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Opioids When Do Pills Expire?

E

Eva 33

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
75
Location
California
I am prescribed Exalgo (long-acting dilaudid) for chronic pain. The med is extremely expensive----it would actually cost <no price discussion> a MONTH without insurance! In the recent past, I was prescribed Avinza (long-acting morphine) which was also quite expensive.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to afford to keep my good (expensive) health insurance plan, so I am considering trying to stockpile my Exalgo a bit. As it is, my pain doc is aware that I actually take LESS than the dose that he prescribes, and he is fine with that. So I've already accumulated a fair amount of "extra" Exalgo pills.

I just wanted to ask: How long do pills generally retain their potency for? (Pharmacies will just give a blanket statement that ALL meds need to be thrown out after a year, which is not true.) I've taken many "old" pain pills that worked just fine; some were 4 or 5 years old. Unfortunately, I'm never allowed to see the pharmaceutical manufacturers' expiration date, because I'm never given the meds in the original (pharmaceutical) pill bottle.

Do pills generally keep their potency for 5 years? Or perhaps even longer? Do pills really ever "lose" their potency after a certain point? I'd imagine a 10-year-old pill might still be effective, though I haven't tried any that old. Any tips on preserving pills so that they retain their potency for as long as possible? Thanks for any advice.
 
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Keep'em away from heat and light and they'll almost last forever. Only exception are antibiotics.
 
Well if I was sick I imagine I would take some morphine or whatever from...well from anytime as long as it's not visibly decayed with like mold or fungus or some shit.
Just hope it wouldn't kill me lol..
 
Morphine and Exalgo, no light/ heat, no problem. BUT REALLY Dilaudid is extremely sensitive to light, don't know about Exalgo, but I'd just be safe.

I would not personally take a combo drug ie: Vicoprofen, Norco, Percs, etc.

I had a very bad experience once with 4 year old Norco.
 
Last year I got high on a bottle of pills I found that expired in 1979 and they worked just fine.
 
Toz said:
Last year I got high on a bottle of pills I found that expired in 1979 and they worked just fine.
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I gotta ask what was that beautiful old medicine called? I've often heard amphetamine and methamphetamine (MDxx too) has a lifespan way longer than humans due to the non reactivity or something like that.
 
PLUR2000 said:
I gotta ask what was that beautiful old medicine called? I've often heard amphetamine and methamphetamine (MDxx too) has a lifespan way longer than humans due to the non reactivity or something like that.
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It was a bottle of roofies.
 
Its not the diazepam that eats the plastic.
Its the solvent solution that the diazepam is dissolved in...but it takes a long time.lol
 
I would expect pain pills to stop working at around the 10 year mark even if stored in good conditions. But 1-5 years, no biggie.. I expect little loss in potency if out of light, and in the appropriate temperatures.. I would expet antibiotics to maybe expire within a year though.
 
Depends on the drug and storage conditions. properly prepared opioids should last almost indefinitely if light, oxygen, and water can't get to them.
 
sekio said:
Depends on the drug and storage conditions. properly prepared opioids should last almost indefinitely if light, oxygen, and water can't get to them.
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This. I've taken opiates and amphetamines that were over 40 years old stored properly (they came in a GLASS prescription bottle back in the day) and they felt just the same as the latest desoxyn/roxi script I filled.
 
yeah i had vicodin that was 4 years old and worked wonderfully, i've also used my 6 year old adhd meds and those seem to work to, but antibiotics do go bad so careful if your reusing those but those seem to be pretty specific, i just threw away my antibiotics when i was done with they're purpose.
 
Never. Except antibiotics, do not ever take expired antibiotics, especially without a doc knowing about it.
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Curious about this. I'm no expert by any means, so I really would like to know what the danger is in taking expired anti-biotics.

My assumption based of anecdotal and first hand experience is that the worst thing the can happen to PROPERLY STORED medications, is that they lose potency gradually.

Can some types of medication actually devolve, so to speak, into a different substance - or attract a specific type of contamination?

A five year old box of Ativan virtually saved my life recently. Lorazepam is one of the few benzos I've never tried, and I must say I'm impressed. My main issue at present is increasingly severe anxiety, and it seems like lorazepam have nearly unrivalled efficacy in targeting anxiety and very quickly reducing it. Sorry, side tracked...
 
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