|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
Subject: RE: [world-cruising] Prescription drugs
From: John Titterton (jt@XXX.XXX)
Date: Wed Dec 11 2002 - 15:52:59 EST
Rick,
Some prescription drugs are like colour (color in the US) photographic
film - it looses sensitivity and stability before the expiry date when
in humid and/or hot conditions. I have found that keeping film and
prescription drugs that are not stable or deteriorate quickly in the
refrigerator. They do not take up much space and will normally extend
their useful life well beyond the expiry date.
There are exceptions to this, such as compounds or medications made from
animal extract or ones with a high natural content in cream form. My
wife also uses some special drops for her eyes to treat enzyme
infections once in a blue moon - she wears contact lenses. This small
bottle has a very short shelf life (6 months from manufacture) and once
opened should be thrown away after two days, before the infection has
cleared up. We experimented keeping the unopened bottle (you can fit two
into a matchbox) in the refrigerator and found that it was still 100%
effective after a year. Also, once opened and kept in the refrigerator,
it lasted approximately a week instead of the two days.
A pharmacist once also told me to not only keep the cream he had made up
for me in the refrigerator, but to keep a small plastic film on the
surface of the cream to prevent air reaching it. He informed me the
cream would deteriorate quickly if exposed to the air and become
ineffective. It cured my ailment quickly and thus I was never able to
see how long it would actually last.
John (2)
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Bradshaw [mailto:rbradsh2@XXX.XXX]
Sent: 11 December 2002 17:09
To: world-cruising@XXX.XXX
Subject: Re: [world-cruising] Prescription drugs
John,
Thanks for your reply. I think that will help for some things but not
all.
I recently had a prescription go beyond the expiration about 5-6
months. Because I had some (quite a bit) left, I continued to use it.
It's a compounded topical cream and I use only a little of it daily
and the jar is kind of large. The result was that the condition that
I was treating, and had kept at bay for about 2 years, began to come
back. When I realized what was happening and started to use a new,
within date, container, it stopped and has slowly been getting
better. The window of use for this is only about 6 months but the jar
is good enough for about a year or more of use for me.
Perhaps this was all because this is a compounded prescription and
not one that is readily available from a drug company in a
pill/capsule form. (Between my wife and I, we have about three or
four such things that we use either continually or from
time-to-time.) Presuming that is the case and knowing that not all
pharmacies are compounding pharmacies, what then? As we get away from
more modern pharmacies we get away from these "conveniences" and into
a different world.
Just as a for instance, I understand the PDR (Physician's Desk
Reference) in Mexico is quite thin (approx one half inch thick) and
relatively few drugs are referenced while the PDR in the U.S. is a
two or three inches thick, if not thicker. If we have some
prescriptions that are not in their abridged PDR, therefore probably
not available, or are compounded, what do we fall back on?
Perhaps I'm "making a mountain out of a mole hill" and not
understanding what the pharmacies abroad are like these days. I've
lived abroad for relatively long terms in the past (last time was
almost 18 years ago now) but I never needed to avail myself of their
services in this area. Perhaps the world has caught up and I'm in a
time warp with memories of the past?
Thanks.
Rick
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
world-cruising-unsubscribe@XXX.XXX
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|