Thinking of keeping a supply of Prednisone in my car, purse, suitcase....just in case of an emergency. Wonder if this is problematic because of “Shelf life” of the med........?
Shelf life of Prednisone: Thinking of keeping a... - PMRGCAuk
Shelf life of Prednisone
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Gary1310
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Just set a Reminder on your Phone to change them, say every three months. I keep a Strio in my ‘Little Red Meds Bag’ & l just update it every so often when l do my weekly Pill Box.
MrsN
Ask at pharmacy and they will put expiry date on bottle.
If they are in boxes numbers them according to expiry date. I had massive numbers and used them in order. Doing the same as mrsN in swapping the "extras" in bags, car etc every 3 months.
Hi
Thay all have expiry date on end of packet
I have a huge supply of 1 and 5 s
I rotate them so that I use then within date
Always have spare packet in rucksack. handbag and travel bag but I do replace every 2 months and ensure I use them before end of date .
When I was on pred, the shelf life of nearly all the enteric coated, which was on the packet, was sometimes up to two years. The use by date is always on prescribed medications.
I do exactly that - I keep a packet at work, in car, handbag and rucksack. This was after missing my dose one day and going to work - with unpleasant results. I write the expiry date on the packets in big black marker pen and rotate them as necessary, e.g. replacing the ones in the car with newer ones and using that packet before they expire. I also find that expiry dates can be a bit random, with dates on a new prescription sometimes being earlier than a previous one so it's worth checking each time you get a supply.
Good advice on checking new boxes - which as you say, aren’t always the newest!
in reply to DorsetLady
I think the Suppliers have been having a sort out too!
My Pharmacy warned me that one lot had a fairly short date on them & to use before any others l might have ‘in stock’ 😉
Highlandtiger in reply to
I agree! My last supply of 1s had three different expiry dates on the various packets.
Brexit m’dear!
🤦🏻♀️
I thought we weren't allowed to use the B* word?
Sometimes it just creeps up on you when you’re thinking about something else completely! 🤣😂🤣. Of course you then have wash your mouth out - and have a brain transplant!
This is giving the phrase "Happy Halloween" a whole new twist!
That’s ominous it itself!
Careful with the ones in the car - car temps easily get to 40C in the sun. Pred shouldn't be kept above 25C..
Ah, ok, thanks. I’ll maybe rethink that one then.....
Is your glove box cool?
It’s not in the glove box. It’s in a wee hidden closed compartment under and to the right of the steering wheel - I keep a small purse with a little bit of 'just in case' cash and the pred in there. I suspect it doesn’t heat up like the inside of the car but I’m not 100% sure so I’ll investigate.
Good idea - I think you are probably right enough though.
I am new to this site. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I was diagnosed with PMR in late June of this year. The pharmacy I go to just gave me a generic container of 5mg prednisone, so I have no expiry dates !
Welcome fellow Canadian (and from my home province too)!🇨🇦
At my local Shoppers Drug Mary they fill the prescription, but don’t put an expiry date on it. I have called in with the Rx# and they have told me it and I write it directly on the label.
Now I ask for it when getting it filled (although my daily pred is consumed every month and refilled, not kept on the shelf like pain medication, or my old 5mg tablets of pred I keep for emergency).
The pharmacist I talked to said medication is generally good for up to 2 years, but I check anyway.
I also hail from Saskatoon... UofS grad, etc. small world. I now live in Spain looking at the Med, just east of the Greenwhich meridian. I was hit with GCA or "Arteritis Temporal" about 6 years ago and its nasty cousin, PMR a few months later. Both are now under control- mostly- at 2mg of pred per day- better stated, about 0300. Have had excellent medical care and not just for these maladies. We get our medicines almost free, under the regional health plan but also continue with private insurance which provides us with quicker access to doctors, clinics and some procedures. Our GP asked for MRI on my knee a while back. I had two offers from clinics within a day. When the GCA hit me, I had an appointment with a specialist in a few hours and was immediately admitted to the adjoining clinic - for five days. That probably saved most of my sight.
I’m a U of R (Regina) grad myself.
Nice to hear of the good medical care and short wait times in Spain. Hubby and I would like to finally take a trip to Europe after my knee replacement is healed, and our first stop is likely to be Barcelona.
Thanks. Because I graduated from UofS before the schism, I get to be considered a Uof R grad too- with the alumni mag and dunning donation requests as well.
I meant to add a remark on the point of this thread. Pred in Spain is sold in blister packs, from 2.5 up to 30mgs. There is an expiry date shown on the box - usually about three years from purchase. But having asked around, in fact Pred doesn't lose anything , as a dry powder pill, in such packaging for many more years. Here my "co payment" cost is about a loony for 30 pills, whatever size. I took Xeralto for a few years - about 2 bucks for a month's supply.
PS .Travel note. We love Barcelona but avoid it. There are other cities with charm- Valencia,Taragona , Cordova, Toledo, etc- the list is endless - with out the crowds and pickpockets.
Great idea Gary1310! I keep one dose worth of pred on my person at all times, and extra just in case. I’ve also held on to eight 5mg pred tablets and keep them in my cupboard in case of emergency.
Here in Canada, or Ontario at least, in my location, expiry dates are not printed on the medication label, but you can ask, and write it on yourself to keep track.
I have at least 4 days worth on me at all times after missing a dose. I feel safer with a few days worth rather than just a day. I just rotate.
If you scour the archives you might find a cautionary tale from me. This was about the day when I forgot to take my pred and later went out without taking an emergency supply with me. I went into a branch of Boots and the pharmacist refused to give me a replacement dose, even though I showed him my blue steroids card and gave him the numbers of my GP and my usual pharmacy where they have a record of what they've dispensed to me. In fairness to Boots I have to say that, after an initial rubbish standard customer services brush off, a senior manager stepped in and the pharmacist concerned was given the 'appropriate instructions and retraining'. Nevertheless I never want to feel that panic again, so I always carry a little stash with me, even if I'm only going to the Post Office.
By the way I know Boots have an American presence through Wallgreens, but maybe they're not well known in Canada. They are the largest and probably the oldest chain of pharmacies in the UK.
My tablets have expiry date embossed on the edge of each blister pack in box. This seems standard in manufacturing process. You have to have good eyesight to be able to see it, but it is there.
Thank you all for responding. Now I wonder if “out of date” Prednisone..? Do we throw it away? How about their responsibility for relapse? Could it be responsible for taper not working correctly? Do they lose their potency?
in reply to Gary1310
I had a dodgy batch once and it took a couple of days and a change of batch to realise I wasn't getting my 5mg out of 6mg. Believe me you know if you lose the potency of a few mg.
I take expired meds to my pharmacy for disposal
Someone posted recently saying their pharmacist said to throw away.
I’m generally quite gung ho about expiry dates on food and some medication but I’m not taking any chances on pred!
(Incidentally ‘gung ho’ kept autocorrecting to hungover! 😳 😂)
That sounds fair enough - my gung auto-corrected to grunge!
Naughty pharmacist - should be returned to them and they should dispose of safely - or maybe all they do is throw them away anyway!
I think that's a very sensible idea. My gp "literally" counted out the tablets before prescribing them to me in the first few weeks. But is now a little liberal.
I have made an emergency kit with a 60 mg dose I case of GCA symptoms. This came about when I suffered from blurred vision over the weekend and pressure in both eyes and temples. Thankfully it turns out it was raised intra ocular pressure....oh the joys of steroids!!
I like Mrs Ns idea of rotating the meds to ensure they are in date.
Generally speaking, drugs kept in your fridge last way beyond the expiry date BUT the opposite is true if they are kept in a warm place, especially in a humid atmosphere. The humidity does not matter in Europe where most drugs are supplied in original packs, in foil. In America, many prescriptions are supplied in plastic or glass containers so the humidity "gets at" the contents every time you open the container.
Thanks for this post. I've just checked my stash of uncoated ones (a year old) and they are still in date. I use them for splitting as the coated ones are almost impossible to cut in half. The chemist only supplies the coated ones to me these days.
Too bad you don't carry a purse (maybe you do - a Murse) because I always carry spare meds in my tiny cosmetic bag.
It does have a shelf life - ask your chemist.
They're always dated on the bottom of the pack, some easier to read than others I add! Same as Mrs N and Poops, I keep mine strictly in date order - you can't go wrong. A phone reminder or similar is a good idea as 'things in the car' can get forgotten.
I read somewhere (sorry, forgotten where but it was a medical journal) that steroids could be effective for up to fifteen years after stated expiry date. Not sure I'd want to test that, but asked my pharmacist ,who obviously couldn't say so explicitly for professional reasons but indicated that they had a pretty long shelf life. My pred e/c 1mg were missing from my prescription this month and though I was given a slip, when they would be available was not stated. So glad I have a little stash!
in reply to maria40
If we enter a zombie apocalypse I will happily take 15yr old pred....😉
...yes a stash is a very good things,
I think expiry dates are extremely conservative with the medication remaining effective long after. I read a report a while ago (can’t find it now) that said dry medicine, ie tablets, capsules have a very long shelf life if kept in good dry condition. Tests are done at varying time scales to see if there is deterioration. They usually stop test after about two years as it’s not cost effective to keep testing at longer intervals and that becomes the expiry date. However, random tests on a variety of medications showed that most were still effective after 10 years and some were still good after 15.
I used some aspirin that were a couple of years out of date and they worked just fine.
Bottom line, I’m not throwing anything out! 😁
I think the general view is that they are fine to take but not as effective, depending on the age. Could be another way of tapering!
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