From the article: 10 Medication Safety Tips
Medication safety tips are important to practice each and every time you take your medication. And, because people with COPD and other chronic illnesses often take 6 to 8 different medications on a daily basis, medication safety has never been more important. Share your medication safety tips to help others learn how to prevent medication errors. Share Your Tips
Throw Out Your Old Antibiotics
- I had a sinus infection and one Sat. night I thought a run of Ampicillin would help as it had in the past. I asked another family member if they thought it was okay and they agreed. One problem, the Ampicillin I took was TWO YEARS OLD. In an hour, I started feeling funny unlike anything I'd felt before. I couldn't sit still and felt my body was fighting something. My thighs turned reddish as I rocked back and forth on my bed in great distress. The family member called our doctor who told me to go to the ER which I did via taxi-cab. When the nurse saw me walk in she asked "Can you still breathe?" (to which I replied "Yes, just barely"). They got me hooked up to IVs (I'm guessing adrenalin and anti-nausea) and I bounced back right away and returned home (via cab again w/a very nice & concerned lady driver), slept and was fine by evening. Our pharmacist said that medicines have short shelf life, sometimes weeks. THROW OUT OLD MEDS (better yet, take ALL meds as prescribed.)
- —Beeden46
