Ask the Expert Archive Week 10
The Medicine Cabinet
And in this week's Ask the Expert, if we peeked inside your medicine cabinet, what would we find?
Some pain relievers....a couple of bandaids....maybe an antihistamine? But what are those bottles of expired prescription medication doing in there? What are you saving them for? Dr. Neil Sheer cleans out our medicine cupboard and stocks it with what every family needs. Everyone has a pharmacy in their home: the medicine cabinet. There's two very important things to remember about a medicine cabinet. First of all, these medications can be dangerous if they are not taken by the right person. And especially if they are taken by children. Even your regular, over-the-counter medication can be dangerous to a child so you have to keep your medicine cabinet up high and out of reach of children. You also have to keep it locked and latched, and some way try and child-proof the cabinet so children can not get in very easily. The other thing that people are concerned about is the safety of their medication. What happens when it expires? Well the expiry date is really a rough guide for when the medication begins to lose some of its potency, it doesn't work quite as well as it used to. Also people keep things in odd containrs. If you have something that you can't possibly identify like this little slide container, filled with a mess of pills, there is only one thing to do with this, throw it out. And don't just throw it in your own garbage, ideally you should take it to your pharmacy so they can dispose of it properly.
There are other things that you should have in your medicine cabinet. Once you have cleaned it out, what is worth keeping? I like to keep some ointments, especially antibiotic ointments, they are really good if you cut or scrape yourself in the garden or in the garage. You can clean off the wound with some soap and water and then use the ointment and perhaps cover the cut with a bandage. If there is pain or swelling that you are suffering that you are suffering from, pain killers and anti-inflammatory are easy to have around. Keep them in their original containers, and keep them with their child-proof cap intact. So you really have to go through your medicine cabinet, think about what is in there and what you need. And if you keep stuff make sure that it is safe, safely contained and safely away from children. If you would like to send a question to Ask the Expert you can either email us at rx@tvo.org or fill out our form.
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