Medication Monitoring

Drug Monitoring, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

What Affects the Test

Reasons you may not be able to have the test or why the results may not be helpful include:

• The time between when the medicine was first taken and the blood test. For example, if the test should be done when the medicine level is lowest, taking a dose of the medicine just before the blood sample is taken can cause a falsely high result.
• If you take medicines other than the one(s) being monitored. This can include other prescription and nonprescription medicines or drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine.

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Author:	Bets Davis, MFA	Last Updated: November 17, 2008
Medical Review:	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
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