Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

October 22, 2016October 5, 2019 Kelly O'Neill 1 Comment Living with chronic illness like RA, Tips for living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

It’s prescription drug take-back day in the U.S. Safely dispose of any unneeded or expired medications by dropping them off at a prescription drug take-back site October 28, 2017, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

National prescription drug take-back day

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sponsors the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative in the U.S. to provide a safe and responsible way to dispose of prescription drugs. The DEA hopes to educate the public concerning potential misuse of medications. It’s important that patients help prevent their medications from being misused by others.

Click here to find the nearest prescription drug take-back collection site for you.

Prescription drug take-back day is also an environmental activity

Discarding prescription drugs is an environmental problem we seldom hear about. Randal Marks, PhD student in environmental engineering at University of Notre Dame, described the gravity of the problem. According to Marks, traditional techniques of water treatment may not remove contaminants that result from drugs in drinking water. He explained: “A worrisome class of emerging contaminants in drinking water includes pharmaceutical drugs and their related metabolites. These contaminants are not effectively removed using traditional treatment techniques and may cause significant and wide ranging damage to environmental and human health.”

Prescription drug take-back can help protect the environment as much as it helps protect people from inappropriate access to drugs.Drug take-back can protect the environment and people from inappropriate access to drugs Click To Tweet

Do you need a prescription drug take-back day?

I do. Personally I have some expired medications in my safe and I’m relieved that I can dispose of them safely. I’ve also been worried about how to safely get rid of some liquid Lortab from when my doctor gave me very small doses to reduce side effects. Neither the trash dump nor the water supply is an acceptable place to discard medications.

More medication safety tips

I got a medication safe a few years ago when I realized that any guest in my house, especially a vulnerable young person, might have access to a dangerous combination of meds. A safe can lower that risk.

1) Keep dangerous or addictive medications locked up in a medication safe. Keep the safe in a dry place that others cannot easily access – not the bathroom.

2) If you do not have access to a prescription drug take-back site, you can dilute the medication and make it unusable by mixing it with another substance such as kitty litter. The DEA recommends that you then seal it in a plastic bag before you throw it away.

3) Check medication expiration dates yearly to find expired ones to discard. Most medicines become less effective as they age, but some can actually make you sick. Last month I got a prescription to replace an outdated medicine I keep on hand but didn’t use up. The doctor was glad to replace it.

Click here to get 20 more medication safety tips.

DO YOU NEED TO DISPOSE OF ANY OLD MEDICATIONS?

Recommended reading

Edited 10/27/17 to update take-back date.

Kelly O'Neill

Kelly O'Neill (formerly Kelly Young) has worked about 12 years as an advocate helping patients to be better informed and have a greater voice in their healthcare. She is the author of the best-selling book Rheumatoid Arthritis Unmasked: 10 Dangers of Rheumatoid Disease. Kelly received national acknowledgement with the 2011 WebMD Health Hero award. She is the president of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation. Through her writing and speaking, she builds a more accurate awareness of rheumatoid disease (RD) aka rheumatoid arthritis (RA) geared toward the public and medical community; creates ways to empower patients to advocate for improved diagnosis and treatment; and brings recognition and visibility to the RA patient journey. In addition to RA Warrior, she writes periodically for newsletters, magazines, and websites. There are over 60,000 connections of her highly interactive Facebook page. You can also connect with Kelly on Twitter or YouTube, or LinkedIn. She created the hashtag: #rheum. Kelly is a mother of five, longtime home-schooler, NASA enthusiast, and NFL fan. She has lived over fourteen years with unrelenting RD. See also https:/rawarrior.com/kelly-young-press/

One thought on “Prescription Drug Take-Back Day”

Sheri Randall
October 23, 2016 at 1:02 am
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Dear RA Warrier,
I have been trying to get a diagnosis for an immune disease for 2.5 years. Blood tests negative. Two primary docs said I didnt have it. Had severe carpal tunnel EMG test was done i believe to just to shut me up. I had a double last March. Whatever it is has progressed. Finally an appointment with an RA 11/11. Need to ask a question. At the onset of my pain and swelling 2.5 years ago I had an episode in the middle of the night. I was under attack. Burning fever, top half of my body’s joints on fire, terrible pain and completely muddled thoughts. Woke up next day to just have achy joints. From there the aches turned into pain. I had about 8 of these night time episodes with less severity. I ended up javing panic attacks on the middle of the night after the first occurance. It felt seriously like my body was under some sort of attack from all my senses. Ever hear of anyone having these episodes just preceeding the onset of RA symptoms?
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