Do you ever use expired asthma medication? According to this ABC news story the expiration date is when your medication loses 10% of its efficacy. So your medication is not likely to hurt you, but it may not work, which is a problem for your asthma.
Leave a comment and let us know what you do with that inhaler you find under your bed or in the couch.
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To be honest, my inhalers never last long enough to expire – I go through about one a month (I’m in that unfortunate limbo of not well controlled on currently available therapies, but not bad enough off to have the benefits of systemic steroids outweigh the risks). That said, the few times I have found expired medication (other than inhalers), I haven’t used it. I even threw out the inhaler that went through the drier because I couldn’t be sure that the heat didn’t degrade the medication. I’m cautious when it comes to my health. I’d rather shell out the extra $15 for a new rescue inhaler than take the risk that the old one wouldn’t work.
As for my controller medications, I keep all of those in the bathroom, where they’re not likely to get lost, anyway.
Medications should NOT be kept in the bathroom, especially asthma inhalers, they are sensitive to heat and humidity. inhaled powders such as ASTHMANEX state this clearly in the package inserts and on the canister. store in a cool DRY place. Bathrooms are anything but cool and dry.