Posted by yxibow on February 5, 2005, at 7:41:10
In reply to Expired meds :), posted by SadDoggie on February 2, 2005, at 9:39:34
My personal opinions would tend to err on the side of -some- caution, probably 5 years for most medications. I've noticed though that some older generics like propranolol which have little coating can crumble over time, so YMMV. But there are some cases where they should be thrown out, e.g. antibiotics and insulin and other temperature and time sensitive medications. That's my 2c.
Here is a a paragraph excerpt of a Medscape article...
so I'm posting it for "fair use"; if I've erred on the edge of copyright I apologise but I think it describes part of the issue to a tee.The original author who is quoted in this article is from redflagsdaily which has some controvertial and non-mainstream medical information, however this article has some on topic relevance.
The full article by Thomas A. M. Kramer, MD (a contributor to babble and -not- the original author as described) can be found with a free signup at
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460159?src=search
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... "First, the expiration date, required by law in the United States, beginning in 1979, specifies only the date the manufacturer guarantees the full potency and safety of the drug -- it does not mean how long the drug is actually "good" or safe to use. Second, medical authorities uniformly say it is safe to take drugs past their expiration date -- no matter how "expired" the drugs purportedly are. Except for possibly the rarest of exceptions, you won't get hurt and you certainly won't get killed.......Third, studies show that expired drugs may lose some of their potency over time, from as little as 5% or less to 50% or more (though usually much less than the latter). Even 10 years after the "expiration date," most drugs have a good deal of their original potency...."
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poster:yxibow
thread:451654
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050202/msgs/453545.html