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Medical Forum / General / Pharmacy / October 2005How to destroy unused antibiotics
I was on day 6 of my 10 day oral antibiotic when my doctor switched me to a per prescription of a different antibiotic for 7 days. I am supposed to stop taking the first prescription. Due to the nature of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics I was curious if there was a way for me to somehow destroy the antibiotic properties of the remaining 4 pills of my first prescription before throwing them out. Thanks for any info > I was on day 6 of my 10 day oral antibiotic when my doctor switched me > to a per prescription of a different antibiotic for 7 days. I am [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Thanks for any info Cremate them outside. > > I was on day 6 of my 10 day oral antibiotic when my doctor switched me > > to a per prescription of a different antibiotic for 7 days. I am [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > > Cremate them outside. Flush them down the toilet. Shane, PharmD Flushing them down the toilet is brilliant, and from a pharmacist????? The stuff gets into the water system, I have heard horror stories from waste water treatment plants, most of them can not get rid of the stuff, you would not believe the kinds of meds that wind up getting into our water system over years, where do all the drugs go that people throw away, more often than not in the toilet and not the landfill. Please get them in a plastic bag or drown them in Drano.  SignaturePatrick Patrick H. Mason MS, OHST, EMT-I A delusion shared by many is a culture; shared by some is a cult; shared by 2 is love; but a delusion held by one is psychosis. > > > I was on day 6 of my 10 day oral antibiotic when my doctor switched me > > > to a per prescription of a different antibiotic for 7 days. I am [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Flush them down the toilet. Shane, PharmD > Flushing them down the toilet is brilliant, and from a pharmacist????? > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Please get them in a plastic bag or drown them in Drano. I am assuming you must _not_ be a pharmacist. I remember having the DEA in to destroy outdated control meds. After signing the appropriate forms, I was required to witness the agent proceed to flush the pills down the toilet. He even gave me a tip as to not pour the pills into the toilet until after the water began to swirl after flushing so no pills stuck to the side of the bowl. Admittedly, that was years ago. More recently, I worked for a large mail service facility that would send a pharmacist to witness control drug returns that were burned at a toxic waste facility of which there was only one in the state. Still, I can't see where the average retail pharmacy would destroy medications any other way but to flush. Rich 300 million Americans are being prescribed more and more drugs every day, and some of those drugs get excreted via urination and defication either as unchanged drug or as active metabolites. This HAS led to the appearance of these drugs in the environmentand in our municipal water supplies. It is why we are seeing report after report of these drugs ending up in places like lakewater and in the marine life. Do an internet search on Prozac in Texas fish as one example http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives-archive/fish-on-prozac1127. Like a bad pesticide or industrial chemical, pharmaceuticals seem to be showing up everywhere. I have a friend who works for the EPA, and you don't even want to know what the municipal water supplies DON'T filter out nor routinely screen for. After I saw the multi-thousand dollar whole-house water filtration/treatment system my friend has in his house, I knew he was deadly serious. Expect to see more and more of the top prescribed drugs in this country ending up in us one way or another. JD, RPh. > > Flushing them down the toilet is brilliant, and from a pharmacist????? > > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > other way but to flush. > Rich That is exactly what I am referring to. Great post. I have a friend that is a biochemist that works with Old Dominion University in Norfolk Va. He works a lot with their Oceanography program and used to work for the Department of Environmental Quality in Va. Granted we have lots to worry about in the Chesapeake Bay above and beyond Tetracycline and Prozac, but it is becoming more and more prevalent. He told me that they can actually detect levels of relatively unaltered penicillin in flounder and crab in the bay. Hopefully not enough to trigger anaphylaxis in those with severe allergy but it makes one think. I certainly would think that a chemical process may be available that would not be too cost ineffective that is preferable to flushing. SignaturePatrick Patrick H. Mason MS, OHST, EMT-I A delusion shared by many is a culture; shared by some is a cult; shared by 2 is love; but a delusion held by one is psychosis. > 300 million Americans are being prescribed more and more drugs every day, > and some of those drugs get excreted via urination and defication either as [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > other way but to flush. > > Rich > That is exactly what I am referring to. Great post. > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > may be available that would not be too cost ineffective that is preferable > to flushing. What will probably eventually happen is a Senator will write a bill that passes requiring retail pharmacies to take back FREE any unused medication and ship it to where it can be safely destroyed. It will be like antifreeze and motor oil in that you can't legally dump it down the drain. It will cost us money as pharmacists. A lot of people will still flush them or dump them in the garbage but the politicans will feel better for having done something. It will work as well as gun control and control of illegal substances now. Fish, already it may not be safe to eat very much tuna. There has been reports in the news about mercury in the oily deep sea fishes. >> That is exactly what I am referring to. Great post. >> [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > Fish, already it may not be safe to eat very much tuna. There has been > reports in the news about mercury in the oily deep sea fishes. `Wonder if all the billions of fish oil pills consumed annually are tainted too? Bob > Expect to see more and more of the top prescribed drugs in this country > ending up in us one way or another. > > JD, RPh. This sounds like the "possibly it's only an urban legend" that every dollar bill in circulation for a year or more has minute traces of cocaine embedded in it from all the "lines" people have snorted with it during it's passage from hand to hand (or nose to nose, as the case may be) over the course of its lifetime. Bob > Flushing them down the toilet is brilliant, and from a pharmacist????? What's the difference between flushing them directly or having them pass your kidneys first? Menno >>Flushing them down the toilet is brilliant, and from a pharmacist????? > > What's the difference between flushing them directly or having them pass > your kidneys first? > > Menno Excellent point. Rich > What's the difference between flushing them directly or having them pass > your kidneys first? > > Menno Menno, I give up. What's the punchline? Maybe the urine should be bottled, tossed, and incinerated? But not in a plastic bottle, `cause that has to be recycled." `Come to think of it, glass does too. `Looks like we're screwed from every direction. `Just have to take your antioxidants and pray The Force is with you. LOL Bob > A delusion shared by many is a culture; shared by some is a cult; > shared by 2 is love; but a delusion held by one is psychosis. A delusion shared by a nation is patriocy. Bob |
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