However, I do have some Oxycodone pills prescribed by my Opthalmologist back in May of 2002. What do you figure is the shelf life of these meds?
If I take one or two what might be negative effects? The Rx was for 12 pills, there are 9 left so I couldn’t have been hurting very much back then.
The bottle (which I have checked and rechecked several times) reads: “OXYCODONE/APAP 5MG-325MG TABLETS [SIZE=1]Generic for PERCOCET 5-325 MG TABLETS (BLUE)[/SIZE]”. Never before have I seen dosages expressed in ranges.
I’ve discussed this with a couple of other doctors, and the consensus is this:
The manufacturers want to set a date beyond which they are not warranting the product. The one-year period was chosen pretty much arbitrarily.
Throwing out all medications every year and purchasing more means more profit for said manufacturers. Not, of course, that that influenced their choice.
A few drugs do degrade rapidly and become useless or toxic after relatively short periods of time. These will be labeled prominently with warnings in large letters with specific dates, i.e. DO NOT USE AFTER 03/16/2005.
Both of the component drugs in your pills are relatively stable at room temp in closed bottles. Without giving you medical advice or anything, I would use them without worrying if they had been prescribed for me.
Oh, the numbers mean each pill contains 5 mg oxycodone and 325 mg acetaminophen. This is standard in combination pills.