How to deal with expired medicines?

Nowadays, every household has some medicines, mainly because people have a strong sense of safety. There are more or less minor illnesses in life, so it is very necessary to have some common first aid medicines at home. However, sometimes the medicines may expire due to long-term non-use. So what should we do if the medicines expire?

When storing medicines, you should pay attention to the storage conditions of the medicines and avoid high temperature, light and moisture. Many drug instructions contain the words "sealed and stored in a cool place". Sealed means isolating the drug from air to prevent oxidation of the drug, and also to prevent the entry of humid air that would cause deliquescence of the drug. A cool place refers to an environment with a temperature no higher than 20℃. If it is a "cold place", it should be in an environment of 2℃ ~ 10℃. Generally, the refrigerator's refrigerator compartment can meet the requirements. However, the lower the temperature is, the better it is not. Many liquid preparations are not suitable for freezing, and some self-use injections such as insulin should not be frozen.

Medicines should also be placed in a reasonable manner. External medicines and internal medicines should be placed separately so that they are not easily taken by mistake in a hurry. At the very least, they should be wrapped in pockets of different colors in the medicine box and clearly marked. Do not use empty medicine bottles or boxes to hold other medicines. If you forget, it is easy to make mistakes and use them incorrectly.

Once medicines expire or deteriorate, they should be completely destroyed to prevent them from falling into the hands of criminals. The best way is to return expired and spoiled medicines to the hospital pharmacy for centralized disposal to avoid polluting the environment, especially some special-property medicines, such as penicillin. If they are handled by yourself without proper protection or are released into the air, they may cause allergic accidents.

When purchasing medicines, you must pay attention to the storage time and shelf life of the medicines. If you continue to take and use the medicines after the shelf life has expired, it is still very dangerous, because after the quality of the medicines changes, the efficacy of the medicines will change, and even some toxic substances may grow in them, so you must pay attention.