be reported as POSITIVE. This worker’s level was 352 ng/ml. You see the problem.

I called him back right away and told him his levels were so high it could not possibly be from second-hand smoke. The evidence proved that he inhaled the cocaine himself. I would be reporting this test as POSITIVE.

He very quickly went into excuse mode, perhaps practicing the lines he was going to try on his wife: it wasn’t my idea, they weren’t my Party Girls. I very quickly lapsed into I-know-it-sounds-like-I-care-but-I-really-don’t-anymore mode. I perked up though when he finally said something that made sense, “I think there will be a new rule in our room – "NO MORE PARTY GIRLS!”

I agreed that this was probably a very good universal rule!

P.S. The infants and toddlers in retrospect, say the researchers, most likely ingested the cocaine by touching and grabbing things they should never have had access to or by having smoke blown into their tiny faces. Very sad. This is how addicts live.