Extra meds.

karen40
karen40 Member Posts: 211 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi all,
I just finished my last round of xelox on 10/31/11 and could not be any happier. On this happy day, I decided to clean out my med. drawer. I found things ranging from surgical wound care to butt cream to laxatives to nausea meds. to extra xeloda and so on. That's right, I said it: "extra xeloda". Earlier on in my treatment, the onc. lowered my dosage of xeloda from 1800mg to 1500mg a day. My script was already filled when the onc. decided to change the dosage,which,left me with 56 tablets of 150mg of xeloda. I put them in the drawer and completely forgot about them. (chemo brain - gets me mad) My delima: What should I do with them? Is there a proper protocol for dealing with unused meds? I don't want to throw them out. They're expensive. I know someone out there can use them. Unclear on how to handle the situation. Post or send me a pm on your thoughts.
Thank you, Karen

Comments

  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    #2
    KAREN_KAREN_KAREN_KAREN

    You can crush them all into one big pile, and sell the powder to
    any number of crack-heads around town. ($$$$$$$)

    Ok seriously?

    The "hospice" nurses that visited my mother's house after she
    died, flushed all 21,587 bottles of pills down the drain.

    Now, of course, "they" tell us that it's a major source of pollution
    (as if the entire population flushes this stuff daily)... and that the
    recommended way is to notify the "hazardous wastes" authority
    and have them pick it up and properly dispose of it.

    That will cost a few bux, and end up in the landfill anyway, but
    at least the lil' fish aren't hooked or kooked...

    I'd vote to flush 'em down. One person's prescription shouldn't be
    taken by someone else, regardless of good intentions.

    (I like you anyway, and if you ever have some Mary Jane or Snow
    to share, drop me a note ASAP, OK?) (shhhhhh)

    Smile, and feel better!

    John
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #3
    Pharmacy
    Contact your pharmacy or even your local senior center as both of these places in our city dispose of the medications. Congratulations on finishing your meds.

    Kim
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #4
    If any of your meds are in sealed containers
    you can ask if there is a way they can be used. No, a pharmacy can't take them back (except to properly dispose of them.) But I gave my extra Emend to my oncology office, for people who couldn't afford that. Technically - it's a no-no, but each Emend pill is separately wrapped in its cardboard packaging, so the nurses accepted it.

    I agree that I hate to see meds thrown away, but I do understand the concern for tampering with the contents.

    Congrats on finishing your chemo. Now on to a happy, HEALTHY life!

    Alice
  • karen40
    karen40 Member Posts: 211 Member
    #5
    abrub said:

    If any of your meds are in sealed containers
    you can ask if there is a way they can be used. No, a pharmacy can't take them back (except to properly dispose of them.) But I gave my extra Emend to my oncology office, for people who couldn't afford that. Technically - it's a no-no, but each Emend pill is separately wrapped in its cardboard packaging, so the nurses accepted it.

    I agree that I hate to see meds thrown away, but I do understand the concern for tampering with the contents.

    Congrats on finishing your chemo. Now on to a happy, HEALTHY life!

    Alice

    I flushed them
    Neither the pharmacy or the senior center in my town take back any unused meds. Unfortunately the xeloda I had was not individually wrapped, I can understand if one would be concerned about tampering, so I decided to flush them. Thanks for your suggestions, anyhow.
    Karen
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #6
    karen40 said:

    I flushed them
    Neither the pharmacy or the senior center in my town take back any unused meds. Unfortunately the xeloda I had was not individually wrapped, I can understand if one would be concerned about tampering, so I decided to flush them. Thanks for your suggestions, anyhow.
    Karen

    I Wish I Saw This Sooner
    There are very many people who can not afford the high cost of these life-saving medications and there are some programs out there where one can donate the meds so others who need them could benefit from them. Flushing them is NOT a good idea at all or any meds. There is an enormous global problem with not enough clean drinking water. Water will be the next oil that everyone will fight over.
    I will try to research this a bit more and post a list on my expressions page. I know it's after the fact, in the past I've also flushed old meds.
    Now I know it's not the correct way to dispose of them.
    Cancer drugs, even those that are outdated, can still help others who can't afford them.

    I am happy for you that you no longer need them.
    Congrats...
    -phil
  • karen40
    karen40 Member Posts: 211 Member
    #7
    PhillieG said:

    I Wish I Saw This Sooner
    There are very many people who can not afford the high cost of these life-saving medications and there are some programs out there where one can donate the meds so others who need them could benefit from them. Flushing them is NOT a good idea at all or any meds. There is an enormous global problem with not enough clean drinking water. Water will be the next oil that everyone will fight over.
    I will try to research this a bit more and post a list on my expressions page. I know it's after the fact, in the past I've also flushed old meds.
    Now I know it's not the correct way to dispose of them.
    Cancer drugs, even those that are outdated, can still help others who can't afford them.

    I am happy for you that you no longer need them.
    Congrats...
    -phil

    I wish I would have known
    I haven't heard of any programs that took back unused meds. Please, post the names and addresses to these organizations, so no one else makes the same mistake.
    I have a septic system where I'm at now. I thought flushing meds. down the toilet would just send them into the ground and that they would eventually biodegrade. I know. I know. It's more complicated then that. I willing to be educated. By the way, don't we just flush the metabolites to our meds. down the toilet every time we relieve ourselves. Is this not as damaging to the environment as flushing the meds? Anyone?
    Karen
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #8
    karen40 said:

    I wish I would have known
    I haven't heard of any programs that took back unused meds. Please, post the names and addresses to these organizations, so no one else makes the same mistake.
    I have a septic system where I'm at now. I thought flushing meds. down the toilet would just send them into the ground and that they would eventually biodegrade. I know. I know. It's more complicated then that. I willing to be educated. By the way, don't we just flush the metabolites to our meds. down the toilet every time we relieve ourselves. Is this not as damaging to the environment as flushing the meds? Anyone?
    Karen

    Burial at Sea...
    I remember that when I started chemo, FOLFOX with Avastin, they asked if I had little kids in the house. I did. They told me to flush twice when I peed.
    :-(
    I will try to find out more about the meds and post it when I do.
    Phil

    Just found this post on the Colon Club website.
    I'll start a new thread.
  • karen40
    karen40 Member Posts: 211 Member
    #9
    John23 said:

    KAREN_KAREN_KAREN_KAREN

    You can crush them all into one big pile, and sell the powder to
    any number of crack-heads around town. ($$$$$$$)

    Ok seriously?

    The "hospice" nurses that visited my mother's house after she
    died, flushed all 21,587 bottles of pills down the drain.

    Now, of course, "they" tell us that it's a major source of pollution
    (as if the entire population flushes this stuff daily)... and that the
    recommended way is to notify the "hazardous wastes" authority
    and have them pick it up and properly dispose of it.

    That will cost a few bux, and end up in the landfill anyway, but
    at least the lil' fish aren't hooked or kooked...

    I'd vote to flush 'em down. One person's prescription shouldn't be
    taken by someone else, regardless of good intentions.

    (I like you anyway, and if you ever have some Mary Jane or Snow
    to share, drop me a note ASAP, OK?) (shhhhhh)

    Smile, and feel better!

    John

    Thanks
    Hey John,
    Thanks for your response. Wow,your mom sure had a lot of pill bottles. I thought I had a lot. (20-30 bottles) As for tossing the extra xeloda, I'll have to sleep on it. I just don't feel right about doing it.
    Karen

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