2 ms·
With the amount of aspirin and ibuprofen that is sold, I would love to see a similar story on how much folks pop standard pain medications. I'm always baffled
by taeric 3y ago
With the amount of aspirin and ibuprofen that is sold, I would love to see a similar story on how much folks pop standard pain medications. I'm always baffled at the impressively large sizes those bottles come in. And since I don't know the shelf life of them, I'm very doubtful that the bottle I bought a decade ago is the one i should still be using. (I'm not doubtful enough to care when I have a bad headache, of course...)
- gms7777 3y agoThe expiration date on most medications functions differently than the expiration date on something like food. It's more about effectiveness than it is about safety. It's the date that the manufacturer can guarantee full potency of the drug. After this date, the drug may have lost some potency. However the vast majority of drugs are still effective, even 15 years after the expiration date [1], if they've been stored correctly. There are some exceptions which either degrade quickly or can gain toxicity post expiration (e.g., nitorglycerin, insulin, liquid antibiotics, biologics), but something like ibuprofen would generally be safe even years after expiration though it may be marginally less effective. [1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/drug-expiration-dates-do-they-mean-anything https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/drug-expirati...