All the meds at the group home have a one year expiration date on them, but we only get one month's worth of each med at a time, for each of our four clients. Needless to say -- we never go over the "ex" date on any of them.
My own house?? Different story altogether!! :D-->
I looked in my "medicine cabinet", and every last bottle, or pill there was well past the expiration date. Granted, I only have Ibuprofen, and cold medicine -- and I'm trying to remember the last time I used either of them. -->
While I think that it's possible the liquids may "break down" after a few years, I never figured the aspirin and such would. One bottle in the cabinet is expired by 6 years.
medicine in often practiced by folks who have a real concern about law suits today. better safe than sorry. they do not need to see you and write a new script it is often to document in case someone decides to sue.
I am so happy we have had our dr. for three gnerations now the practice knows us and we them alot can be done over the phone and sometimes with what was prescribed for another illness because we care and trust one another.
ya know how a new dr. will say "take all the medicine even if you feel better"!
pfffgh . not me nor my kids. you know how they need to do a test to confirm strep? pffgh my dr. would give me a script over the phone in the middle of the night. but this kind of relationship is rare today with the rising law suits and blame games and big money involved in the medical field today.
all consumers need to be aware and educated to take the best care and responsibility for their health. I have a family member who goes to this idot dr. he has been treated for a ear infection for 3 years it keeps coming back.. and they keep giving him the same medicine every dam time 3 years I would think it is time for a change of drs. but no the guy is going deaf yet the dr. knows best! geez.
A patient need to go with what they are comfortable with. I would say to everyone I know talk to your dr. about issues. BUT I would also say use your own brain in making decisions.
"ya know how a new dr. will say "take all the medicine even if you feel better"!
pfffgh . not me nor my kids"
Are you saying you do not finish prescriptions for antibiotics? This can be very dangerous not only for the one taking the antibiotic but for everyone in the community. Bacteria mutate and can become immune to antibiotics. This is one of the huge contributing factors to why we now have really nasty staph bacteria which kills people and cannot be fought with antibiotics.
My understanding from writing a new-drugs column for a couple journals for a few years is that bacterial resistance comes from the overprescribing of antibiotics. I suppose it's possible that taking one for less than the prescribed length of time could be a factor--I just hadn't heard that before and I'm not sure why that would be. But I'm not a medical professional.
However, I can tell you from experience what can happen when you don't take the full course of an antibiotic and then you get another bug later on and decide to self-treat with the same antibiotic. For me that little stunt sent me to the hospital in anaphylactic shock. NOT a fun experience, I guarantee you.
I forget the full explanation, but something about taking a few doses, stopping, and resuming a month or so later caused me to develop a sensitivity to the drug.
Over-prescribing is also a huge factor, Linda. In fact what I posted and what you posted are the two main factors.
The problem with stopping an antibiotic before completing the prescription is that just because you are feeling better, doesn't mean the bacteria has all been killed off. Instead it may just have been weakened. It continues to live and mutates into a form which is now resistant to the antibiotic which you had been taking.
I know about the mutations I know about the super strep blah blah blah
these huge virus are a concern and are because antibiotics where given to children starting at a very young age when day care began amass and would not allow a fever child unless they had a prescription.
word. today my very very large peds office will not give antibiotics for ear infections which clear up within their own self years ago twenty or so they did and found out it really never did decrease the incident of fluid in the ears... yet it appeased the working mothers who needed day care. it was a quick fix for many that appeared to work well.
these mutation are due to the ANTIBIOTICs and the resistance many have today is because the virus that should have been fought by a natural body was given a dose of steroids to fight so fight they did and mutate.
if you feel like living in a world where you demand your child not be ill or suffer from a virus PLENTY of dr. will still go with the old plan... but the ones who realize the impact on how these common illnesses where handled and what has happened because of the increase and overuse of antibiotics causing super virus and mutations who are willing to stop the insanity will tell you no. and they may lose the parents who do not want to deal with a sick child or lost days at work etc.
times have changed I go with a very very progressive practice that is top adminstrators for the largest teaching hospital in the United States. But if a parent his own life and this is stressing me out blah blah blah DO SOMETHING and will probably sue for malpractice for a natural course of events in illness.. then here take this for ten days the kid will get better and you will be satisfied. till three or two week later the baby gets another illness and you demand a solution and then one day find the kid just keeps getting sick.. and needing the medicine...they need it to get better and they need it for TEN days !!! and next time they may need a bigger medicine and it has begun the depency on antibiotics.. because of the mutations the resistance and the inability with the child or the parent to cope.
whatever you chose . of course they do not tell you this unless you have an excellent trusting relationship and few with a new baby have this going on sadly and are stressed and worried.. and the new young dr. are not willing to risk malpractice.
I will tell you this I bought the insanity with my first child and she did get resistant by the age of nine.. ear infections strep etc... Oh I finished the course. then we got smart . four additional children all over 18 now and none not one has EVER been anitbiotic EVER . Now my son had a bone infection after he crushed his finger in a car door. We gave him two pills for it to heal faster....
did they get sick?
oh yes sometimes nigh unto death but never the hospital or and never antibiotic I frankly do not believe in them... for normal childhood illness even serious fever. but our dr. has balls and is an expert and we are good friends mydaughter had a fever of 105 and had a seizure he always remained calm I telephoned him we talked I felt better the next day the kid was outside playing.
that is me and trusting God and our much loved family DR. he was my dr and their fathers dr as children as well so he knew our "history" i would say.
what others do is up to them . we do not do antibiotics. or any meds really . never have and probably never will. I am past middle age and take no meds... no high blood pressure blah blah we are just blessed I thank God.
And once again mj412 leaves no doubt as to just how ignorant she can be.
It *is* the overprescription of antibiotics *and* not completing reccommended courses of antibiotics that has done the most to create the superstrains of staph and tuberculosis that we have now.
It's those moronic parents that get antibiotics for their kids when they get colds that contribute to this problem. Antibiotics do *nothing at all* for colds, because colds are viral in nature.
Yes, doctors are just as culpable as the complete idiots they prescribe antibiotics for. But many times they do it because the cretinous parents keep pestering them for antibiotics when their kids shouldn't be getting them. And in our current litigious society, those same doctors will prescribe antibiotics a little more quickly lest they be sued for not doing all they can for a patient.
And then those same drooling mouth-breathers that shouldn't be allowed to vote or drive give their kids the antibiotics for 3 days when it's supposed to be for 2 weeks.
And we wonder why there's an antibiotic crisis.
And don't *even* get me started on the antibacterial handsoaps and highchair trays etc.
steve! my son's pediatrician says the EXACT same thing. he says, "do you want me to give you an antibiotic so you think i'm a good doctor and you feel i've done something for you" etc. etc. and then i settle in for his sermon. he is funny as anything. really smart and great, teaches me a lot. he'll probably retire soon and then i will be sad.
quote: ... my very very large peds office will not give antibiotics for ear infections which clear up within their own self years ago twenty or so they did and found out it really never did decrease the incident of fluid in the ears... yet it appeased the working mothers who needed day care. it was a quick fix for many that appeared to work well.
My daughter is 8 years old. When she was a little over 5 and had her 5th or so ear infection our pediatrician prescribed antibiotics and advised me that it's getting to be almost out of style now to give them for ear infections as the thinking now is that the ear infections don't go away any faster with or without them. He said that most kids outgrow those childhood ear infections by age 5-1/2 or so anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem for us much longer...
We missed this last weenie roast due to another ear infection (3rd one since she was 6). Our new doc ordered an antibiotic. I didn't ask for anything but an examination and treatment recommendation. The doc prescribed what the doc prescribed.
I worked outside my home the first 4 years of my daughter's life and from home the past 4. I take her to the doc for examination and treatment, not MY appeasement.
mj, sometimes I think you post just to see your own screen name, without regard to who is going to read what you post or if it's clearly written. I wonder if you have ever proofread what you post before hitting the Post Now button.
I'm 45 and take no meds on a regular basis, but if I get an infection and the doc prescribes antibiotics you can bet I'll take every last one of 'em.
Linda - I wonder if we're related. I'm a card-carrying member of the anal weirdo family, midwestern clan. I'm so anal I don't take any medicine past the expiration date.
I don't drink milk past the date on the jug either... Ha ha, now that I think of it - I can't stand for milk to be out of the fridge any longer than it takes to pour it and quickly put it back in. I won't even buy milk unless I have a cooler in the van to transport it if the store is farther than 10 minutes from home either.
Nor do I wear or allow my family to wear new clothes without washing them first. I worked in a KMart factory for a couple weeks when I was first out of high school and I saw many really gross things done to the clothes as they were being produced...
quote:I don't drink milk past the date on the jug either... Ha ha, now that I think of it - I can't stand for milk to be out of the fridge any longer than it takes to pour it and quickly put it back in. I won't even buy milk unless I have a cooler in the van to transport it if the store is farther than 10 minutes from home either.
Nor do I wear or allow my family to wear new clothes without washing them first. I worked in a KMart factory for a couple weeks when I was first out of high school and I saw many really gross things done to the clothes as they were being produced...
I hear you about editing spelling or grammar errors! I'm the daughter of an English teacher, sweetie of an editor, and tournament Scrabble player. Talk about anal with words! Yet I mess 'em up all the time, sometimes on purpose!
Bowtwi,
Try buying milk that comes in the opaque, "light blocking" bottles (Hood is one brand name). It really does taste fresher, at least to me....
mj,
Don't ever tell me your real name, 'cuz as a mandatory reporter, I think I'd have to turn you in for medical neglect.
And while I'm being anal, a doctor writes a scrip, not a script. And staph is a bacterium, not a virus. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses....
Shell,
Thanks for the info! I knew that most meds degrade gradually, but I never knew how gradually!
Shaz - I grew up in "Come and smell our dairy air Wisconsin." We've used the opaque plastic bottles for years and years. I actually prefer cartons over plastic bottles and I've been known to buy two half gallon cartons rather than a plastic bottle even though I could have spent less money on the plastic...
Hey Linda, how do you use quotation marks - inside or outside the period (or question mark or exclamation mark...)? Is there a simple rule?
Excath - You're flipping too? Cool! I bawled big tears down both cheeks the first two times I watched it! He said his phone has rung off the hook all day! He and I speak on the phone every day, but man, I miss hugging him!
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Sudo
Shellon,
.. and you're posting this because????
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Radar OReilly
Thanks Shell!
That Mercola site is one of my favs.
ror
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dmiller
Interesting article, Shellon. Thanks!
:)-->
All the meds at the group home have a one year expiration date on them, but we only get one month's worth of each med at a time, for each of our four clients. Needless to say -- we never go over the "ex" date on any of them.
My own house?? Different story altogether!!
:D-->
I looked in my "medicine cabinet", and every last bottle, or pill there was well past the expiration date.
Granted, I only have Ibuprofen, and cold medicine -- and I'm trying to remember the last time I used either of them. 
-->
While I think that it's possible the liquids may "break down" after a few years, I never figured the aspirin and such would. One bottle in the cabinet is expired by 6 years.
I might throw that one out!
;)-->
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dmiller
I wish the "durability" of the food in my fridge would last as long the medicine upstairs in the cabinet does!
:(-->
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mj412
it is about money .
medicine in often practiced by folks who have a real concern about law suits today. better safe than sorry. they do not need to see you and write a new script it is often to document in case someone decides to sue.
I am so happy we have had our dr. for three gnerations now the practice knows us and we them alot can be done over the phone and sometimes with what was prescribed for another illness because we care and trust one another.
ya know how a new dr. will say "take all the medicine even if you feel better"!
pfffgh . not me nor my kids. you know how they need to do a test to confirm strep? pffgh my dr. would give me a script over the phone in the middle of the night. but this kind of relationship is rare today with the rising law suits and blame games and big money involved in the medical field today.
all consumers need to be aware and educated to take the best care and responsibility for their health. I have a family member who goes to this idot dr. he has been treated for a ear infection for 3 years it keeps coming back.. and they keep giving him the same medicine every dam time 3 years I would think it is time for a change of drs. but no the guy is going deaf yet the dr. knows best! geez.
A patient need to go with what they are comfortable with. I would say to everyone I know talk to your dr. about issues. BUT I would also say use your own brain in making decisions.
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TheManOfa Thousand ScreenNames
***posted by Abigail****
"ya know how a new dr. will say "take all the medicine even if you feel better"!
pfffgh . not me nor my kids"
Are you saying you do not finish prescriptions for antibiotics? This can be very dangerous not only for the one taking the antibiotic but for everyone in the community. Bacteria mutate and can become immune to antibiotics. This is one of the huge contributing factors to why we now have really nasty staph bacteria which kills people and cannot be fought with antibiotics.
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Linda Z
My understanding from writing a new-drugs column for a couple journals for a few years is that bacterial resistance comes from the overprescribing of antibiotics. I suppose it's possible that taking one for less than the prescribed length of time could be a factor--I just hadn't heard that before and I'm not sure why that would be. But I'm not a medical professional.
However, I can tell you from experience what can happen when you don't take the full course of an antibiotic and then you get another bug later on and decide to self-treat with the same antibiotic. For me that little stunt sent me to the hospital in anaphylactic shock. NOT a fun experience, I guarantee you.
I forget the full explanation, but something about taking a few doses, stopping, and resuming a month or so later caused me to develop a sensitivity to the drug.
However
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Linda Z
Arrrggghh I can't edit for some reason. Pretend "However" isn't sitting all by iteslef at the bottom of my previous post.
Sometimes I'm so anal I scare even me.
:D-->
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Linda Z
Oh no! Now a typo in my anal post. If you knew how much I hate for one of my typos to stare back at me from the screen, you'd know what a weirdo I am.
But you probably knew that already. Sorry for the derail.
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Abigail
Over-prescribing is also a huge factor, Linda. In fact what I posted and what you posted are the two main factors.
The problem with stopping an antibiotic before completing the prescription is that just because you are feeling better, doesn't mean the bacteria has all been killed off. Instead it may just have been weakened. It continues to live and mutates into a form which is now resistant to the antibiotic which you had been taking.
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mj412
I know about the mutations I know about the super strep blah blah blah
these huge virus are a concern and are because antibiotics where given to children starting at a very young age when day care began amass and would not allow a fever child unless they had a prescription.
word. today my very very large peds office will not give antibiotics for ear infections which clear up within their own self years ago twenty or so they did and found out it really never did decrease the incident of fluid in the ears... yet it appeased the working mothers who needed day care. it was a quick fix for many that appeared to work well.
these mutation are due to the ANTIBIOTICs and the resistance many have today is because the virus that should have been fought by a natural body was given a dose of steroids to fight so fight they did and mutate.
if you feel like living in a world where you demand your child not be ill or suffer from a virus PLENTY of dr. will still go with the old plan... but the ones who realize the impact on how these common illnesses where handled and what has happened because of the increase and overuse of antibiotics causing super virus and mutations who are willing to stop the insanity will tell you no. and they may lose the parents who do not want to deal with a sick child or lost days at work etc.
times have changed I go with a very very progressive practice that is top adminstrators for the largest teaching hospital in the United States. But if a parent his own life and this is stressing me out blah blah blah DO SOMETHING and will probably sue for malpractice for a natural course of events in illness.. then here take this for ten days the kid will get better and you will be satisfied. till three or two week later the baby gets another illness and you demand a solution and then one day find the kid just keeps getting sick.. and needing the medicine...they need it to get better and they need it for TEN days !!! and next time they may need a bigger medicine and it has begun the depency on antibiotics.. because of the mutations the resistance and the inability with the child or the parent to cope.
whatever you chose . of course they do not tell you this unless you have an excellent trusting relationship and few with a new baby have this going on sadly and are stressed and worried.. and the new young dr. are not willing to risk malpractice.
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mj412
Stopping an antibiotic is judgement call.
I will tell you this I bought the insanity with my first child and she did get resistant by the age of nine.. ear infections strep etc... Oh I finished the course. then we got smart . four additional children all over 18 now and none not one has EVER been anitbiotic EVER . Now my son had a bone infection after he crushed his finger in a car door. We gave him two pills for it to heal faster....
did they get sick?
oh yes sometimes nigh unto death but never the hospital or and never antibiotic I frankly do not believe in them... for normal childhood illness even serious fever. but our dr. has balls and is an expert and we are good friends mydaughter had a fever of 105 and had a seizure he always remained calm I telephoned him we talked I felt better the next day the kid was outside playing.
that is me and trusting God and our much loved family DR. he was my dr and their fathers dr as children as well so he knew our "history" i would say.
what others do is up to them . we do not do antibiotics. or any meds really . never have and probably never will. I am past middle age and take no meds... no high blood pressure blah blah we are just blessed I thank God.
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Steve!
And once again mj412 leaves no doubt as to just how ignorant she can be.
It *is* the overprescription of antibiotics *and* not completing reccommended courses of antibiotics that has done the most to create the superstrains of staph and tuberculosis that we have now.
It's those moronic parents that get antibiotics for their kids when they get colds that contribute to this problem. Antibiotics do *nothing at all* for colds, because colds are viral in nature.
Yes, doctors are just as culpable as the complete idiots they prescribe antibiotics for. But many times they do it because the cretinous parents keep pestering them for antibiotics when their kids shouldn't be getting them. And in our current litigious society, those same doctors will prescribe antibiotics a little more quickly lest they be sued for not doing all they can for a patient.
And then those same drooling mouth-breathers that shouldn't be allowed to vote or drive give their kids the antibiotics for 3 days when it's supposed to be for 2 weeks.
And we wonder why there's an antibiotic crisis.
And don't *even* get me started on the antibacterial handsoaps and highchair trays etc.
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excathedra
linda, you crack me up
i know 2 people who save their antibiotics (don't take the full dosage) and take them when they feel something coming on.
me i'm too scared. i do what i'm told.
i'm kinda glad to hear about this date thing, though. i usually use medicine from drugstore a few months over the date.
--
i opened some cereal that had an old "sell by" or "use by" date and BOY they were right
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excathedra
steve! my son's pediatrician says the EXACT same thing. he says, "do you want me to give you an antibiotic so you think i'm a good doctor and you feel i've done something for you" etc. etc. and then i settle in for his sermon. he is funny as anything. really smart and great, teaches me a lot. he'll probably retire soon and then i will be sad.
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Steve!
Well, I sure hope that you can find another doc that's just as good, I know that they're hard to come by.
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bowtwi
mj said
My daughter is 8 years old. When she was a little over 5 and had her 5th or so ear infection our pediatrician prescribed antibiotics and advised me that it's getting to be almost out of style now to give them for ear infections as the thinking now is that the ear infections don't go away any faster with or without them. He said that most kids outgrow those childhood ear infections by age 5-1/2 or so anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem for us much longer...
We missed this last weenie roast due to another ear infection (3rd one since she was 6). Our new doc ordered an antibiotic. I didn't ask for anything but an examination and treatment recommendation. The doc prescribed what the doc prescribed.
I worked outside my home the first 4 years of my daughter's life and from home the past 4. I take her to the doc for examination and treatment, not MY appeasement.
mj, sometimes I think you post just to see your own screen name, without regard to who is going to read what you post or if it's clearly written. I wonder if you have ever proofread what you post before hitting the Post Now button.
I'm 45 and take no meds on a regular basis, but if I get an infection and the doc prescribes antibiotics you can bet I'll take every last one of 'em.
Linda - I wonder if we're related. I'm a card-carrying member of the anal weirdo family, midwestern clan. I'm so anal I don't take any medicine past the expiration date.
I don't drink milk past the date on the jug either... Ha ha, now that I think of it - I can't stand for milk to be out of the fridge any longer than it takes to pour it and quickly put it back in. I won't even buy milk unless I have a cooler in the van to transport it if the store is farther than 10 minutes from home either.
Nor do I wear or allow my family to wear new clothes without washing them first. I worked in a KMart factory for a couple weeks when I was first out of high school and I saw many really gross things done to the clothes as they were being produced...
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excathedra
okay okay, i wash clothing before it can be worn
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bowtwi
Well excath, I've known for years now that we must be related... heck, you even screen-named my son!
xoxo
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shazdancer
Linda,
I hear you about editing spelling or grammar errors! I'm the daughter of an English teacher, sweetie of an editor, and tournament Scrabble player. Talk about anal with words! Yet I mess 'em up all the time, sometimes on purpose!
Bowtwi,
Try buying milk that comes in the opaque, "light blocking" bottles (Hood is one brand name). It really does taste fresher, at least to me....
mj,
Don't ever tell me your real name, 'cuz as a mandatory reporter, I think I'd have to turn you in for medical neglect.
And while I'm being anal, a doctor writes a scrip, not a script. And staph is a bacterium, not a virus. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses....
Shell,
Thanks for the info! I knew that most meds degrade gradually, but I never knew how gradually!
Regards,
Shaz
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excathedra
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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excathedra
shaz and linzee, i supervised a word processing and proofreading department in the city. can ya' tell i'm rebellious ?
;)-->
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bowtwi
Shaz - I grew up in "Come and smell our dairy air Wisconsin." We've used the opaque plastic bottles for years and years. I actually prefer cartons over plastic bottles and I've been known to buy two half gallon cartons rather than a plastic bottle even though I could have spent less money on the plastic...
Hey Linda, how do you use quotation marks - inside or outside the period (or question mark or exclamation mark...)? Is there a simple rule?
Excath - You're flipping too? Cool! I bawled big tears down both cheeks the first two times I watched it! He said his phone has rung off the hook all day! He and I speak on the phone every day, but man, I miss hugging him!
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excathedra
"i know this one for sure."
"do you know if this is correct"?
um what else did you ask
something about capitalization
:)-->
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