expiry dates

[purple sky]

I was wondering...?  I am using transdermal estrogen and on the box there is an expiry date.  So if I was using a product that is at the end of the recommended  " use by date"  will it be as effective as the new stuff?  Does it really matter?  I had just switched pharmacies and they would want to rotate the product to use up what is there.  What about tablets? would they oxidize? Just one of those questions that makes me wonder.

[Rock_chick]

unless they're seriously out of date they should still have an effect.

[Flan]

they are there mostly for legal reasons, if a drug is stored correctly (moisture free, stable temp, away from uv), it should be as effective for 2 years past the date (for the most part, reconstituted or biopharmaceuticals  have very short shelf lives).

[purple sky]

Thankyou for the replies!  I shall not worry.

[Miss_Anthropic]

they are there mostly for legal reasons, if a drug is stored correctly (moisture free, stable temp, away from uv), it should be as effective for 2 years past the date (for the most part, reconstituted or biopharmaceuticals  have very short shelf lives).

This is true. My ex is a pharmacy technician and I've heard this many times from her. We used to get so much OTC stuff for free when it went out of date, they couldn't sell it, so rather than sending it back for destruction it came to our house.

~Sara

[purple sky]

my lips are sealed

[Miss_Anthropic]

They had better be! 

[purple sky]