When do tylenol expire

So, does medicine expire? Do you take it or don't you? If you decide to take the medication, will it be a fatal mistake or will you simply continue to suffer from the headache? And how long is a prescription good for? This is a dilemma many people face in some way or another. A column published in Psychopharmacology Today offers some advice.

It turns out that the expiration date on a drug does stand for something, but probably not what you think it does. Since a law was passed in , drug manufacturers are required to stamp an expiration date on their products. This is the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee the full potency and safety of the drug. Most of what is known about drug expiration dates comes from a study conducted by the Food and Drug Administration at the request of the military. With a large and expensive stockpile of drugs, the military faced tossing out and replacing its drugs every few years.

So, the expiration date doesn't really indicate a point at which the medication is no longer effective or has become unsafe to use. Medical authorities state if expired medicine is safe to take, even those that expired years ago. A rare exception to this may be tetracycline, but the report on this is controversial among researchers. It's true the effectiveness of a drug may decrease over time, but much of the original potency still remains even a decade after the expiration date.

Excluding nitroglycerin, insulin, and liquid antibiotics, most medications are as long-lasting as the ones tested by the military. Placing a medication in a cool place, such as a refrigerator, will help a drug remain potent for many years. Is the expiration date a marketing ploy by drug manufacturers, to keep you restocking your medicine cabinet and their pockets regularly?

You can look at it that way. For example, the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, coordinated by the DEA, addresses a vital public safety and public health issue by focusing attention on this important issue and reminding everyone to get rid of unneeded and outdated medicines. Through this important program many tons of unneeded and out-date drugs have been removed for proper disposal.

However, certain medicines are specifically recommended for flushing down a toilet or sink because they could be especially harmful, even fatal, to a child, pet, or anyone else if taken accidentally. For a list of medicines recommended for disposal by flushing, as well as other information on proper disposal, please see the Disposal of Unused Medicines page. Proper storage is one way to help make sure your medicines will remain safe and effective up to their expiration date.

Be sure to read the label to see if there are specific storage instructions for your medicine. Certain medicines need to be stored in the refrigerator and others cannot be exposed to high temperatures.

Improper storage — such as a damp bathroom cabinet — can contribute to decreased effectiveness in medicines that have not reached their posted expiration date. For most medicines, to help ensure the proper shelf life of your medicine, it is better to store medicine in a cool, dry place such as a dresser drawer, storage box, closet shelf, or kitchen cabinet.

During the study they found out that majority consider expired drug use is not safe but Loel Dawis, expiration date chief said that with a handful of exception notably nitroglycerin, Insulin and Liquid antibiotic most drugs are probably as durable as the agency tested.

A study done by Simons on outdated EpiPen and EpiPen Jr auto injectors: past their prime, noted that, drugs differ in terms of their forms, dosage, and stability. Usually, drugs in liquid forms e. Medication's potency gradually decreases starting from the moment of its manufacture. This process is not in any way spontaneous after the expiry date. Expired drugs have not necessarily lost their potency and efficacy.

The expiration date is only an assurance that the labeled potency will last at least until that date. Even 10 years after the expiration date many pharmaceuticals retain a significant amount of their original potency. Solid dosage forms, such as tablets and capsules, are most stable past their expiration date. Drugs that exist in solution or as a reconstituted suspension may not have the required potency if used when outdated.

The aim of the SLEP program was to reduce medication costs for the military. Monoclonal antibodies should be included in this group. These drugs should not be used beyond the expiry date. Even though the literature denotes western circumstances, we can take a leaf or two to modify to work around it, so that it will be beneficial to the African continent, especially more so in the peripheral outreach health centers in Africa where availability and storage of medicines are a challenge.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Afr Health Sci v. Afr Health Sci. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.

Keywords: Medication, drugs, drug expiry, drug efficacy. Licensee African Health Sciences. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Introduction There is so much wastage of drugs as they are not used in time.