[Closed] Will taking out of date pills cause problems?

Chances are they will be less effective and potentially could degrade into something that is bad for you.
All expiry dates are supported by stability testing that proves its efficacy and safety. So if it has passed a defined set of parameters after a period of time the expiry will be based on that data
I was both responsible for testing drugs in that way and also in charge of teams that did that for years.
Personally i would not ever take a medicine that was outside its expiry unless my life really depended on it.
To get rid of expired medicines take them to your nearest pharmacy

No idea about safety or efficacy of an unknown 4 year old medicine, but if it's for an infection it could be an antibiotic in which case you're usually prescribed a course of them which should be completed so I'm surprised you've spare tablets left over anyway
You might not need a face to face just to renew a prescription, ring the surgery and ask or put a case in with AskMyGP if your practice uses it. I can request repeat prescriptions through the MY NHS app but that'll probably depend on whether it was flagged as repeatable when originally issued, and 4 years ago is pushing it a bit.

\Years out of date - no don't take them

You shouldn’t need a face to face appointment just contact the surgery and ask if you can have some more. If it is prochlorperazine which is commonly prescribed for labyrinthitis you can get it without prescription nowadays (buccastem) likewise cinnarizine (stugeron sold for travel sickness). Check the surgery website for online access and econsulting options.

They might have a delayed fuse.....

I took one last night with 2018 on the sell by. I can assure you it worked 😂

Stop taking expired meds. Oh, and it’s not a repeat prescription you need but a referral to a ENT clinic. Phone your GP in the morning.

Thanks for all the replies.
Will do the sensible thing and speak to the doctor tomorrow. Getting a bit fed up feeling sick and the room spinning every time I look up in the air.

I took one last night with 2018 on the sell by. I can assure you it worked 😂

Probably still working though, meaning you can't go out in public due to the trouser tent 🙂

Never did me any harm...

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I've taken the same pills (as OP, not Doves or Viagras) when they've expired and they worked.

Not saying it's the right thing to do, just that I didn't die.

The terrible is you won't know what the degradation products are. For some medicines as they degrade they make some nasty ingredients, others just break down so they don't work.
Unless you go and look in the regulatory filing and understand all of the testing results you won't know.

Not saying it’s smart but I remember being at a party at about 20 and finding a bottle of oral Valium in the house which had expired 8 years prior. Me and 2 mates did the whole bottle and we’re all still alive

We did wake up in the back of my mates car parked up in a petrol station on a dual carriageway the next morning with no idea how we got there though

The terrible is you won’t know what the degradation products are. For some medicines as they degrade they make some nasty ingredients, others just break down so they don’t work.
Unless you go and look in the regulatory filing and understand all of the testing results you won’t know.

I'm certainly not advocating taking expired meds - but can you actually get a product for self-administration through regulatory filing if it has toxic degradation by-products? I could believe its possible for drugs administered by professionals but otherwise, it seems like foreseeable misuse which in other bits of the medical regulatory world is not something you can easily just get around with a label.

I’ve taken the same pills (as OP, not Doves or Viagras) when they’ve expired and they worked.

How do you know - the OP never told us what they were.

I know the obvious thing is to go back to the doctors and get new ones but getting any appointment face to face is a joke now due to Covid.

Have you tried? there's lots of myths around how hard it is to see a doc at the moment. A mixture of genuine over work, people with unrealistic expectations, people who don't seem to want to tell the receptionist anything about their case, etc. But dr's have been open throughout covid and learned how to do a lot more remotely which means they often have more time for the patients who actually need a face to face. If you can't get good advice from the doc quickly - then you could go see your local pharmacist. Take the existing meds with you so they can dispose of them safely, but they'll be able to tell you if its something they can supply without a prescription, or some pharmacist are prescribers for certain meds. In some cases, I've heard of them also calling the Dr's to say "Mr X is here, I've looked at him he needs to see you today.".

Probably still working though, meaning you can’t go out in public due to the trouser tent

Ah, if only. Nah, was something ending in 'zapine'. Wiped me out for a day I didn't want to see.

Honestly I'm not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were potential carcinogenic chemicals as a degradation product.
Massively toxic, you would hope not for any take at home products. But who knows really, grandfather approvals have a lot to answer for with some drugs

All expiry dates are supported by stability testing that proves its efficacy and safety. So if it has passed a defined set of parameters after a period of time the expiry will be based on that data
I was both responsible for testing drugs in that way and also in charge of teams that did that for years.

Oddly enough my girlfriend has just changed jobs after doing the same thing for quite a few years...

The terrible is you won’t know what the degradation products are. For some medicines as they degrade they make some nasty ingredients, others just break down so they don’t work.

This is correct, although there are very few drugs in the former category and the vast majority are in the latter.

There's a massive conflict of interest. Drug manufacturers are obviously keen to avoid litigation, so will guarantee their product for as short a time as is acceptable. There's no incentive to putting longer expiry dates on medication. In fact, there's a significant disincentive for pharma companies to do so since 'expired' medicines are replaced frequently.

The most famous study of this was years ago now (1980s I think, I can't find the paper right now), by the US military who did a load of testing to discover whether they really need to restock drugs every few years. Anything that requires refrigeration is liable to degrade, so various IV antibiotics, insulin etc are not stable. But apparently most tablet drugs are very stable, or lose a few % of the active ingredient over a decade or so. There are some possible toxic degradations, though, like tetracycline, which reportedly can become dangerous.

Here's an article showing this, though not the study I'm thinking of:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1377417

Unless you go and look in the regulatory filing and understand all of the testing results you won’t know.

Pretty much this.

Plus, there's an additional issue that prescription-only medications that were prescribed some time ago may no longer be appropriate, be it due to interactions with other medications you are now taking, change in the clinical situation, updated guidance etc.

So, my feeling is that even though most tablets are not likely to degrade, there's enough risk that people should probably not stockpile old drugs at home.

But apparently most tablet drugs are very stable, or lose a few % of the active ingredient over a decade or so.

That was my assumption. I'd be happy taking out of date pills - in fact we have a medecine cabinet almost exclusively stocked with them!