Posted: 10/10/2015 2:37:16 AM EDT
| Bought some augmentin in bubble packs a while back, date says its expired. If I need to use it should I disgard? |
| As a pharmacist, i have never heard of either amoxicillin or clav. acid (main ingredients ) becoming toxic in time (tetracyclines do). That said, i wouldn't hesitate to personally use it if i truly needed it well after the expiration. Of course, newer is always better and more efficacious. As prior poster hinted at, storage is key (cool, dark, dry). |
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As a pharmacist, i have never heard of either amoxicillin or clav. acid (main ingredients ) becoming toxic in time (tetracyclines do). That said, i wouldn't hesitate to personally use it if i truly needed it well after the expiration. Of course, newer is always better and more efficacious. As prior poster hinted at, storage is key (cool, dark, dry). This +1. MANY medications are stable and biologically viable for decades provided they are stored correctly (see above), So long ago I ca'tn remember when it started, the wizards at the FDA mandated 5 year expiration dates on EVERYTHING. Check your NSAID bottles as a prime example. Those things are good for an extraordinarily long period, but the date is five years from the date of manufacture. There are few exceptions we know about in medicine (tetracyclines are the biggest example) where the chemical stability changes over time and actually becomes a toxic chemical. |
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The tetracycline [modern] toxicity issue has been debunked here many times... Can you state by who or what source? I as well as med students in my courses was advised of the probability of it (toxicity) around 1997/98. I will not challenge or chance it by taking it when expired (it even smells foul), but then again I can obtain it whenever I want... |
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Can you state by who or what source? I as well as med students in my courses was advised of the probability of it (toxicity) around 1997/98. I will not challenge or chance it by taking it when expired (it even smells foul), but then again I can obtain it whenever I want... Quoted:
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The tetracycline [modern] toxicity issue has been debunked here many times... Can you state by who or what source? I as well as med students in my courses was advised of the probability of it (toxicity) around 1997/98. I will not challenge or chance it by taking it when expired (it even smells foul), but then again I can obtain it whenever I want... I have seen the same thing to be honest. Here is a WSJ article section. Obviously I understand this is not a medical source. Only one report known to the medical community linked an old drug to human toxicity. A 1963 Journal of the American Medical Association article said degraded tetracycline caused kidney damage. Even this study, though, has been challenged by other scientists. Mr. Flaherty says the Shelf Life program encountered no toxicity with tetracycline and typically found batches effective for more than two years beyond their expiration dates. The Shelf Life Program was done by the military to test the effective dates of stock piled drugs. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/04/02/drug-expiration-part-one.aspx |
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Why bother with tetracycline? Doxycycline is a better drug and does not have the same degradation products as tetra so no storage issues. Quoted:
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tetracycline is CHEAP... why even take the risk. Why bother with tetracycline? Doxycycline is a better drug and does not have the same degradation products as tetra so no storage issues. yep plenty of reasons to not even bother with it. the bigger issue is using it for the right issues. |
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As a pharmacist, i have never heard of either amoxicillin or clav. acid (main ingredients ) becoming toxic in time (tetracyclines do). That said, i wouldn't hesitate to personally use it if i truly needed it well after the expiration. Of course, newer is always better and more efficacious. As prior poster hinted at, storage is key (cool, dark, dry). Agreed |
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In general I would stay away from Augmentin as a long term storage item. I believe there has been some recent research done by NASA
that would indicate that storage aboard the ISS degraded certain pharmaceuticals, specifically the clavulanate component of Augmentin. That research gives me pause as to the chemical bond of that drug and it's longevity in certain storage conditions. I am including a link to this research below. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085701/ There was considerable discussion that ionizing radiation was a key factor in reducing stability and efficacy of drugs stored on the ISS. My own personal choice is to keep a 500 tablet bottle of Doxy in my medical supplies (just in case) and I do rotate it every couple of years. I also keep a large bottle of SMZ, cheap, extremely stable and useful in a number of situations where Doxycycline might not be the drug of choice. |
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In general I would stay away from Augmentin as a long term storage item. I believe there has been some recent research done by NASA that would indicate that storage aboard the ISS degraded certain pharmaceuticals, specifically the clavulanate component of Augmentin. That research gives me pause as to the chemical bond of that drug and it's longevity in certain storage conditions. I am including a link to this research below. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085701/ There was considerable discussion that ionizing radiation was a key factor in reducing stability and efficacy of drugs stored on the ISS. My own personal choice is to keep a 500 tablet bottle of Doxy in my medical supplies (just in case) and I do rotate it every couple of years. I also keep a large bottle of SMZ, cheap, extremely stable and useful in a number of situations where Doxycycline might not be the drug of choice. I don't see a lot of relevance to real world (or on world  ) drug storage from that paper. Clavulanic acid is known to be a somewhat unstable compound by 'design'. It is a suicide inhibitor that is intended to chemically react with its target. That said if you store your drugs in air & light tight containers in the freezer (~-20C) you will get about a ten fold increase in shelf life over RT storage.
Augmentin has some limited utility. It is the first line prophylactic treatment for animal & human bites so it's worth having for that indication although it is rather expensive. Doxycycline has a lot of uses and should be one of the essential antibiotics kept for SHTF situations. Store it in your freezer and it will be good for a decade or more. |
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I have to admit that the research was a "little out there" from our concerns here on the board but I did have a face to face with one of
the MD's who participated in the NASA study and we agreed that Augmentin was not our first choice for a disaster storage drug. That being said, Rich_V makes an extremely important point - proper storage is critical.. For many drugs, the freezer is best, but if that is not an option I suggest a Pelican drug box kept in a cool, dark and dry environment. I suspect many of us on the board with any medical background start with Doxy as our first antibiotic to store. For one thing, it is an excellent item to have around should we ever encounter another wacko with access to anthrax. I strongly disagree with the drug course they inflicted on the poor postal workers who were exposed to anthrax a number of years ago. Sixty + days of Cipro? I suspect the drug of choice for a prophylactic in case of possible exposure to anthrax may have changed. Does anyone have current info on that? Is it Doxy now? One other note - if you have access to physicians samples, they are excellent for disaster medical storage as they are usually individually packaged doses. |
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I suspect the drug of choice for a prophylactic in case of possible exposure to anthrax may have changed. Does anyone have current info on that? Is it Doxy now? Quoted:
I suspect the drug of choice for a prophylactic in case of possible exposure to anthrax may have changed. Does anyone have current info on that? Is it Doxy now? A bit dated but: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm172577.htm Public Health Advisory: Doxycycline for Anthrax Exposure Audience: Health professionals and general public FDA reminds all health professionals and the general public that Doxycycline is approved for the treatment of anthrax in all its forms. The FDA is providing additional information concerning the dosing regimen for the treatment of anthrax, including cutaneous and inhalation anthrax (post-exposure). The currently recommended dosage regimen of doxycycline for severe disease is 100 mg every 12 hours for adults and 1mg per pound (2.2mg per kilogram) every 12 hours for children less than 100 pounds. These dosage regimens are appropriate for use in patients who have been exposed to anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) regardless of the route of exposure. Oct 18, 2001 - Public Health Advisory - FDA I strongly disagree with the drug course they inflicted on the poor postal workers who were exposed to anthrax a number of years ago. Sixty + days of Cipro? I bet they spent a lot of quality time with their commode. Better have some flagyl on hand for that course of treatment. Interesting - Doxycycline may reduce the chance of C dif infection: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491851/ |