What do you do with medications that don't work?

Just curious, what do you do with medications that don't work?

If you're like me, you have, or have had in the past, bottles of meds that didn't work. You've been a guinea pig for preventatives, abortives, etc., that didn't work for you. I just stow the bottles in a cabinet under my sink, way far back, in the off chance that the dr. tells me, "try the XX again at such-and-such dose" or "try XX again in combination with this". That way I don't have to buy it again.

But inevitably, I end up with bottles of sometimes very expensive, useless medication. Haven't we all experienced this? What do you do with all the meds that didn't work for you? I have vials of migranol, bottles of nuerontin, boxes of maxalt, bottles of fioricet, etc. Some of it's expired, some of it isn't.

What's the safest way to dispose of it? Do pharmacies run a program to do this?

I hate to see it go to waste, too, but I guess that's inevitable. I think it's a darn shame to have wasted so much money being a guinea pig trying to figure out what works and what won't, and tohave all this medication just sitting there that could benefit someone else, but oh well.

I also feel kind of nervous just chucking it in the waste bin, so I want to dispose of it in a responsible way. How do you get rid of your "useless" medications?

I believe you are supposted to flush them or put them in an rubbing alcohol solution to destroy the pills.
It is unsafe to throw out controlled substance medications like fioricet in your trash bin, or really
any medications. People are CRAZY!

When I didn't use my Nucynta I offered it back to my neuro so I could get a new script. That was a class
II controlled substance though, so I believe they would have requested it back anyways, since I was
in need of yet another narcotic.

I'm sure you can give all your unused back to your doctor or pharmacist for safe disposal.

My husband brought a good point up though as I was leaving the office. He said, "Did you watch them
destroy them?" I said no, and he lectured me. He said since it was a morphine narcotic its possible that
one of the receptionists could take them and stick em right in her purse if she wanted to. Thats true.
I don't think it's likely since there were other people standing there who knew of my situation, but
it's a really good idea to watch them dispose of your pills if thats the route you take.

Don't flush them. The fish don't want them either.

Bring them to the Pharmacies. They have proper disposal for them and will be glad to get rid of them safely for you.

Angela

Gia, wow. Your husband makes a good point (though I'm not familiar with the medication you mention). I read a story not too long ago about a pharmacist - not a worker, tech, or other "low level" employee but a pharmacist who faced charges this year of stealing controlled substances from his pharmacy, including Stadol, a med us migraineurs are familiar with.

It makes me wonder too how much ill will I'd be creating with the pharmacy and/or the dr. office if I requested that they dispose of the medication in front of me. I know it's my right to do so, but human nature would create some resentment, I'm sure. I.e., "I don't trust you", etc. How much more difficult would it make relations with the dr. office and pharmacist in the future is something one would have to gamble on, I guess.

I've read before that flushing meds is acceptable. But Angela has a point, the fish don't want them either I just went through my cupboard, and I have 6 bottles of nuerontin, thanks to mail order. That's a lot of medication to flush.

I think I may talk to the pharmacist and ask him if he can dispose of it. Since I don't have any controlled substances at this time, I feel ok with that. I was hoping they had some kind of program in which they sealed it in a mail-back envelope and sent it back to the drug maker or something. Nuerontin isn't a narcotic or anything, so there isn't that to worry about.

I have other stuff, but the nuerontin is over the top. I was on that for a long time as a preventative before determining it didn't work, but kept filling it via mail order.

Can you explain that last option, about mixing it with alcohol to dispose of it?

heres a link to and ehow site that is step by step to dilute your prescriptions in rubbing alcohol to dispose of them

I often have the same dilemma and have decided that the take back program from the local hospital or pharmacy is the right way to go. All meds say to flush them, but who wants those meds in the water supply? Also, don't they leach into the groundwater from the landfill. Yuck.

I wonder what the hospital does with them.

I found a program that would take your unused meds and donate them to clinics in Africa. The FDA has apparently shut this program down. Seems silly to me. Someone ought to be able to use my waste!

M

Thanks Gia.

MaryAnn, that's what I was looking for, a program like that. Too bad the FDA shut it down!

I agree, you do not flush them as they end up in our water system, and in the end in the rivers and oceans.

Here in Canada you are supposed to bring them back to the Pharmacy for a safe disposal.

Risa

Please DO NOT flush your meds! It is so bad for the enviroment and all of those that live in it.

Pharmacies will take your meds from you, but maybe you want to see if anyone on here lives near you and needs them? Just an idea.

I think that's actually illegal, so while the intention is good, the action would probably get me in trouble legally, particularly if I advertised the availability of extra medications online.

Hmmmmmm...really? You mean you can't "gift" someone your meds if they are already being prescribed for them by a doc?

Seems so wrong when someone out there is probably not taking the medication simply because they can't afford it.

Bubbs,
I can see your point if it comes to narcotics or controlled substances all the way.
Anything that can be abused ABSOLUTELY!
But, preventatives or triptans could really help someone out

Milo is right, as long as someone has a prescription for the drugs, I don't see a difference
between that and the program MaryAnn brought up.

I wonder though, if the pharmacy isn't flushing them, what are they doing with them?
Are they taking them and reselling them and making more money on the pills when we
already spent hard earned cash on em? That would make me mad. I'd rather see them
go to the needy for free. I think I'm going to do some research on this...

No, what I mean is that it's illegal to use the internet to broker a medication exchange, even if the medication is a "gift" and no actual money exchange takes place. I don't think it really matters if the medication is a narcotic, or not. It's still a drug deal, per se.

I think there's a difference between a relative giving me her extra imitrex, left-over vicoden (though I'm sure that would raise some eyebrows), or spare tramadol - no one would really know about that except me and my relative - and me posting a message saying "Hey, I have alot of XX and XX that I can't use. Whoever wants it, send me a PM and it's yours." That puts it out there on the world wide web.

I think it's illegal for the same reason the FDA probably shut down the program that took medication donations for Africa - liability. If I gave you my unused nuerontin, for example, and you had a reaction to it, I would be liable for causing that reaction. You could decide to sue me, and that would open a whole can of worms. Or, what if you died? I'm sure I'd be arrested for "dealing" a drug that killed you. Plus, bummer, you'd be dead.

Don't get me wrong. I do wish there were safe a way someone in need could benefit from my unused medication, since it is paid for. Then I could maybe take advantage of the same type of program - I'm low income, too, and some of my medications are stressfully expensive. But I do understand why the laws are there to safeguard us from situations like that. That's why I wish the pharmacuetical companies would spend some time and resources setting up programs to help people, not just take more and more of our money and in the meantime there's more and more waste. I don't think for a minute it couldn't be done, just that it wouldn't be cost effective for the drug companies to do it. Sad but true.

In the meantime, I guess I'm still stuck with about 6 bottles of nuerontin, till I can dispose of it. Don't worry though, I won't flush it. I do agree, the fish don't need it. The one good thing is I have a stockpile of topomax that I'm using, since I'm back on that. Topomax is expensive! I'm glad I have enough to last me about 6 months before I have to actually pay for the refill. LOL

Thanks for all the info.

Agreed about posting a message for all to see saying, "here here left over so-and-so,
what's your address, I'll send it free of charge!" Thats bad news and would get both
you and the recipient in trouble. I would be thinking smart in those terms. I now know you
use topamax, and hey you know what, so do I. It works good for me now, but maybe in the
future it might not. Who knows? I know many members use imitrex and some other
triptans and sometimes I get free samples and don't use em because they don't work.
Ya know? Still a risk and I'm not saying its one i'd take but its just a thought, especially
for those of us who have grown close enough to contact one another through e-mail or
PM and build friendships outside the forum

Good point though, and well said Bubbs!
'specially the, "plus, bummer, you'd be dead."
Ya got a hearty laugh out of me for that one!

Over here the when drugs are returned to pharmacies they are sent for incineration and treated as clinical waste. Much better than landfill or water contamination. Anything with potential for abuse is usually denatured first so it cannot be extracted and abused.

The reason the FDA and other countries will not pass on old used drugs to eg developing countries or those who cannot afford their meds is because the safety and quality of returned drugs cannot be guaranteed. They may have been stored incorrectly eg at extreme temperatures or humidity, they may have been tampered with (maliciously possibly) or they may have been transferred from their original packaging thus rendering expiry dates and batch numbers obsolete and making drug indentification tricky.

No dr or pharmacist would be (should be?) willing to supply meds that they cannot have a reasonable faith in the quality of.

In my opinion is would be hypocritical to expect so much of the drugs we take ourselves (shiny new and with good quality control), and to then expect those that are less well of to 'make do' with used medications and all the potential risks involved. I think it is different if a pharmacy or drug company has a surplus they can donate to eg a developing country, as the supply chain is still controlled and auditable. But patient returns are not.

Equally I would not be prepared, for many reasons, to take medication that was someone elses leftovers. It could be extremely dangerous, not to mention the problems if a dr has not prescribed the drug, checked for interactions or is monitoring the effects.

Amy