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Heat wave impact on medications
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How to keep your medicine safe
- Duration 2:11
- Date Jul 27, 2012
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How to keep your medicine safe
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Summer heat waves could be affecting your health where you might least expect it to your medicine cabinet.
Pharmacists say stream he can change the chemical -- -- your drugs making them.
Less effective joining us now to sort it all out doctor Martin -- -- professor of public health at Johns -- In universities -- doctor Kerry how dangerous -- this.
Well a lot of -- I don't realize -- -- that when you pick up your medications from the pharmacy and leave it in your car where -- can hit like a 140 degrees.
They have medicines may not be as effective they're sensitive to the extreme heat since certain medications.
Are more sensitive like -- -- Or any gel cap or nitroglycerin.
Now they're not gonna turn -- poison or anything that dangerous but they might be less effective -- you might need to watch the expiration date a little more carefully.
Let's talk a little bit about some of these drugs because a lot of folks my carry them.
-- on their body urea and their purse or something like that he -- -- appropriate he had insulin.
If you -- you -- worry as and causing a Major League -- of affect on you but.
Should you be taking these medicines and you've had them with you over the last several weeks and has been really hot.
Well if it's in general around the room temperature then you're okay but if they've been in an -- -- heat.
You wanna really be careful and maybe not use them or maybe just consider that their effect may not be as good.
You know the best thing to do is to just leave it at room temperature -- been out of the reach of children or pets.
And you don't want to just throw these things in a refrigerator.
Because that's a human environment and that can also have the same -- Our rights as it let's let's stay -- that a little bit and you -- it afraid does not necessarily the best place so it is the -- cabinet.
Really the best place for your medicine period.
Do you wanna keep these medicines and general at a temperature less than eighty degrees in most medicine cabinets especially the second mission will be there.
You don't want to put him high up on a cabinet where it's hotter in general.
And the only thing that goes and -- refrigerator really should be things that say keep refrigerated or liquids like insulin.
I write documents Karrie thank you so much for the time today Terry thank hacking -- appreciate it very my -- you know we're having.