What’s in Sheila’s Medicine Chest?
January 16, 2007 by Lei
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
I love overachievers and Sheila is an impressive one even by my standards! Check out her beautifully organized medicine supply organized into The Main Stash, Wound Central, and Kitty Care (her elderly kitty requires a great deal of medical attention).
Sheila’s sister also happens to be a pharmacist and when I was asking for submissions to the What’s in Your Medicine Chest series, several people mentioned that they had a load of expired products. I, too, am guilty of taking OTC meds that are several months past its expiry date. When Sheila heard this, she was not pleased.
Okay, you people who do not throw away expired meds are FREAKING ME OUT. Here is the skinny: the expiration date on meds is for the preservative that keeps bacteria from growing inside the tablet or capsule or liquid, not on the medication itself. Bacteria=bad. Liken expiration dates on meds to expiration dates on canned food.
She [Sheila's pharmacist sister] says you can probably get away with keeping solid meds for 3 to 6 months past the expiration date but don’t go past that. Liquid meds: maybe a month. Also, be sure to take into account how you store your meds. Tablets and capsules in pill bottles that live their entire life in a medicine cabinet in a room where people shower so there is lots of moisture are likely not as sound as those same meds kept in a hall closet that stays cool and dry.
Over the past week or so, I’ve been tossing expired drugs but last night when my cough wouldn’t stop, I dug out an old bottle of Robitussin CoughGels out of the garbage (yes, I was THAT desperate). Don’t worry. It won’t happen again. I got new cough medicine today.
Share your medicine chest with us! Email your list or pictures to hsien@b5media.com.
Tags: otc, over the counter, drugs, medicine, medicine chest, medicine cabinet, expired, diseases, illness, health
