Storing and handling your medication: the practical guide

This is the least glamorous article in the Journal and possibly the most immediately useful. Medication that has been stored badly may not work properly, and you will generally have no way of telling by looking at it.

Read your own product information first

Storage requirements differ between products and between before and after first use. The leaflet that arrives with your medication is authoritative; this article is orientation, not a substitute for it.

If your leaflet and this page ever disagree, follow the leaflet.

The general shape of it

Across this class:

• **Before first use**, medication is generally kept refrigerated.
• **After first use**, many products allow a defined period at room temperature — the length of that window varies by product.
• **Never freeze it.** This is the rule with no exceptions. A frozen product is discarded, not thawed and used, even if it looks fine.
• **Keep it out of direct sunlight and heat.** Relevant year-round in the Philippines, and especially in a parked car or a bag left in the sun.
• **Do not use past the expiry date**, or past the in-use period once started.

Fridge mistakes people actually make

The common ones, all avoidable:

• **Storing it in the fridge door.** The door is the warmest, most temperature-variable part of a fridge. Use a middle shelf.
• **Pushing it to the back**, where some fridges run cold enough to freeze. This is the single most common way medication gets ruined at home.
• **Storing it against the back wall**, for the same reason.
• **Assuming a power outage did not matter.** If you have had an extended brownout, check your product information for guidance rather than guessing.

A cheap fridge thermometer removes all of this doubt for the price of a coffee.

Handling and injecting

Your care team will walk you through technique — this is the general shape:

• Wash your hands.
• Inspect the medication. If it is discoloured, cloudy when it should not be, or has visible particles, do not use it. Contact your care team.
• Many people find injecting more comfortable if the medication is not straight-from-the-fridge cold. Check your product guidance on whether letting it reach room temperature is appropriate.
• **Rotate injection sites** rather than using the same spot repeatedly.
• **A new needle every time.** Reusing needles is a genuine infection and dosing-accuracy risk, not a corner worth cutting.

If you are on a vial-and-syringe format, be certain you understand your dose in the units printed on your syringe. Ask your care team to confirm it rather than inferring — see branded pens vs. compounded vials.

Sharps disposal

Used needles do not go in household rubbish. Ever.

• Use a proper sharps container, or a rigid puncture-proof container with a secure lid as an interim measure.
• Never recap a needle by hand.
• Do not overfill — seal it when it is about three-quarters full.
• Ask your pharmacy or local health facility about disposal. Arrange this **before** the container is full, not after.

If something goes wrong

If you think a dose was stored improperly, do not use it and do not guess. Contact your care team — see when to call your doctor. Replacing a dose is a small problem; injecting a compromised one is a larger one.

Travelling adds its own considerations — see travelling with GLP-1 medication.

Always follow the storage and handling instructions supplied with your specific product. Read the Important Safety Information.