Is it too early for spring cleaning?
You may want to check the expiration dates on products in your medicine cabinet – with some experts saying expired pills will harm your health.
“Depending on the product, it may be dangerous to use them after their expiration date,” pharmacist Deborah Grayson told the newspaper. Daily Mail.
“Although some are more concerning than others, always be careful and check that your pills and creams are up to date before using them. »
The lowest risk products include drugs like ibuprofen that have been stored in “blister packs” instead of bottles because “oxygen won’t be able to penetrate” the packaging.
“While they may be safe for a few months after their expiration date, their effect will likely be reduced,” Grayson warned.
Likewise, medications like antidepressants and antihistamines are not harmful to your health if you take them after their expiration date, although they may simply be less effective. Expired vitamins also become ineffective, but are not toxic.
Adhesive dressings, however, could become less sterile if they are expired – and they would become less sticky.
“If you only have expired dressings, I would still use them, but I would replace them with expired products as soon as possible,” Grayson said.
She added that old antibiotics could make you sick if taken after their expiration date, especially if they are stored in bottles rather than sealed packages. Liquid antibiotics pose a higher risk of causing illness because they can be contaminated with infectious bacteria, she added.
To throw away prescriptions, she advised patients to go to their local pharmacy so the medications can be disposed of safely.
The highest-risk items that could be hiding in your medicine cabinet include aspirin, which can degrade over time due to exposure to oxygen. As for whether the medicine is spoiled, Grayson said it will have “a strong vinegar-like odor,” meaning “it’s not safe to use.”
“Eating it could potentially damage the stomach lining,” she warned.
Expired creams or ointmentsshe added, could cause an infection if applied to broken skin, according to Grayson.
“As steroids also turn off the immune response, this can increase the risk of infection,” she said.
Lately, eye drops must be thrown away 28 days after opening, regardless of the expiration date.
“Always mark your drops with the date you first used them, so you know when to throw them away,” she explained, adding that opened bottles of cough syrup should also be thrown away after six month.