Life Talk

Pharmacist here: please stop keeping your medicines in the bathroom

This is one of the most common things I see. The bathroom cabinet feels like the natural place for medicines, but it is usually the worst room in the house for them.

Heat and steam from the shower can affect some medicines over time, especially tablets in opened blister packs or loose in a pot. A cool, dry cupboard in a bedroom or the kitchen (away from the oven and kettle) is better. If you have children in the house, somewhere high and locked.

Two more things while I have your attention. First, keep medicines in the original box with the leaflet, so you know the dose and the expiry date. Second, once or twice a year, go through everything and bring expired medicines to your pharmacy for disposal.

If anything you take needs a special storage condition, it will say so on the packaging. When in doubt, ask your pharmacist. That is what we are there for.