Hello all! I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July.
It was nice and calm at the pharmacy last night (for once) to the point where I had a good 10 minutes of downtime to help a patient out.
The patient called me on the phone looking for information on expired drugs. She had some Valtrex she wanted to take, but she was worried it may have gone bad. I could see from her profile that she had picked it up 2 months ago. I was pretty sure it was okay to take because of the following two reasons:
1. When a drug is dispensed at a retail pharmacy, the medication is given a 1 year expiration date unless the manufacturer’s bottle it came from says a date sooner than that. The expiration date can be found on the label that is on your medication bottle. If the manufacturer’s expiration date is less than 1 year from the date the prescription is filled, then you will see that date on the label (this is a general rule – some states have different laws so be aware!)
2. Retail pharmacy staff will go through all of the drug bottles on the shelves and send back any of them that are going to expire within at least the next few months (within 3 months of the expiration date is the usual guideline).
So, since the patient had picked up her medication only 2 months ago, I had a good idea the medication was at least good for another month (based on reason #2 from above).
I had her check the label on her bottle for the expiration date just to be sure I was right – after she found it (look closely because it may be hard to find!), she confirmed the expiration date was a year from the date it was filled (next May is when it will go bad).
It is important to know whether your medication has expired because as time goes by, the drug starts to breakdown into other chemicals that may be toxic. The expiration date marks the point in time where the drug is no longer effective so there is no sense in taking it. Researchers and their hard work in the science lab find expiration dates – the dates are not just made-up on guesswork!
I know many people like to keep their medications for a long time for those “just in case” moments, but it really can be harmful to your health if you take an expired drug. The longer the medication sits around after it is expired, the more harmful it can become.
So, whatever you do, keep an eye on that expiration date, and once it comes along, toss that medication bottle in the garbage.
You can get the same help as this patient did by e-mailing me at cate@getpharmacyadvice.com or commenting on this article. I promise that if you get in touch with me, I will get back to you!
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