Keep or toss expired meds? "What say you?" (Read 3097 times)

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clshade

Re: Keep or toss expired meds? "What say you?"
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2012, 07:42:12 PM »
I can say from experience that it depends on the medication.

I've taken pills that are year past its date and they worked fine.

I've tried to use inhaled medications that that are a year past date and it was fine. The same kind of medication that was 3 or more years past its date... made the problem worse. In one case MUCH worse. I think it was a combination of the propellant getting nasty and the medicine having lost most of its potency. I won't do that again.

HiCarry

Re: Keep or toss expired meds? "What say you?"
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2012, 09:45:51 AM »
Most medications maintain their potency far beyond the expiration date. But some do not.
If the meds are stored within their designated temp range, they will last longer. The government routinely does this with their national stockpile under the Shelf Live Extension Program (SLEP). There is currently a shortage of many routine medications used in daily operations of hospitals and EMS systems. This has led to some systems using expired medications when replacements are unavailable.