What Happens if Expired Medicine is Taken?
Expiration dates were created to protect your health from potentially harmful compounds both from food and drugs. It is what determines if a drug is safe to use or needs to be discarded.
Apart from preventing the compounding of already existing problems, it is also meant to help gauge the effectiveness of your drug.
Expiration dates are usually found on the containers, leaflets, or bottles, usually with an EXP or BB before them.
What Happens if Expired Medicine is Taken?
There is no way to guarantee how potentially harmful a drug is after its expiration date. In the best-case scenario, nothing will happen to you after taking the pills.
Nothing also means that it is ineffective against your ailment. While in the worst-case scenario, you may experience the following:
Reduced Potency:
One major reason for having an expiration date is to guarantee potency and efficacy; anything after that means that the potency of the drug is unguaranteed. For individuals with chronic conditions like heart disease, epilepsy, or infections, an ineffective medication can be life-threatening.
Chemical Changes:
There is a breakdown of chemical compounds in the drug with time, and this breakdown may be harmful to the body as it causes a change in stability or loss of active ingredients.
Bacterial Growth:
This is especially the case with liquid medications like syrups, antacids, nasal sprays, and ear/eye drops. These liquid medicines have a higher risk of supporting the growth of bacteria after a breakdown of their chemical compounds. Bacteria growth may be dangerous for consumption.
However, this does not mean that solid pills are safe; it just means that they are slightly less unsafe after expiration due to their composition.
This is why some liquid medications may have an additional recommendation for discarding the medication after a certain period after opening (e.g., four weeks after opening). This “pseudo-expiration” reflects the increased risk of contamination with prolonged use of the same container.
Antibiotics:
Antibiotics should wholly be avoided if they have expired. This is because, alongside potentially exacerbating your illness, poor antibiotic usage may lead to you developing antibiotic resistance, making future infections more difficult to treat.
Insulin, Nitroglycerin, and EpiPen
Insulin is used in the control of blood sugar, and a degraded dose of it may lead to a rise in sugar level that may be risky for the patient.
Nitroglycerin is used in the treatment of Angina (chest pain), and a less potent version of this drug may worsen your heart’s condition.
EpiPens are used to control severe cases of allergic reactions bordering on anaphylactic shock. A degraded EpiPen may be fatal to the patient as it has less potency and may be life-threatening.
Drugs in Solution, Vaccines and Biologicals.
Injectable drugs in solution are subject to the same issues as liquid medication. They are also to be discarded even before their expiration if they look cloudy or are discolored and have floating particles.
Recommendations for Dealing with Expired Drugs
Check expiry dates regularly to stock up when drugs expired
Store your medicines properly, ideally in a cool, dark, and dry place. Storage plays a part in preservation, as poorly preserved drugs may go bad even before expiration. It could also be fatal after expiration.
