藥過期了,還能吃嗎?大綱

Picture this: Your head is killing you, so you open your medicine cabinet in hopes of finding some Advil. It's there! But wait. It expired a year ago. Now what?

想象一下：你現在頭疼的厲害，所以你打開藥櫃希望找到Advil止痛藥。找到了！但等一等，一年前藥就過期了。現在該怎麼辦？

It's a predicament most of us have faced, so it begs the question: What do expiration dates on over-the-counter and prescription drugs really mean, and is it ever safe to take expired medication? After all, who decided that your go-to migraine relief can't be consumed after, say, April 23, 2020?

大多數人都面臨過這樣的困境，所以引出了這樣的問題：非處方藥和處方藥的過期日期意味着什麼？吃過期的藥是否安全？畢竟，誰規定了偏頭痛止痛藥過了2020年4月23日就不能吃了呢？

"By law, drug manufacturers are required to stamp an expiration date on their products," says Margarita Rohr, MD, of New York University Langone Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health. "This date represents the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee full potency and safety of the medication."

"根據法律規定的，藥品製造商必須在藥品上標明過期日期，"紐約大學Langone Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health的瑪格麗塔·羅爾醫學博士說道。"這個日期代表製造商仍可保證藥物的完整藥性和安全性。"

According to Dr. Rohr, there's actually little scientific evidence that expired medications can be toxic or make you sick the way rotten food can. "The drug is likely to lose some potency after the expiration date, but it is not clear how much potency is lost over a certain period of time past expiration dates."

羅爾博士表示，事實上能夠證明過期藥物有毒或者會讓你感到噁心（像腐爛食物那樣）的科學證明非常少。"過期之後，藥品可能會失去一定的藥效，但尚不清楚過期後的某個時間段會失去多少藥效。"

Just beware: Certain meds' expiration dates may matter more than others. "Insulin and nitroglycerin [which is used to treat chest pain] are known to very quickly lose their potency and therefore should not be used past expiration dates," notes Dr. Rohr. Other drugs that shouldn't be consumed after their use-by date include liquid antibiotics, which aren't as stable as their pill counterparts, and some injectables. Norepinephrine (used to treat shock and low blood pressure), for example, should be discarded if you notice discoloration, adds Dr. Rohr.

但請注意：有些藥物的過期日期可能比其它藥品更爲重要。"衆所周知，用於治療胸痛的胰島素和硝酸甘油會很快失去藥效，所以過期後不應使用，"羅爾博士指出。其它過期後不能再使用的藥品包括：液體抗生素（沒有固態抗生素穩定）和一些注射劑。例如，如果去甲腎上腺素（用於治療休克和低血壓）的顏色發生變化，則應丟棄，羅爾博士補充道。

As for how to decide when to swallow a drug that could potentially be past its prime, Dr. Rohr recommends considering why the medication is being taken in the first place. "If you are taking a blood thinner like warfarin to prevent blood clots or an anti-seizure medication like dilantin or phenobarbital, it would be important to make sure the medication has full potency to help prevent detrimental effects of medication failure," she says.

至於如何決定何時該吞下一種可能不再強效的藥，羅爾博士建議，首先考慮一下爲什麼要服用這種藥。"如果你正在用像華法令這樣的血液稀釋劑來預防血凝塊或像二苯乙內酰脲這樣的抗癲癇藥物或鎮靜安眠劑，那確保這些藥物的完整藥效十分重要，以防止藥物失效帶來的有害影響，"她說道。