Spring Clean Your Medicine Cabinet

Spring cleaning is a time-honored tradition—the perfect time for a fresh start. While you're cleaning out your closets and rearranging your home, don't forget to “spring clean” your medicine cabinet, too. 

Before you start, it’s important to know what should be thrown out and what you can keep. Here’s what you need to know about expiration dates, medication safety, and the safest way to dispose of old medications.  

Understanding Expiration Dates 

Just like food packages, medications have an expiration date on the label. This date tells you how long the medication will be safe and effective to use. After that date, the medication may lose its strength and might not work as well as it should. 

While some medications may still be safe to use after the expiration date, it’s best to be careful. Here's a guide to help you decide which medications should be thrown away. 

Which Medications Should You Toss? 

1. Antibiotics: Whether they’re pills, liquid, or ointments, expired antibiotics can lose their effectiveness. Taking an expired antibiotic might not fully treat an infection. For this reason, antibiotics are one of the most important types of medications to toss after they expire. 
2. Pain relievers: Over-the-counter medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen can lose their strength after they’ve passed their expiration date. In some cases, expired pain relievers can upset your stomach or cause other side effects.  
3. Expired liquid medications: Liquid medications such as cough syrups tend to break down faster than pills or tablets, especially if you’ve already opened the bottle.  
4. Inhalers: If you use inhalers for asthma or another respiratory issue, it’s important to replace them after their expiration date. An expired inhaler may not give you the right dose of medicine.  
5. EpiPens: If you rely on an EpiPen for severe allergic reactions, it’s very important to check the expiration date regularly. An expired EpiPen may not deliver the proper dose of epinephrine, which can be life-threatening in an emergency. 
6. Insulin: Insulin should be discarded after its expiration date since it can lose its potency and not effectively lower blood sugar. 

What Medications Can You Keep Past Their Expiration Date? 

Some medications might still be safe to use after their expiration date, but they may not work as well. Here’s what you should know: 

1. Slightly expired pain medications (non-liquid): Pills like aspirin or ibuprofen can sometimes still work a little after their expiration date, but it’s best to replace them soon. 
2. Antihistamines: Non-prescription antihistamines (such as Benadryl or Zyrtec) are sometimes still effective after their expiration date, although they may cause more side effects, such as drowsiness, over time. 
3. Vitamins: While vitamins may lose some potency past their expiration date, they generally do not pose a health risk. However, they may not be as effective in providing the nutrients they are meant to deliver. 

If you’re unsure whether a medication is safe to use beyond its expiration date, it’s usually best to discard it. 

How to Safely Toss Old Medications 

While it might be tempting to toss an old medication in the trash, those pills can be dangerous to children and pets. You also want to avoid flushing medications down the toilet where they can end up in rivers, lakes, and groundwater, harming wildlife and even ending up in our drinking water supply.  

Fortunately, there are several safe and responsible ways to discard expired medications: 

1. Drug take-back programs: Many pharmacies, local health departments, and police stations hold drug take-back events, where you can drop off old medications for safe disposal. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also organizes national prescription drug take-back days. 
2. Disposal kiosks: Some pharmacies and hospitals have secure drug disposal kiosks where you can drop off medications year-round. These kiosks are located in convenient places, such as at your local Walgreens or CVS. These drugs are disposed of safely. Here’s a list of safe disposal locations in Texas. 
3. Disposal in household trash (with precautions): If no take-back programs are available, the FDA recommends mixing your medications with something unappealing, like coffee grounds or cat litter, before tossing them in the trash. This makes it less likely that someone will find and misuse the drugs. Be sure to remove any personal information from prescription packages to protect your privacy. 

Replace Old Medications 

Finally, as you clean out your medicine cabinet, make a list of any medications you’ve thrown away so you can replace them. That way, you’ll always have what you need the next time you’re feeling under the weather.