Can you still take medicine after it’s expired? Don’t stockpile these 4 types of medicine at home!

Today, the editor looked through the circle of friends

I can't help but worry when I see a message from my friend.

I don't know how many people have

Check the shelf life carefully

Many people have a small medicine box at home.

If you have a cold or fever, just take some medicine.

It is indeed very convenient

But it's been a long time

There will be a lot of expired medicines accumulated in the medicine cabinet.

It has become a poison box that threatens your health.

What are the consequences of taking expired medicine?

Let’s take a look with me~

What harm do expired medicines do to the human body?

First, the quality of expired and discarded drugs is uncontrollable. If the storage conditions of drugs are not standardized, they may absorb moisture, dehydrate, become moldy, or decompose into some harmful impurities, and sometimes even cause changes in the chemical composition or structure of the drugs. Taking expired and discarded drugs will delay disease treatment and produce toxic side effects, causing greater damage to the human body.

Second, expired and discarded drugs may cause allergic reactions, allergic reactions and bacterial resistance. For example, penicillin, once expired, can cause allergic reactions, and even cause shock.

Third, studies have found that expired and discarded drugs have certain teratogenic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. Some expired and discarded drugs, such as imidazole anti-helminth drugs, have potential harm to the human body by causing teratogenicity and mutagenicity.

Don't stock up on these four medicines at home

Article 49 of my country's "Pharmaceutical Administration Law" clearly stipulates that expired drugs shall not be used.

Image source: Pixabay

After a drug expires, it will degrade and produce impurities, resulting in decreased efficacy and increased toxicity.

Therefore, taking expired medicines will not only delay the treatment of the disease, but may also cause new damage to the body, causing allergies at the mildest, poisoning or even death at the worst.

For example, sublingual nitroglycerin tablets can be used for acute attacks of stable angina pectoris, but expired nitroglycerin loses its effectiveness and may even aggravate myocardial infarction and delay rescue.

The chemical structure of expired insulin will change, which may cause adverse reactions such as pain, swelling, and fat atrophy at the injection site after injection.

Expired penicillin contains some decomposition products that increase the incidence of adverse reactions such as rash, asthma, and even anaphylactic shock.

Expired tetracycline antibiotics can cause vomiting and diarrhea at the mildest, or acute liver and kidney damage at the worst.

The famous drug-related injury incident in 2001, the "Plum Blossom K" incident, was caused by acute renal damage in patients who took expired tetracycline.

How to deal with expired medicines at home?

The appendix "List of Hazardous Waste Exemption Management" of my country's "National List of Hazardous Wastes" (2021 edition) stipulates that waste medicines generated in daily household life or in activities providing services for daily life are hazardous wastes among domestic waste. As long as they are not collected in a centralized manner, the above-mentioned waste medicines do not need to be managed as hazardous wastes and can be treated as domestic waste.

In addition, expired medicines must not be thrown into the toilet or sink for washing dishes or faces, because trace amounts of medicines can pollute rivers and cause environmental pollution.

The appropriate approach is to seal it well and hand it over to the nearest drug recycling point. If there is no drug recycling point nearby, you can take the following actions for expired drugs:

1. Expired household medicines

Just like recycling used batteries, they should be included in a special collection and destruction system; medicines in the form of tablets, pills, and capsules should first be wrapped in paper and then placed in a sealed paper tube for disposal.

2. Spray drugs

It should be emptied thoroughly outdoors in a well-ventilated area, avoiding contact with open flames.

3. Injectable and aqueous injection drugs

Do not open without authorization! Discard it together with its intact outer packaging in a sealed paper tube.

Everyone must strictly follow the disposal methods of these discarded medicines to avoid polluting the environment.

In short, expired medicines should not be taken. Do not take medicines without authorization just because they have just expired, which may cause some damage to the body. If you have expired medicines at home and they are not collected in a classified manner, you can destroy the medicine packaging boxes and dispose of them with household garbage and recycle them in a classified manner, which is relatively less risky.

Source: Chongqing Tianji Network Co., Ltd.

This article is compiled from Science Popularization China, Xinhuanet, Tencent Medical Dictionary, and Chongqing Municipal Waste Classification

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