Storage of Mestinon
 

I thought I'd better bring this up as a separate topic. If you have any questions about Mestinon, this is the place to find answers.

http://mestinon.com/

DO NOT store your Mestinon in the refrigerator!!!

Look at the "How Supplied" section of the prescribing information. The syrup, tablets and Timespan all need to be stored at 25 degrees Celcius (77 F). "Excursions permitted" to 15C - 30 C (59F - 86F). It would more than likely affect the potency or even effectiveness of the drug.

A dark closet will be a coolish place to store it but not too cool.

Please read all the labels of all of your drugs!!! I know it's not fun to do but you may be able to avoid harm to yourself in the future by a little temporary harm to your poor ptosis laden eyes now. :eek:

Oh, and if you have stored your Mestinon in the fridge, I'm not so sure you should use it!

Annie

Thanks Annie,

I was going to look up this information. When I first got Mestinon I read the label and decided to store it in a cabinet not in the fridge but now that it has been a while I had forgotten why I made that decision.

I am concerned about keeping a supply at my house because of the large changes in temperature but I see now that it is usually within that range so I should be ok to keep more than a 30 day supply.

I do need to think about this since my house ranges between about 55 and 90 degrees F, a little out of the range sometimes. I am not sure what to do with the extremes, we try to save energy by not heating/cooling our house except when necessary. This winter has been much more mild than usual and it has not been very cold but summer will be here soon and I will need to find a way to store the Mestinon. Is there any type of small refridgerator made for medicine storage?

Thanks Annie.

I don't know the ranges if fridges. Back in the "old days" of my parents when they didn't have fridges, they stored food, etc. in a cistern below a windmill!

Do you have a basement? They are always cool.

No basement, but I do have one room with a small window-mounted air conditioner - I think I will set it up to keep just that one room cool enough in the summer. I don't want to risk the Mestinon not working correctly.

I store mine in my dresser drawer, the dresser is away from the heating vent. I learned many years ago that mestinon does not do well in cold or heat or humidity, well gee the medicine is just like us.. LOL

You might find using extra moisture absorbers for your tablets.

If they crumble at room temp that may be a humidity problem.

You can ask your pharmacist to save extra for you. The best drugs to save from are coated ones. (to avoid contamination)

The ones in the canisters are better than the paper packet kind.
The canisters can be rejuvenated with a blow dryer carefully so as not to melt them. (in the business we call them "do not eat"s;)

Give your pharmacist a ziploc to save some for you.
Don't store in kitchen or bathroom where humidity is highest.


The containers supplied with your drugs are typically pretty air tight...it is the opening/closing that lets the humidity in.

This looks like a good investment for long term storage and rejuvenation ...
http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Indi.../dp/B002VNI6L4

Good info, thank you all. I always keep mine in a closet on the north side of the house where it's cooler.

Pat

My pharmacist puts three of those tubular moisture absorbers in my mestinon. I've never had any problems with them crumbling.

But I will be changing my location of storage after reading this thread. For the last few days, I've been keeping all of my vitamins in this big basket that I keep by the window (it's -15 right now). I was putting my mestinon in there too. There's also a heater under the window, so sorta a really bad place to keep it...lol

Annie,

Thanks so much for the info! I had originally asked a pharmacist if it was ok to keep in the refrigerator and he said yes. Well, I called to make sure that the pills I had in the fridge were safe, he said they should be, but the potency may not be as good. He said that in their system it came up for the 30mg to be kept in the refrigerator, but the 60mg to be kept between the temperatures that the website states. It seems to me (and him on further inspection) that both of them should be kept at the temperature listed on the website, and to keep moisture absorbers in the bottle like others have suggested. Miscommunication can be a dangerous thing. Sorry for the wrong advice earlier. :(

:hug:
Kristy

Thanks, Kristy. I didn't mean to make you feel bad! It just goes to show how careful we need to be about drugs and info when we are sick. I never take a drug before I've read the insert. I've had doctors try to give me drugs, like in an ER setting, that I'm allergic to because they haven't read the insert or cross-referenced drugs against my list of allergies in their computer. I often ask for the drug printouts if I need to in an ER!

I'm glad you set it all straight with the pharmacy!

Annie