You might find this surprising, but your bathroom medicine cabinet isn't a great place to keep your prescription drugs. Why? The dampness in your bathroom, caused by baths and showers, can hurt many medicines and make them less useful.
Moisture, as well as heat, light, and air, can be bad for many prescription drugs. Sometimes these things can hurt the active parts in the medicines. Other times, stuff like moisture can make a pill or tablet soft, which changes where and how it is absorbed in your body.
Where and how you store your medicines is very important. Here's a list of tips for how to correctly store your drugs:
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Keep medicines in their original bottles. If you need to move medicine to a different bottle, like when you travel, ask the pharmacist if this is ok and what kind of bottle you should use;
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Keep all your drugs away from heat, light, and dampness. Store them in a place that is cool, dry, and dark. But make sure wherever you keep your medicines is safe from kids - use kid safety bottles if possible, or keep medicines in a locked cabinet or somewhere kids can't get to;
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Don't pour medicines from one bottle into another, like when you have a few pills or tablets left and have already gotten your next supply. Instead, finish the older bottle first, before opening the new one;
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Ask your pharmacist about medicines that need to be in the fridge, especially if you're going to be traveling. When you do travel, always carry your medicines with you - never put them in checked luggage that could be delayed or lost. And don't leave medicines in sunlight or a hot car;
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Eye drops usually need to be thrown away a month after they are first opened - check with the pharmacist;
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Never take medicines that look discolored or spotted, or crumble when touched;
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Check the expiration date of your medicines, and don't use drugs that are out of date;
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Finally, make sure to throw away old medicines the right way. See this
FDA site
for more info about safe medicine disposal.
For more tips on how to store your medicines, visit this U.S. National Library of Medicine
website, or this
website
by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.
