Bathrooms have the highest humidity in the house. Steam from a sink or the shower combines super high humidity with heat... both can ruin your medication without you knowing it.
If you ruin half of a $50 bottle of meds... it costs you much more than $25. It is because you don't know that you have ruined the drugs, therefore you still take them and make the assumption that they are still helping you. The resulting health care expenses can dwarf the cost of the original bottle of medication.
Light (especially sunlight) can also affect your medications. Find a convenient cabinet in a dry area of the home and which is as cool and dark as possible. (Most any cabinet without glass doors is pretty dark.) Make sure your medications are not within reach of children or pets.
Here are some other tips that can save you money and your health.
http://www.opm.gov/insure/archive/05/safety/36.aspWhat Can I do at home?
- Make a list of medications you are taking now. Include the dose, how often you take them, the imprint on each tablet or capsule, and the name of the pharmacy. The imprint can help you identify a drug when you get refills.
- Any time that your medications change, change your list too.
- Double-check the imprints on the tablets and capsules.
- Also list your medication and food allergies, and any over-the-counter medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements or herbal products that you take regularly.
- Keep medications in their original containers. Many pills look alike, so by keeping them in their original containers, you will know which is which and how to take them.
- Never take someone else's medication. You don't know if it will interact with your medications, the dose may be wrong for you, or you may be allergic to it.
- Read the label every time you take a dose to make sure you have the right drug and that you are following the instructions.
- Turn on the lights to take your medications. If you can't see what you're taking, you may take the wrong thing.
- Don't store medications in the bathroom medicine cabinet or in direct sunlight. Humidity, heat and light can affect medications' potency and safety.
- Store medications where children can't see or reach them, for example, in a locked box or cabinet.
- Keep medications for people separate from pet's medications or household chemicals. Mix-ups are common and can be dangerous.
- Don't keep tubes of ointments or creams next to your tube of toothpaste. They feel a lot alike when you grab quickly, but a mistake could be serious.
- Flush any old medications, including used patches, down the toilet.
- Children and pets might get into medications that are thrown into the wastebasket, and some drugs actually become toxic after the expiration date.
- Don't chew, crush or break any capsules or tablets unless instructed. Some long-acting medications are absorbed too quickly when chewed, which could be unsafe. Other medications either won't be effective or could make you sick.
- To give liquid medication, use only the cup or other measuring device that came with it. Dosing errors can happen if you use a different cup or if you use the cup with other liquids because the cups often are different sizes or have different markings.
- Also, household teaspoons and tablespoons are not very accurate, which is important with some medications. Your pharmacist may give you a special oral syringe instead. Do NOT use spoons. Do use Teaspoons or tablespoons!
NOTE: There are indications that flushing your medication down the drain may be a bad idea. Pharmaceutical Drugs Found in Landfill Water
