What are the consequences of taking expired medicine?

Minor illnesses and disasters often require medication. At this time, you must follow the doctor's advice on medication and not abuse drugs. When taking medication, you should first look at the production date of the medication. If it is expired, you must not take it. Because once you take expired medication, it will not only lead to a decrease in efficacy, but may even cause allergies, which is relatively harmful to your health.

What are the consequences of taking expired medicine?

Hazard 1: Reduced efficacy and changed ingredients

Do you choose to continue taking a medication just because it is only a short time past its expiration date? Tomato Doctor Tip: When a medicine expires, the main ingredients that exert its efficacy will be reduced or even changed, and sometimes even decompose into components that are harmful to the human body. Generally, the shelf life of medicines on the market is two years. Do not take medicines that have exceeded their shelf life.

Hazard 2: Pollution of the family environment

Medicines that have exceeded their expiration date are prone to decomposition and if left at home for a long time they can cause household environmental pollution. Medicines are different from domestic waste. If they are discarded at will, they will cause ecological environment pollution. For example, special medicines such as sulfonamides and penicillins are no less polluting than electronic waste such as used batteries.

Hazard 3: Causes allergies

What is often overlooked is often in the details. Tomato Doctor reminds us that most medicines are prone to decompose and evaporate after they expire, and the harmful gases they emit can cause pollution to the indoor environment. For people with allergic constitutions, it can trigger allergic reactions, and in severe cases, lead to anaphylactic shock.

If you experience adverse reactions, that is, toxic side effects, such as dizziness, weakness, sweating, or even symptoms of chronic poisoning due to taking expired medicine, you should seek medical attention immediately and inform the doctor of the name of the expired medicine you are taking. Farmers often drink mung bean soup to neutralize the toxicity of organophosphorus. If you encounter an emergency and cannot seek medical treatment for the time being, you might as well cook a bowl of mung bean soup and drink it. Mung beans can react chemically with many heavy metals, rendering them ineffective.