Lindsay Ray
Your bathroom’s medicine cabinet is a common storage place for your medication. It’s called a medicine cabinet for a reason, right? Turns out, it might not be the best place for your medications to reside.
In fact, medicine cabinets can do the complete opposite — lowering the potency of your pills and damaging them before the expiration date.
Medicine should be stored in a dry, cool place, and it’s no secret that the bathroom is neither of those things. Moisture and heat from your shower, bath, and sink play a significant role in the potential damage your medication may face. This is especially true for pills and capsules, as they are easily deteriorated by moisture and heat.
Even over-the-counter medication, like Aspirin, can begin to break down into vinegar and salicylic acid, irritating the stomach.
Instead, it is recommended that you store your medications in a dry place and away from children. Dresser drawers or kitchen cabinets away from the sink and hot appliances are great options.
It’s important to note that damaged medication can make you sick. Do not ingest it if it has changed color, texture, or smell — even if it has not expired. It’s also a good idea to trash it if the pills are stuck together, are harder or softer than usual, or are cracked.
While not a recommended place to store our pills, medicine cabinets are a helpful storage tool for other bathroom products, like cotton balls, Band-Aids, soap, and hydrogen peroxide. And if anything else, it serves as an additional mirror in your bathroom, which is always a win-win.
