A pregnant woman was left stunned when she tested positive for opiates, but nothing could have prepared her for what actually caused the shock result.
On January 13, Cassey Hoff attended an OBGYN appointment to do her initial pregnancy blood draw and urine test. It should have been a routine appointment as Hoff didn’t have any concerns, but when the results came back as abnormal days later, she couldn’t believe what she discovered.
Hoff, 34, told Newsweek that she was “completely shocked” when she learned that she’d tested positive for opiates. She doesn’t take any medication and certainly doesn’t abuse opioids, so this was a total anomaly.
Of course, once the result kicked in, she felt incredibly concerned about her baby’s wellbeing and any potential repercussions.
“I absolutely thought this was incorrect. I do not take any sort of opioid medication so I thought there was no way it could come up positive,” Hoff, of Westminster, Maryland, said.
“I was terrified that it might affect my labor and delivery. I was honestly scared that they were going to notify child protection services and I would have to have an interview at the hospital when I have my baby.”
As Hoff tried to figure out what happened, her sister made an eye-opening suggestion. She pointed out that Hoff had been obsessed with eating avocado on toast for breakfast, and she also had a penchant for adding Everything Bagel Seasoning. One key ingredient in that seasoning however is poppy seeds.
While poppy seeds themselves don’t contain opiates, the seeds can become contaminated with opiates in the latex of the seed pod during harvesting. The University of Florida College of Medicine explains that poppy seeds don’t have enough opiates to cause intoxication, however they can lead to a positive urine sample because of how sensitive the tests are.
In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a memo in 2023 warning service members to avoid consuming poppy seeds “out of an abundance of caution.”
Following the revelation about what caused her positive test, Hoff contacted her doctor immediately to explain. She hasn’t taken another test since however as her doctor didn’t feel it was necessary.
“I immediately called my doctor and left a message as soon as I Googled it and did some research to see that it was true. My doctor called me back and left me a voicemail saying that it was from the poppy seeds and if I had any further questions I could call back,” Hoff told Newsweek.
Hoff has now stopped eating avocado toast with Everything Bagel Seasoning, and is keen to avoid anything with poppy seeds.
She posted a video on TikTok (@casseysjourney) about this unexpected result, and it went viral with over 1.3 million views and more than 30,900 likes at the time of writing. Hoff wasn’t expecting the video to attract so much attention, but she hopes it serves as a reminder for other pregnant women to be cautious about what they’re eating.
Some commenters shared their own similar experiences, while others questioned Hoff’s story. She assures any doubters that she “was not lying” and has nothing to be concerned about.
Hoff said: “Pregnant women should stay away from anything that contains poppy seeds so this doesn’t happen to them.”
Plenty of internet users took to the comments to share their thoughts, leading to over 6,000 comments in just a matter of days.
One comment reads: “Yessss!!! I created everything bagel during my pregnancy and came up positive on my drug test. I was so upset.”
Another TikTok user wrote: “Yep absolutely true. My cousin couldn’t eat poppy seeds bc of his job for that reason.”
While another person replied: “I thought that was widely known.”
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