Out of date B12.

[Mannequin18]

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well. I wonder if anyone knows about out of date hydroxycobalamin. I have a load 3 months out if date.

I have not been with it for a couple of years. And forgot I had it. Wish I had remembered, I needed it.

Would it still be useable. Please if anyone knows.

[Littlelodge123]

Mine expired in March and I still have 10 to use. No ill effects. I intend to use them all. I believe there’s a standard 2 year date put on them from date of manufacture but that is intended as a very safe limit.

[Mannequin18 in reply to Littlelodge123]

Thank you. I have a box of 100. Out of date January. I'll try one tonight, as my doctor is threatening to make me go 6months between injections. With no reason. Thank you again.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

As they are sealed there should be no problem with sterility - however the older they are the more likely it is that the hydroxocobalamin will have 'decayed' into forms of cobolamin that your body can't use - which means they could be less and less effective the older they get.

[deniseinmilden in reply to Gambit62]

I know you mean that "there should be no problem with sterility" and it's just a typo.

Feel free to delete this once you've edited it. 😃

Thank you for all your help and support as always!

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to deniseinmilden]

edited reply - thank's deniseinmilden

[deniseinmilden]

The batch I'm using went out of date in January 2022 and I have another box to go before I order more which is dated March 2022. I deliberately calculated for this when I ordered it as I was worried about the effects of Brexit.

I haven't even noticed any loss of efficacy - I'm more well now than usual so I'm doing more and it's lasting me just about as many hours as it did when it was in date.

I forgot a jab the other morning and knew I had by mid afternoon as my B12d symptoms were returning. Within half an hour I was back up and running so I have (inadvertently!) even tested it!

The main thing, by far, is keeping the ampoules in the dark. Ideally keep them coolish too but even those of mine that have got hotter than they should, have been fine in the past when I've used them.

[Mannequin18 in reply to deniseinmilden]

I also stocked up because of the COVID situation. But I forgot I had them I was busy for a few years looking after my husband. But I am surprised by how much better I feel with taking Vit D.

[deniseinmilden in reply to Mannequin18]

Good for you! I know just how you can lose track everything for a long time if you have to dedicate yourself to someone or something and you don't realise until you come to pick up your pieces later - it's easily done.

Vitamin D is very similar in effect to vitamin B12, isn't it, and neither works properly without the other.

I hope you get things sorted soon. 😃

[Mannequin18 in reply to deniseinmilden]

Yes I am really surprised of how similar the symptoms are. I didn't realize how important Vit D is. I've read on here before to get checked, but doctors don't like doing it. And I thought I must be ok. I don't know what symptoms I thought I would have. I thought my symptoms were my B12. But it must have been both. Anyway I had one of my out of date B12 injections last night, and I'm still okay.

I ordered some fresh ones just in case. I'm fed up with my doctor threatening to stop or reduce my B12. So I will have my own again.

[jaybirdxNHM in reply to deniseinmilden]

Is there an optimum time that ampules stored in a dark cool cupboard can last unaffected when the temperature might have raised up to 28/9 degrees for 2 days ?How do they manage to send from Germany to UK in hot weather ? Please.

Don't want to discard unless really necessary.

[deniseinmilden]

jaybirdxNHM I keep backup supplies in my car and they get to goodness knows what temperature repeatedly. Every so often I use them up and have never noticed any difference.

I take the view it's better to have them available in my car, in case I forget my jab in the morning, than not, so I take the risk on them only being good enough to get me home... but, that said, they have always been fine and lasted me to the next day as any new ones would.

The fact that pharmacies don't worry about shipping in hot weather suggests to me that heat is not that much of an issue and the 25°C suggested storage limit is just a standard one that is applied to lots of different drugs, food stuffs, etc.

However they make a lot of effort to keep the packaging light proof and my ampoules are made of brown glass too, which is also designed to cut down the UV light damage, so light protection is more important.

[Mannequin18 in reply to deniseinmilden]

Thank you for your reply.