Drug Expiration Dates - More Myth Than Fact? - Page 3

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

@Trinity11 wrote:
@Laura14 wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
The gist of the article, @CatLoverDogsToo, is that both Big Pharma AND the Federal govt have an interest in keeping short expiration dates. The FDA is right there keeping on doing it too. There's a conscious govt effort (going back many years) to keep this going. And if you ever do read the article, zombie apocalypse type thinking is involved, just not with zombies.

I'm lucky enough not to need insulin at this stage in my disease, but if I did, I'd sure want to know what you and your friends have found out.

I do re-use my testing sticker needles though ;-) One poke=change needles - I can't be bothered with that 😜 I use the same needle about 5-6 times. Does get more painful at the end ;-(
@Moonchilde Be careful with that! That is for sanitation and purity standards. They don't want you contaminating the medicine by using a needle that touched an outside surface or yourself. You could potentially give an opportunistic microinvader a free ride into your bloodstream and bypass all of your body's natural defenses. That could go very bad very quickly. We don't want to lose you!

@Laura14....she is talking about the blood sugar lancet needle not an insulin pen.

I don't like promoting drama/horror stories but I did meet someone who claimed to re-use the same needle for finger sticks and she got a very bad infection. Actually needed IV antibiotics. She was on dialysis though so her immune system was probably compromised.

@Trinity11 Thanks for the clarification. Forget contaminating the medicine then but same very real danger to herself. If she's gonna do it, I hope she at least bare minimum wipes the needle down with alcohol.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

@Trinity11 wrote:
Almost 50 years of injecting insulin and I have used an outdated vial and also one that was kept in an overheated car. I injected before my lunch at the mall and proceeded to obtain over a 600 blood sugar from my lunch. I had to call someone to drive me home.

No, I would not recommend to anyone who has no pancreatic function to use over-heated insulin. And the same with outdated insulin. You could suffer dire consequences.

I would use an outdated vial of insulin (within a year's time) that had been kept at the correct temp. I would not use any insulin that froze or over-heated.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

@Laura14 wrote:
@Trinity11 wrote:
@Laura14 wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
The gist of the article, @CatLoverDogsToo, is that both Big Pharma AND the Federal govt have an interest in keeping short expiration dates. The FDA is right there keeping on doing it too. There's a conscious govt effort (going back many years) to keep this going. And if you ever do read the article, zombie apocalypse type thinking is involved, just not with zombies.

I'm lucky enough not to need insulin at this stage in my disease, but if I did, I'd sure want to know what you and your friends have found out.

I do re-use my testing sticker needles though ;-) One poke=change needles - I can't be bothered with that 😜 I use the same needle about 5-6 times. Does get more painful at the end ;-(
@Moonchilde Be careful with that! That is for sanitation and purity standards. They don't want you contaminating the medicine by using a needle that touched an outside surface or yourself. You could potentially give an opportunistic microinvader a free ride into your bloodstream and bypass all of your body's natural defenses. That could go very bad very quickly. We don't want to lose you!

@Laura14....she is talking about the blood sugar lancet needle not an insulin pen.

I don't like promoting drama/horror stories but I did meet someone who claimed to re-use the same needle for finger sticks and she got a very bad infection. Actually needed IV antibiotics. She was on dialysis though so her immune system was probably compromised.

@Trinity11 Thanks for the clarification. Forget contaminating the medicine then but same very real danger to herself. If she's gonna do it, I hope she at least bare minimum wipes the needle down with alcohol.

Using the same lancet for a long period of time is very common.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Teddie wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
The gist of the article, @CatLoverDogsToo, is that both Big Pharma AND the Federal govt have an interest in keeping short expiration dates. The FDA is right there keeping on doing it too. There's a conscious govt effort (going back many years) to keep this going. And if you ever do read the article, zombie apocalypse type thinking is involved, just not with zombies.

I'm lucky enough not to need insulin at this stage in my disease, but if I did, I'd sure want to know what you and your friends have found out.

I do re-use my testing sticker needles though ;-) One poke=change needles - I can't be bothered with that 😜 I use the same needle about 5-6 times. Does get more painful at the end ;-(
This was very interesting and something I've long suspected.

I reuse my needle many times, too. Can't imagine changing as many times as is recommended. My hands are always washed and I see no reason to change so often. : )

I've got some Andrew Lessman Nighttime pills that expired quite awhile ago. Guess I don't use them often enough. I just double up when I do take them. No need to throw them out.

@Teddie, for me it's mostly because when I'm out and about I don't want to deal with needle disposal and changing needles in the car, in the public restroom, etc. So much easier/faster to click and go and dispose at home. I have a sharps container at home that includes a box to mail it in and postage to a disposal site. It was interesting to me as a newb when I joined the diabetes forum how many people said they didn't change needles every time - many of them T1s who are testing constantly.

If we're talking injection of medication - insulin or whatever - I would never re-use a syringe needle.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Zhills wrote:
I think the expiration date requirement is a Federal Law. How many Congressmen know that much about drugs. They just listen to the lobbyists.

Which is the point of the article :-(

It's largely the Feds that keep this in place.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@IMW wrote:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/drug-expiration-dates-do-they-mean-anything

this is the article I referred to in my above post.

@IMW, I believe that's the article what I posted is based on.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Trinity11 wrote:
@Laura14 wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
The gist of the article, @CatLoverDogsToo, is that both Big Pharma AND the Federal govt have an interest in keeping short expiration dates. The FDA is right there keeping on doing it too. There's a conscious govt effort (going back many years) to keep this going. And if you ever do read the article, zombie apocalypse type thinking is involved, just not with zombies.

I'm lucky enough not to need insulin at this stage in my disease, but if I did, I'd sure want to know what you and your friends have found out.

I do re-use my testing sticker needles though ;-) One poke=change needles - I can't be bothered with that 😜 I use the same needle about 5-6 times. Does get more painful at the end ;-(
@Moonchilde Be careful with that! That is for sanitation and purity standards. They don't want you contaminating the medicine by using a needle that touched an outside surface or yourself. You could potentially give an opportunistic microinvader a free ride into your bloodstream and bypass all of your body's natural defenses. That could go very bad very quickly. We don't want to lose you!

@Laura14....she is talking about the blood sugar lancet needle not an insulin pen.

I don't like promoting drama/horror stories but I did meet someone who claimed to re-use the same needle for finger sticks and she got a very bad infection. Actually needed IV antibiotics. She was on dialysis though so her immune system was probably compromised.

Well - there is a limit as to how many times they can be reused, unless one is a masochist ;-)

The needles dull with each use and after about #5 you definitely want to change them for the OWW factor.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Sueliz · ‎12-06-2015

@noodleann wrote:
Based on a study I know of by the US government, the only expiration dates I pay attention to are antibiotics, although those are usually consumed unless the doctor discontinued them. If I was using biologicals, I'd abide by those deadlines as well. Medical creams I also toss after their use-by dates. That's it at the moment.

I agree @noodleann, I'm on a biologic (Humira), I would never use it pass it's expiration date. I honestly never have "left over" meds but it's a very interesting topic.

Teddie · ‎03-10-2010

@Moonchilde wrote:
@Teddie wrote:
@Moonchilde wrote:
The gist of the article, @CatLoverDogsToo, is that both Big Pharma AND the Federal govt have an interest in keeping short expiration dates. The FDA is right there keeping on doing it too. There's a conscious govt effort (going back many years) to keep this going. And if you ever do read the article, zombie apocalypse type thinking is involved, just not with zombies.

I'm lucky enough not to need insulin at this stage in my disease, but if I did, I'd sure want to know what you and your friends have found out.

I do re-use my testing sticker needles though ;-) One poke=change needles - I can't be bothered with that 😜 I use the same needle about 5-6 times. Does get more painful at the end ;-(
This was very interesting and something I've long suspected.

I reuse my needle many times, too. Can't imagine changing as many times as is recommended. My hands are always washed and I see no reason to change so often. : )

I've got some Andrew Lessman Nighttime pills that expired quite awhile ago. Guess I don't use them often enough. I just double up when I do take them. No need to throw them out.

@Teddie, for me it's mostly because when I'm out and about I don't want to deal with needle disposal and changing needles in the car, in the public restroom, etc. So much easier/faster to click and go and dispose at home. I have a sharps container at home that includes a box to mail it in and postage to a disposal site. It was interesting to me as a newb when I joined the diabetes forum how many people said they didn't change needles every time - many of them T1s who are testing constantly.

If we're talking injection of medication - insulin or whatever - I would never re-use a syringe needle.

@Moonchilde Well, if a person were checking three times a day or whatever, that is a whole lot of needles to go through. I'm not going to do that if I don't have to. So I'm right there with you. I'm not at all surprised other people do the same.

: )

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

Years ago I worked in a drug-testing and toxicology lab. We kept samples of drugs and other chemicals in deep freeze for very long periods of time and pulled them out when they were needed to test against human samples. What I found interesting was most of the frozen drugs remained potent and many showed little signs of deterioration. Some, however, needed to be tossed because of their nature. So it all depends on the drug and not all drugs remain effective past their expiration dates.