Recently I was visiting my parents and was in the kitchen searching for something to eat, and I noticed something: Their medicines were in a cabinet near the oven.
“It’s not ideal to keep medicines there,” I told my father. “You’re cooking all the time and it’s hot.” “I’m sure it’s fine,” my father said. Then he looked at me skeptically. “You’re going to ask some experts, right?” he asked.
“Tell mom and dad that this is not a good idea,” said Miriam Shaw Ojeda, an assistant professor of pharmacy science and practice at The Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy. She said keeping medicine near a heat source can reduce its effectiveness.
My parents aren’t the only ones who believe one storage location is as good as another. Less than half of the participants in a 2021 study stored their medicines properly. And it’s just one of the many mistakes people make when it comes to refilling, storing, and disposing of prescription medications.
Below, pharmacists share their top tips.
Keep medications out of the bathroom medicine cabinet
Just as keeping pills near heat-producing kitchen appliances can reduce their effectiveness, keeping them in a bathroom medicine cabinet is a bad idea, said Mary Bridgeman, a clinical professor at Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. She added that the term “medicine cabinet” is a “complete misnomer.”
Bathroom steam can erode medication coatings and heat can destroy active ingredients, said Eric McLaughlin, chairman of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
The kitchen can be a good place, he said, provided you keep your medications in a “cool, dry place” away from temperature fluctuations. (McLaughlin also cautioned that medications should be kept out of reach of children and pets.)
Many oral medications should be stored at temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius, according to the U.S. Pharmacopeia, an independent nonprofit organization that sets standards for drug quality. Check the patient information leaflet for storage instructions, McLaughlin said.
Learn to take your medications correctly
You may think you know how to take a pill or use an insulin pen, but research shows that half of all prescription drugs taken in the United States are used incorrectly. So in addition to asking about side effects, review the instructions for use, including what to do if you forget to take a dose, Shaw Ojeda said.
“It’s human nature,” he said. “We walk out of the pharmacy and think, ‘I know how to use this.'” But some patients inject medication into the wrong part of their body, insert suppositories with foil or overuse inhalers, he said.
If you’re not sure how to administer something like an insulin pen or injection, ask your pharmacist for a demonstration.
And if you have trouble swallowing pills, let your pharmacist know, McLaughlin said. Some medications have a time-release coating or other mechanism that releases the active ingredient slowly, he said. If you crush them, “you basically get the whole dose all at once,” he said.
Review your medications
Bridgeman said it’s a good idea to periodically review your medications to make sure they’re all still necessary and meet your current needs.
Bridgeman said if you have Medicare with a drug coverage plan, you may have access to a service called Medication Therapy Management. It allows you to review all of your medications with a pharmacist or healthcare provider. It’s free, and you’ll also get a written summary of your medications that you can take to your doctor or emergency room. Check here to see if you qualify.
Ask about prices
McLaughlin said to ask your pharmacist if there’s a generic drug or coupon available. “Sometimes manufacturers have coupons that the pharmacy can apply to a person’s co-pay,” he said.
In a 2018 Consumer Reports investigation, “secret shoppers” were sometimes able to negotiate discounts when they asked, “Is this really the best price you can offer?”
You can always ask the pharmacist if there’s a deal, and “they can always say no,” McLaughlin said.
Dispose of old medications properly It may seem convenient to flush expired or unused medications down the toilet, but they can get into the water supply, McLaughlin said. And according to the Environmental Protection Agency, wastewater treatment plants aren’t designed to remove them. So they must be disposed of responsibly. The Drug Enforcement Administration celebrates National Take-Back Day twice a year, the next one on Oct. 26.
It also has a countdown to the holiday on its website. And many pharmacies have secure drop boxes for depositing expired medications, Shaw Ojeda said. The Justice Department has a search option for medication drop-off locations near you throughout the year. If you can’t get to one of those locations, the Food and Drug Administration has instructions for disposing of medications in the trash.
I told my parents that Shaw Ojeda had advised them to get rid of their medications, so they put them in the pantry along with some expired cans of soup. During my visit, I also pointed out that the minestrone was past its expiration date. My father sighed and said, “Please don’t call the specialists.”
