It was nice and calm at the pharmacy last night (for once) to the point where I had a good 10 minutes of downtime to help a patient out.

The purpose of the patient’s call was to figure out if her medication had expired. She had some Valtrex she wanted to take, but she was worried it may have gone bad. I could see from her profile that she had picked it up 2 months ago. There are two reasons why I was certain her medication was still okay to take:

1. When a drug is dispensed at a retail pharmacy, the medication is given a 1 year expiration date unless the manufacturer’s bottle it came from says a date sooner than that. In the case where the manufacturer’s expiration date comes first (before the 1 year mark), that is the date that is put on the bottle. (this is a general rule - some states have different laws so be aware!) The expiration date can be found on the label that is on your medication bottle.

2. Retail pharmacy staff will go through all of the drug bottles on the shelves and send back any of them that are going to expire within at least the next few months (within 3 months of the expiration date is the usual guideline).

So, since the patient had picked up her medication only 2 months ago, I had a good idea the medication was at least good for another month (based on reason #2 from above).

Just to make sure I was right, I had her find the expiration date on the label that was put on her drug bottle - the date was indeed 1 year from the day it was filled so her drugs will be good until next May (2010).

When drugs expire, they start to breakdown into chemicals that could be very bad for your health. Therefore, it is important to know whether your medication has expired. The expiration date marks the point in time where the drug is no longer effective so there is no sense in taking it. The expiration dates are not just made-up, but rather found from doing scientific experiments to see when the drug does not work any more.

I know you may like to hold on to those medications in case something comes up, but it really can be harmful to your health if you take an expired drug. The medication becomes more dangerous for you the longer it sits around after its expiration date.

I urge you to toss that medication bottle in the garbage (or maybe first you should flush the drugs down the toilet) once that expiration date has arrived.

With more and more strains of flu and colds going around, more and more kids are coming down with these common colds and flus. We all want our kids to get better as quick as possible. Most of us rush down to the local drug store and buy an over the counter cough and cold medicine to help deal with the symptoms. What most people do not realize is that these common and often overused medications are doing our kids more harm than good.

Not only are these medications toxic and dangerous, there is no substantial evidence that they are effective. In the past 50 years, there have been only 11 studies on the effect these medications have on children. Yet none of these studies show that these over the counter medications help cough and cold symptoms at all.

Additionally, there have been many cases where children have gotten sick and even died from using these medications. These recent cases pressed the FDA to pull infant doses of these medications off the shelves. The FDA has also recommended that kids under the age of six should not use over the counter medications for cough and cold. There are indications that teenagers may be added. While this is a start to addressing this serious problem, that is simply not enough. There is also no evidence that over the counter medications are effective in adults.

The best way to cure a common cold is to let nature run its course. Most colds will go away within seven days without the use of any medication. The most effective treatment for a cold is to drink plenty of warm liquids and get lots of rest. We have several whole food supplements that we recommend that are safe and effective for all ages. Their unique formulas can help boost the immune system and get rid of your cold and flu symptoms faster. Schedule an appointment today for our nutritional scan to see what supplements would benefit you the most.

These days, there are over-the-counter medications for just about everything. If you have a cold, you can get an OTC medication. If you have heartburn, you can get an OTC medication. If you have an upset stomach, pain, a cough, allergies, or a multitude of other complaints, you can find an OTC medication. Unfortunately, we assume just because these medications are sold in pharmacies or on shelves at grocery stores or discount stores that they are safe, but how safe are over-the-counter medications.

Most over the counter medications are considered safe, if they have been approved by the FDA, but this only means that they are safe for human consumption. It does not mean that they are safe for you, as an individual, and this is where most over-the-counter medications are not safe.

Few of us take the time to read the labels on OTC medications, past what is says about what symptoms or ailments it relieves and how much you should take. We fail to read the warnings. Those warnings will often state that if you have certain medical or physical conditions that you should not take the medication or you should consult your physician before taking the medication. They aren’t just printing that information on those labels for amusement or to fill space! They generally mean it, and you need to follow those instructions!

The same is true for the dosing instructions. These aren’t just doses that they pulled out of a hat. The drug has been tested, and these are the safe or effective amounts that are needed for your ailment, and to prevent over dosing on the over-the-counter medication. Failure to follow these dosing instructions, including the time to wait between doses, can be detrimental to your health, at the very least, and fatal in the worst cases.

As you can see, it is typically our own lack of judgment that causes an FDA approved over-the-counter medication to become unsafe. Read the entire label. Know what ingredients are in the medication. Know what the dosage is, what the potential side effects and risks are, what the serious side effects are, when to see your doctor about side effects, and any other information that is supplied. Ask your pharmacist or your doctor for an explanation of anything that you don’t understand, and if you are ever in doubt, simply don’t take the medication. Finally, when you take any medication, take the smallest dose that is possible for your condition.