How To Spring Clean Your Medicine Cabinet

Spring is the ideal time to give your medicine cabinet an overall. It’s best to check each bottle of medicine individually to make sure everything you’re storing is safe to use.

Following is a list of things to look for when cleaning out your medicine cabinet.

Not all over-the-counter medicine that is past it’s expiry date by a month or two need to be thrown out. In the case of most over-the-counter medicine it will still be okay for another 6 to 12 months. To be on the safe side, any over-the-counter medicine that is a year out of date should be chucked.

You should also be on the look out for things like aspirin that smells like vinegar. The vinegar odour comes from the fact that the acid has broken down and therefore the aspirin is no longer effective.

If you notice that your pills have changed in either colour or texture, or have begun to stick together you should throw them out. They may have bonded due to heat damage or moisture.

Nose and eye drops are common sources for contamination. It’s a good rule of thumb to throw them out once you have treated the problem.

Prescription medicine on the other hand can be dangerous if used after its expiry date. You see what happens is, the pills and capsules lose their potency. Even liquid medicine will spoil in as little as a couple of weeks.

When it comes to old medicine it’s always best to consult with a pharmacist before taking any unnecessary risks.