The thing # 1 that you should never keep in your car

Doctors agree: it's a bad idea to leave prescription drugs in your Ganton compartment.


There are countless things you can probably guess than youshould not leave in your car. Obviously displayed valuables. Your passport. Family animals. Your home keys. However, doctors, medical agencies and government agencies are all united in the only thing youreally Should not store in your car, that you may not have thought. The consensus is thatKeeping your prescription medicine in your car is a very bad idea.

The main reason? Temperatures too hot or too cold could make your medicine useless, at best, or dangerous, at worst. "Chemicals and components ofSome medications can be changed When exposed to different temperatures, "Baystate health experts in Massachusetts explain". For example, medicines containing hormones (think of birth control, chemotherapy drugs, anti-crisis drugs and antibiotics) do not work as well when exposed at temperatures outside their recommended storage range. "

Skye McKennon, BS, PharmD Associate Instructor-One Associate at the University of Utah Wellness & Integrative Health-Emphade the mostMedicine manufacturers advise optimal storage to be at an ambient temperature of 68 to 77 degrees. While this temperature range is where manufacturers guarantee the integrity of the product, mostDrugs can survive safely A range of 59 to 86 degrees,Atlanticreports.

Apart from these temperatures, like "during heat waves and cold spells ... [can] physically change, lose their power or even threaten your health," said McKennonThe New York Timesin 2011.

Man taking medicine before driving his car
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Does this mean that leave your medicine on prescription in the car softer days is good? Well, not exactly. National Meteorological Service (NWS) expressly warns not onlyhow fast your car can heatbut also that this object inside it will heatfaster.Here's why: Although the atmosphere and windows of a car are relatively transparent to the short-wave radiation of the sun, this energy quickly heats up objects that it strikes. These heated objects then give up from the longwave radiation that heats the air around it, so even if your medicine is not in direct sunlight, these pills will always warm.

The own experience of the NWS revealed that with an ambient temperature in the 1990s, theThe interior temperature of a car could increase from 83 to 104 degrees in just 40 minutes. Similarly, moisture present in aBathroom poorly ventilated (where your drug cabinet is probably) could have a harmful effect.

At the other end of the spectrum, a considerable loss of temperature is also bad for your medications. For reference, that's why aircraft (Air Canada measures their 767 Boeing 767storage temperature At about 44 degrees), you should keep your medications in your hand luggage.

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Obviously, there will be times when you need to have medicines in the car with you, but sensitive precautions can mitigate the risk of damage. Baystate health experts recommend not to store them in the trunk, instead of keeping them in the car's cabin where theVentilation is better. Any drug requiring cold storage (such as insulin and epipeanes) must be transported to a suitable cooler. And what you do, do not put your medicine in your glove compartment, where you are all the more likely to forget it at the end of your trip.

If you have any doubts about the appearance of your medicine when it was extreme heat or cold - if it is blocked, seems to be more liquid than usual, has changed coherence, a smell different or a partially dissolved verification with a pharmacist before taking your medications. And for more daily tips, checkThe worst thing # 1 to keep in your portfolio.


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