The first risk is that if you are experiencing a severe anxiety attack or panic attack, the drug may not be able to help you as it might have lost its potency. This might push you to take more tablets to get the same effect. High doses of Xanax can be dangerous as it could result in unwanted addiction. However, the reality is you are actually playing Russian roulette with your life because not only are these pills highly addictive, taking alprazolam with other substances could result in serious health consequences including coma, seizures, and delirium.
Xanax can kill you if it is taken with alcohol or other drug cocktails. If you have generic Xanax in your medicine cabinet at home, please be advised that there was an alprazolam recall by Mylan Pharmaceuticals in October According to the announcement posted by the U. The listed expiration date of the alprazolam tablets is September If you are in legitimate need of Xanax or alprazolam, it is best to consult with a medical practitioner.
Safely dispose of old drugs by mixing them with soil or inedible substances before throwing them in the trash. We are here to answer your questions. Learn about detox, treatment, costs, or anything else. Give us a call now. We accept most insurances and financing. Verify My Insurance. You reach into your medicine cabinet for some ibuprofen, only to find it is way past its expiration date.
Should you go ahead and take it? Sometimes, the high cost of medication, both prescription and over-the-counter, tempts you to use it past its expiration date. Continue reading to find out what happens if you take expired medicine and why expiration dates are important. All medications contain active and inactive ingredients. Even more specifically, certain ingredients determine how effective the remedy is in treating a medical condition.
These ingredients also determine how long the medicine can be stored without deteriorating. In other words, the shelf life is the time for which the medicine will work safely and as expected.
The shelf life, therefore, indicates the lifespan of a medication. Please note that drug manufacturers have no financial incentive to prolong the shelf life. Manufacturers are, therefore, permitted to choose an arbitrary time frame to test the stability of a drug which can be anywhere from 12 to 60 months and stamp the expiration date on the bottle accordingly. The actual shelf life of medications may therefore be longer than indicated by the expiration date. However, some medications have been proven to deteriorate over time, and these medicines should never be taken past their expiration dates examples include Epipen , insulin, oral liquid antibiotics, and nitroglycerin.
The U. This was done to ensure people were informed about the product being safe and effective. Today, drug expiration dates are indicated on the carton, bottle, or label for every medication sold in U.
This is a legal requirement for pharmaceutical manufacturers because using expired medications can be risky and harmful to the health of patients. Pharmaceutical companies estimate the expiration date of medication by performing stability testing under conditions determined by the FDA.
Most medications marketed in the U. However, once the original packaging is opened, the expiration date, which was determined under ideal conditions in the laboratory, can no longer be relied upon. The reason for it is that, in the real world, people may not store medicine under ideal conditions. Beyond-use dates are usually one year after the date the prescription was filled.
A study by Khanchandani on efficacy, safety concern and disposal practices followed for expired drug preparations among medical personnel, found that Ninety one percent subject responded correctly that the drug should be best stored in cool dry and dark places. During the study they found out that majority consider expired drug use is not safe but Loel Dawis, expiration date chief said that with a handful of exception notably nitroglycerin, Insulin and Liquid antibiotic most drugs are probably as durable as the agency tested.
A study done by Simons on outdated EpiPen and EpiPen Jr auto injectors: past their prime, noted that, drugs differ in terms of their forms, dosage, and stability.
Usually, drugs in liquid forms e. Medication's potency gradually decreases starting from the moment of its manufacture. This process is not in any way spontaneous after the expiry date. Expired drugs have not necessarily lost their potency and efficacy. The expiration date is only an assurance that the labeled potency will last at least until that date. Even 10 years after the expiration date many pharmaceuticals retain a significant amount of their original potency.
Solid dosage forms, such as tablets and capsules, are most stable past their expiration date. Drugs that exist in solution or as a reconstituted suspension may not have the required potency if used when outdated. The aim of the SLEP program was to reduce medication costs for the military. Monoclonal antibodies should be included in this group. These drugs should not be used beyond the expiry date.
Even though the literature denotes western circumstances, we can take a leaf or two to modify to work around it, so that it will be beneficial to the African continent, especially more so in the peripheral outreach health centers in Africa where availability and storage of medicines are a challenge. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U.
Journal List Afr Health Sci v. Afr Health Sci. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Keywords: Medication, drugs, drug expiry, drug efficacy. Licensee African Health Sciences.
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