I guess I was saving this bottle for something. Now with firm Dx of LD I want to be taking something until I can get back to the doctor.
I guess I was saving some Zith as well. I have some: Filled 2/10/11 Discard date 2/10/12
A smart person would toss the Ceftin and take the Zith.
I have taken Zith the past week for bronchitis - from new Rx with only a week's dose. (From ER).
Would a smart person continue with Zith or switch to a different Abx class?
In the ER for bronchitis I was given IV Rocephin - which appeared to do amazing things. That's why I am considering the oral version/Ceftin. Dang that it is out of date. And probably not as effective as Rocephin anyway?
Posted by jackie51 (Member # 14233) on :
I asked about this recently at the pharmacist because I had some old Doxy. I was once told that Doxy was one of those you could not save past expiration dates.
The pharmacist said that all the drugs have different expiration dates but to make their life easier, they just label everything 1 year off. She said I could probably go another year with the doxy. Well, I went ahead and got a new prescription because I didn't feel well and I blamed it on the old doxy.
I don't think I'd worry about taking the Ceftin, even 1 year past expiration. I would toss Doxy if it was that old.
Posted by Igor's mom (Member # 29191) on :
The date on drugs is the typically 3 years after date of manufacture. It has to do with the tests that the drug manufacture performs subjecting the manufactured drug to heat and other weather conditions to determine how fast it degrades...meaning loses its bioavailability. Essentially after 3 years on average the drug loses 100% of its effectiveness. I do not know of any instance when the chemical changed to something else. It may just not be quite as effective. On the other hand it may be just as effective, it's just the manufacturer can't prove it. If you think it might help, then by all means give it a go. Just be careful to monitor you side effects and be sure to take both probiotics and florastor to avoid c. diff.
Posted by sammy (Member # 13952) on :
Generally, when meds expire they are not guaranteed to have their original potency.
Throw away liquids, creams, and ointments when they expire because they begin to lose potency of the original med AND have the additional risk of bacterial growth in the moist environment.
When tetracyclines expire they become toxic. So please, please, please, do not take tetracyclines after the expiration date! It's not safe.
Susan, the 1yr old ceftin may be fine. Would you feel comfortable calling your LLMD and asking for a new RX instead?
Posted by polar blast (Member # 9142) on :