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Yes, Dad, you need to throw out those medications

Our editorial director raided her dad's medicine cabinet and what she found was not pretty.

Expired pill bottle
Expired pill bottle

Prescription pills issued in 2011, yellowing vitamins and dietary supplements starting to crumble when you touch them were just a few of the things I found when I raided my Dad's medicine cabinet.

"Yes, Dad you need to throw out those medications," was a phrase I found myself saying over and over.

Before I go any further, I cannot blame every cringe-worthy item I found on him. I would say at least half of the more than a dozen bottles we found were mine from when I lived there, including medications prescribed for my dog from 5 years ago, as well as antibiotics I never finished taking from one of my million sinus infections.

I know, I know – patient adherence! Finish your meds!

You could say I should know better, but back then I didn't. I thought an expiration date on medication was really just a suggestion, or that taking those last two prescription pills as directed really didn't matter.

Now, I know better, and my family usually benefits suffers because of this new knowledge.

There were several finds during my medicine cabinet raid that made me shake my head, including a bottle of vitamins used to help joint pain that had a cracked coating, as well as normally pure white apple cider pills that were now very dark grey.

But, the one that stood out the most? A bottle of selenium that smelled up the whole kitchen as soon as I opened it.

Lets hope that in 2020, I am not throwing out pills with an expiration date of today.

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