If you have a medicine cabinet with expired medications, don’t panic! It’s common for people to forget about old prescriptions or even accidentally throw them out when they clean their medicine cabinets. Unfortunately, it’s easy for some people to ignore their medicine cabinets due to busy schedules or not feeling like dealing with them. As suggested by the HCM pharmacy store Toronto, medications with expiration dates can cause harm because they lose potency over time and may no longer work as intended when taken by someone who needs them most, like diabetic patients.
Be careful of expired medicines.
The most common question Toronto pharmacy gets from patients is, “What happens if my medicines are expired?” This is a valid question, one that’s important to know the answer as well!
The expiration date on a medicine is not a deadline. Many medicines remain usable for a few days or months after expiration. But, there are some guidelines you need to follow to keep yourself safe from any harmful effects or side effects associated with expired medicines.
These include:
- Do not take medicine without consulting your local Toronto Pharmacy
- You should always check the expiry dates carefully before buying them
- Never take a medicine if you are unsure about its authenticity or if it has passed its expiry date
- Always dispose of expired medicines carefully
- Always keep track of all your medications and when they were last taken, even if they have been stored properly at home.
The use-by date indicates when the medicine should be consumed by.
Beware! The “use-by date” is not a safety, sell-by, or expiration date. Rather it is a guide to help you know when your medication is still good for consumption.
The expiry date refers to the last day of that month on which you can use or consume the product safely without any health risk associated with its use after this point in time.
What should you do with expired medications?
It is good to drop off your unused or expired medicines at your local drug take-back store immediately as you find them in your medicine cabinet. If you fail to reach the drug take-back store, the next best option will be to flush them down in your toilet. Unfortunately, not all medicines are good to flush down or put in any water body. In that case, you can mix those outdated medicines with unappealing items like dirt, coffee grounds, etc., pack them into a sealed plastic bag or container, and throw them into the trash.
If you’re unsure what medicine is, don’t take any chances with it! Bring it to your local Toronto pharmacy and let a pro check if that medicine is safe for consumption by humans or animals.
Certain pharmacies accept expired drugs and dispose of them carefully, but not all do the same.
You should check with your local pharmacy to see if they accept expired drugs. Sometimes, you can bring in your expired medicines, and the pharmacy will dispose of them for you. However, not all pharmacies do this, so it’s important to check before bringing in any medications.
Book an appointment with your local pharmacy and ask if they can accept expired drugs for disposal. If not, try another nearby pharmacy or contact your local council to find out where you can take them in your area.
The longer a drug sits around without being used, the more likely it is to cause harm to your body.
If you have any expired prescriptions or over-the-counter medications lying around in your home, discard them immediately and safely dispose of them by following these steps:
- Mark out on your calendar when you first began using each medication and how long it’s been since then. This will help track how long each medicine has been kept past its expiration date.
- Dispose of any leftover pills or liquid medicine by flushing them down the toilet or throwing them into the trash, carefully packed into airtight bags or containers.
Conclusion
Knowing how long the medicines can be kept after their expiry date is important. If you have doubts about whether your medicine is still good, check with your pharmacist or doctor.
You can buy the best quality medicines at the HCM Pharmacy store in Toronto. This pharmacy offers you the best medical solutions and helps you eliminate any health issue. The pharmacist will help you select the best medicine for your health issues.
Many people around the world take the medicine that a doctor prescribes. It is important that you take the right medicine. Otherwise, it may cause some serious side effects on your body.
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