The name says “medicine.” The room says otherwise.

Every hot shower turns the bathroom into a small steam room, and that’s exactly the kind of air medicine doesn’t like. MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s consumer health site, names moisture and heat among the things that can spoil a medicine (air and light are the other two). A damp, warm cabinet can leave pills and capsules weaker than the label promises, or ruin them well before the date on the bottle.

Aspirin shows the chemistry. PubChem, the National Library of Medicine’s chemical database, quotes the Merck Index: aspirin holds up in dry air, but moisture slowly splits it into salicylic acid and acetic acid. Acetic acid is what gives vinegar its bite, and MedlinePlus warns that aspirin that has degraded this way can upset your stomach.

The small wad of cotton tucked into some bottles works against you. MedlinePlus says to throw it away, since it draws moisture in.

Signs a medicine has gone off. MedlinePlus lists these as reasons not to take it, whatever the expiration date says:

  • The color, smell or texture is different from when you bought it
  • Tablets have fused into a clump
  • Pills are cracked, chipped, or unusually hard or soft

A better home for them. Think cool and dry: a bedroom drawer, a closet shelf, or a kitchen cabinet that isn’t next to the stove, sink or anything that runs hot. Leave each medicine in the bottle it came in. Keep all of it where children can’t see or reach it, ideally behind a child latch or lock. And skip the car’s glove box, which swings between hot, cold and damp.

Sunday Home

Try this at home

The five-minute medicine move:

  1. Empty the bathroom cabinet of medicines. Leave the toothpaste.
  2. Pull the cotton out of any opened bottles.
  3. Check expiration dates, and look for any of the warning signs above.
  4. Move everything to a dry drawer or high cabinet away from heat, out of kids’ reach.
  5. For expired or unused medicines, the FDA says a drug take-back location or a prepaid mail-back envelope is the best option. Some take-back locations are at local pharmacies. Don’t flush anything unless it’s on the FDA’s flush list.

Your pharmacist can also tell you whether a specific prescription has special storage instructions.

Be honest: where do the medicines live in your house right now?

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Sources

Everything above is checked against these. Open any of them.

  1. MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine), “Storing your medicines” (heat, air, light, moisture; bathroom cabinet; less potent or bad before expiration; pills and capsules easily damaged; aspirin into vinegar and salicylic acid, irritates the stomach; remove cotton ball; original container; children; damaged medicine signs; where to store; glove compartment; disposal and FDA flush list; ask pharmacist)https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000534.htm
  2. PubChem (NIH National Library of Medicine), Aspirin, Stability/Shelf Life, citing The Merck Index (1989): “STABLE IN DRY AIR; IN MOIST AIR IT IS GRADUALLY HYDROLYZED INTO SALICYLIC AND ACETIC ACIDS” — (read via https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rest/pug_view/data/compound/2244/JSON?heading=Stability/Shelf+Life)https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/2244
  3. FDA, “Where and How to Dispose of Unused Medicines” (take-back locations and prepaid mail-back envelopes as the best option; flush only medicines on the FDA flush list)https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines

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