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Expired Nyquil
Dalboz
Resident Puppy EaterRight behind you...Registered User regular
Resident Puppy EaterRight behind you...Registered User regular
I've recently come down with the flu. I don't know if it's piggy flu, but all my symptoms are consistent with the flu regardless.
I have some Nyquil in the medicine cabinet, but the expiration date was eighteen months ago. So, the question is, is it actually safe to use or not? I don't know if this stuff actually spoils or just loses it's potency, and if I can save some money by not buying another bottle (not to mention going out and infecting everyone I cross paths with), then it would be preferred. But I don't know the truth of these expirations. The bottle has been opened from when I originally got it, if that makes a difference, and it doesn't look discolored or anything, although with Nyquil who can tell.
I have some Nyquil in the medicine cabinet, but the expiration date was eighteen months ago. So, the question is, is it actually safe to use or not? I don't know if this stuff actually spoils or just loses it's potency, and if I can save some money by not buying another bottle (not to mention going out and infecting everyone I cross paths with), then it would be preferred. But I don't know the truth of these expirations. The bottle has been opened from when I originally got it, if that makes a difference, and it doesn't look discolored or anything, although with Nyquil who can tell.
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as to whether it looses potency, uhhhhhhhhhhhh
If it were me? I'd go pick up some new stuff. It's cheap enough.
Medicine doesn't expire? Just the potency goes down?
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If what you mean to ask is "Medicine doesn't 'go bad'?" then correct (except possibly in some limited case of which I am not aware).
In order to "go bad" you need something like a sugar or a protein that can become the playground of a bacteria. Since most medicines that include sugar also include large amounts of alcohol, you're pretty much safe.
The limited case is antibiotics (tetracyclines in particular, but there are others). They don't "go bad" in the food sense, they just break down into poisonous compounds.
That makes sense... I had a feeling there was something I was forgetting: thus the caveat.
Pretty sure it was painkillers they were testing with in the Army cases, and they were dosing them with 15-20-year expired pills. Still worked.
Generally the rule of thumb I go by is that if it's treating something closer to a symptom - a headache, sinus congestion, nausea, sore throat - it will still be effective, just less effective. Basically, if it being less than "Super Effective" would just result in a smidgen of annoyance and needing to re-dose, go for it.
If you're treating a cause - infection, diabetes, allergic reaction requiring epinepherine - don't fuck around with expiry dates. Failing to properly or completely treat something in this case could have medical repercussions.
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Your biggest danger is if you need it to work, and it's potency is reduced to the point of ineffectiveness... Like if you have a serious bacterial infection, and you're using some old antibiotics that just can't cut the crud. Then your infection has progressed and you've possibly delayed visiting your doctor and are at greater risk. That, and you've bred the next superbug for this season, thanks Patient Zero. :P
I have heard, but have no references or specifics, that certain medications should not be used at all after they expire. I recall being warned never to use a Epipen where the fluid had gone cloudy, but I can't recall if I inquired as to whether that was because it had gone "bad" in that it was ineffective (which could be fatal if you're have a reaction bad enough to use the pen in the first place), or toxic. In that particular case, either way it could be fatal.
I agree with Chanus in that I can't think of where that would come into play in over-the-counter medication though. You might not feel better, but you wouldn't actually be worse off.
I'd wager only a small number of medicines go "bad" in the sense they are actually harmful to take once they have turned. A much larger number of medicines are dangerous in that their reduced effectivity could lead to complications. In most cases, expiry dates are probably excessively conservative to account for large variations in shipping and storage (heat, cold, light can all effect potency). If you're really curious, you could ask a pharmacist, if you can find one willing to chat with you and actually cognizant of the distinction between the different kinds of "bad". Hard finding one with any spare time though...
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Nyquil, I'm not so sure. Stuff like aspirin im not even sure if that can expire.
Although, so far the general consensus seems to be that it won't hurt me, it just might not help me. Maybe I'll mix it into a gin martini to boost it's effectiveness (this was a joke; I'm not actually going to do that).
Yeah, the one to which I referred in my original response was also the bottle. It worked fine. I'm taking it right now, in fact.