Proper storage Many medicines must be in the refrigerator

Cool and dry: this is how medicines are best stored
Most medicines should always be protected from heat. Some preparations must always be stored in the refrigerator, as they may lose their effectiveness if stored incorrectly. Experts explain how medicines are best kept.

Protect medication from heat
It is known to most people that it is better to protect medicines from the heat in the summer. But even if the temperatures are not so high, some medicines must be stored in the refrigerator. For some preparations, it is even required that they be continuously cooled. If drugs are stored incorrectly, they can lose their effect, warns the Federal Chamber of Pharmacists.

Especially in the summer, medicines must be protected from heat. Some medicines are always stored in the refrigerator. Otherwise they lose their effectiveness. (Image: F.Schmidt/fotolia.com)

Information on storage on the leaflet
Information on correct storage, for example on storage temperature, can be found on the original packaging of the medicine and in its package leaflet, writes the Federal Ministry of Health.

This should therefore always be kept - if you want to read something later.

As a rule, medicines must be stored at room temperature, dry and protected from light. It is therefore recommended not to keep the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

Ideally, most medicines are kept below 25 degrees Celsius. In the car and on trips, it may therefore often be useful to pack also preparations for which no cooling is prescribed, for example in a cooler without cooling elements.

Medicines in the vegetable compartment
"Whether a drug must be stored cool, is usually on the packaging or on the leaflet. In a consultation, we also point out the patient, "said Regine Quinke, spokeswoman for pharmacists in Wuppertal, in a contribution of the" Wuppertal Rundschau ".

If the words "store in the refrigerator" are printed, this means that the medication should be kept at a constant between two and eight degrees Celsius.

"Ideally, you keep medicines that belong in the fridge in the vegetable compartment. Here is the optimal temperature for medication. Plus, it's relatively evenly cool, "says Quinke.

Under no circumstances, such drugs should be stored in the storage of the refrigerator door, because there is no uniformly cool temperature because of the frequent opening.

Medicaments that are stored too warm may lose their effect. Patients are not necessarily aware of this and therefore do not know that drug therapy is no longer effective.

Comply with cold chain
For example, medicines that always need to be refrigerated are different types of insulins. In addition, for most vaccines, for example, for hepatitis A / B or tetanus a cooling requirement.

And also so-called biologicals, which are used against rheumatism or cancer, must be permanently cooled. If the packaging says "Store and transport refrigerated", the cold chain must not be interrupted under any circumstances.

So when transporting home, care must be taken that the medicines are refrigerated. For this one can use, among other things, insulated pockets or styrofoam containers, wherein direct contact between medicaments and cooling elements should be avoided at all costs.

Since freezing the medication may reduce the effect, it is best to wrap it with a towel to avoid direct contact with cooling elements.

Cold-chain medications include measles, mumps and rubella vaccines and yellow fever. In addition, some metered dose inhalers against asthma and some glaucoma eye drops need to be cooled continuously.

Very important to know: "If drugs such as some eye drops are stored in the refrigerator, they should be briefly warmed immediately before use," writes the Federal Association of German Pharmacists Associations (ABDA) in a press release.

"Even ear drops are warmed better tolerated. To bring the medicines to body temperature, it is enough to take them for a few minutes in the hand or in the pocket, "the experts said. (Ad)