My back thanks you in advance

October 26, 2009 5:22 PM

Will prescription-strength ibuprofen have expired since it was prescribed in March 2008?

I have some leftover 800-mg prescription ibuprofen. The pharmacy's "discard by" label dates are always one year after the prescription was filled, which in this case was March 2008. Surely it isn't done for yet, though? Internet answers are inconsistent.

posted by Countess Elena to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

My experience is that prescription level ibuprofen [800mg, yes?] maintains its strength years later. YMMV. That said, you can always take more otc ibuprofen to achieve exactly the same effect.
posted by jessamyn at 5:25 PM on October 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Googling for "shelf life ibuprofen" turned up a bunch of hits claiming anywhere from 2 - 5 years, most saying 2 - 3 years from the date of manufacture. Assuming it's been stored cool, dark and dry, that sounds pretty reasonable to me. However, you may not know the date of manufacture, which can be many months before the day you got it. Nevertheless, if it were me I'd go ahead and use it.
posted by Quietgal at 5:41 PM on October 26, 2009

Strictly anecdotal, but I've been working through a large prescription of ibuprofen 800mg for the last 3 years. The pills have not discolored in any way. I'm not dead and it seems just as potent as it ever was. I have every intent of finishing off the scrip (maybe another year).
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:06 PM on October 26, 2009

this article about drug expirations may be of interest to you...

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml
posted by for_serious at 9:04 PM on October 26, 2009

The expired/nonexpired distinction is arbitrary. The drug doesn't suddenly transform from nonexpired to expired after a certain number of months. Instead, like all organic molecules, drugs slowly break down over time. Imagine that on the day your ibuprofen was manufactured, the portion of active drug molecules in each pill was close to 100%. 100 years from now, the potion of active drug molecules will be close to zero. You're somewhere in between those two points.

The good news is that the vast majority of drugs won't degrade into anything dangerous. If you drop your toaster on the ground, it doesn't turn into a blender, it just becomes a broken or less-effective toaster. Same is true most drugs. The potency of a drug will drop over time, but providing it's been kept at room temperature, it will retain some degree of potency for many years. The expiration dates given for the drugs are basically the date up until which the manufacturers will guarantee the potency of their product. Naturally, you can expect that for the sake of limiting legal liability, they will set these dates earlier than is absolutely necessary.
posted by dephlogisticated at 10:51 PM on October 26, 2009

My nurse practitioner once gave me some kind of migraine medication (Relpax?) samples that were expired but told me they'd still be good for another 2 years.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:29 PM on October 26, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, guys. Today went much easier than yesterday for this!
posted by Countess Elena at 5:25 PM on October 27, 2009