Medicines and heat: where not to keep them
The car glovebox and the bathroom cabinet are the two worst places in the house.
Almost all medicines are stored "below 25 °C, in a dry place". That sounds easy, and in summer it is not.
**The glovebox of a car parked in the sun goes past 50 °C.** Leaving a box there for an afternoon can cost the contents their effectiveness, and nothing shows from the outside: the tablet looks exactly the same.
**The bathroom cabinet** is the second worst place, and it is where everyone keeps them. Shower humidity spoils tablets and effervescents long before the expiry date.
The best places are boring: a bedroom drawer, a hallway cupboard, a box high up in a pantry. Dark, dry and away from the kitchen.
**Fridge medicines** — insulins, some eye drops, certain made-up antibiotics — belong between 2 and 8 °C, not in the door and not against the freezer. If you have to travel with them, ask us for a cool bag: we have them.
And if you are unsure whether something has been through too much heat, bring it in and we will look. A medicine that no longer does its job is worse than not having one.