My rule of thumb for expired meds: every year after the expiration date = 10% loss of efficacy.
So, a 5-year-old Rx = half as effective (5 x 10% = 50%) as when you picked it up from the pharmacy: take twice the prescribed dose.
This is a rough estimate: that's why it's called a Rule of thumb.
For example, when I broke a bone in my foot last year, it really hurt, so much so that I couldn't sleep.
The urgent care doc where I got an x-ray wouldn't prescribe narcotics; she said to use Motrin/Advil etc.
Ha — what a joke.
At home in the back of a cabinet I found some expired hydrocodone from a 2019 tooth extraction.
Just to be on the safe side, I took one as prescribed back in 2019: it decreased the pain but didn't eliminate it.
A second one did the trick.
I never take my hydrocodone when my dentist sends it in to the pharmacy. However, OCCASIONALLY I pick it up from the pharmacy when I didn't realize it was put into the order without me knowing it — I try to just say CANCEL IT.
ReplyDeleteSo I have several bottles that I've just dropped into my freezer. Vacuum pack so they won't get freezer burned...and ready to go as currency if our country decides to start the revolution because we have an insane person at the wheel. So...bag them and put them in the freezer! As long as you don't destroy the binder due to humidity...should last a lot longer with the same potency!
Hah clif and Joe, I thought I was the only one that kept old ones around. In these parts I imagine a worst case scenario, earthquake, loved one or me trapped under rubble. No doctors or hospitals or help to be had. Narcotics and a good tourniquet might help until things settle down. I have a few bottles that are older than ten years old, I kept any and all from any family member that had a bunion or root canal or whatever. I imagine most have no potency left at all. Never thought about freezing them though. Wonder if it’s too late.
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