Is Your Old Medication Making You Sick?

Is Your Old Medication Making You Sick?

How old is too old when it comes to the medications in your medicine cabinet? When the expiration date has come and gone. You should clean out your medicine cabinet a couple of times a year but MUST do it at least once a year. The end of the year is a great time to do this- out with the old, in with the new. This applies to both prescription and non-prescription medications.

Prescription medications in particular need attention. Physicians write these with a specific timeframe in mind. People on medications long-term should be taking them on a daily basis or in some routine way so they are not intended to be sitting around. Some medications like insulin or blood thinners need to be current and up-to-date....If you are not taking it, get rid of it.

One suggestion: If you are not someone who uses over-the-counter meds routinely, buy smaller bottles. You will feel less "bad" throwing it away once it is beyond its expiration date. You will waste less.

Medicine cabinets in bathrooms are probably not the best location either. Medications should be kept in a cool, dry, and high location (away from small children). If you have a linen closet or somewhere that it doesn't get warm and moist like a bathroom does, that's the best place.

Keep those medications current and you will be doing yourself a "healthy" favor.