Out of date Liothyronine

[Chungy]

Having now had my T3 stopped by my GP, my remaining stock is like gold dust . However much of it has expiry dates of over 11 months old .

Will this still be effective or should I ditch it ?

Any advice gratefully received .

[amasufindme]

From what I have read about this the LT3 tablets still retain efficacy after expiry date for a considerable length of time if stored in a dry/cool/dark place... a search on this forum brings up this post:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

A link from Clutter a year ago:

edition.cnn.com/2012/10/08/...

I know that freezing medication can alter molecular structure and affect efficacy nytimes.com/2011/08/16/heal...

Best wishes

[humanbean]

I still take T3 which is about a year past its expiry date. I have started to think that it is starting to lose potency very recently, but it still has some life in it so I hope to use it up.

I wrap my T3 in small quantities extremely securely to keep it bone dry, and then keep it in the freezer. And sadly, my freezer needs replacing and has become very unreliable. If I'd been able to keep it frozen and just take out a month's worth at a time I would probably have been fine.

[Chungy in reply to humanbean]

Hi

How do you know when it's losing its potency , what symptoms do you get ?

I have also read that freezing it makes its lose its efficiency. Have you heard otherwise ?

[humanbean in reply to Chungy]

I didn't have a problem with freezing T3 until my freezer started misbehaving. But there aren't many things which would be unaffected by being frozen then semi-defrosted, then frozen again, several times! I can throw out food and it doesn't have any effect on me other than being annoying. But when T3 is what makes life worth living I wasn't prepared to throw it out because I had no alternative.

I was taking half a tablet three times a day of T3. But I'm now taking 1 tablet twice a day, and still feeling very, very tired. I feel as if I could take more, but I won't. I'll replace my T3 very soon, if/when I can.

[Zephyrbear]

At £258.20 for a pot of 28x20mcg tablets of T3, it has always amazed me that every prescription I'm issued by my GP has only a maximum of 4 month's worth of shelf life left ( my latest prescription batch 84118 runs out on 4/10/2017) and yet the Greek Unipharma supply of packs of 30x25mcg I recently received for which I paid less than €2 a pack doesn't expire until January 2020! Another way of capitalising on an overpriced commodity so vital to many of us by an unscrupulous pharmaceutical company, methinks. We have become so ingrained with this idea of stuff not being 'safe' after its expiry date, that these people are playing on it. If you still feel OK taking these things after their expiry date, I would continue taking them; just rip the label off and throw that away! 😄

[MajorTom]

I am using out of date t3 also - by around 10 months. No noticeable difference in potency. It has been kept in a cool dry dark space. The only problem is that I put a 3 month prescription into one bottle and after the repeated opening twice per day, the last dozen tablets have clearly absorbed air moisture and are crumbly.

[Chungy in reply to MajorTom]

Thanks Major Tom.

[unblocktheplane]

I have Liothyronine in tablets and compounded form. I have been keeping it in the freezer to extend its shelf life. What I need to know is if this is the wrong approach. Regrigerator okay? I live in Thailand and it's near 100° every day of the year. Thank you!