HEALTH
+
Imagine a hazy Sunday morning cloaked with the worst kind of hangover. A pounding headache makes your skull throb as you recall those countless rounds of Jägerbombs. You reach for a bottle of ibuprofen that expired a year ago, pop a couple pills and gulp them down with a tall glass of water, praying that your pain disappears soon. Two hours later, the same agonizing migraine pulsates through your temples.
That's what could happen if you take expired medication.
Nathaniel Vigil, a senior from Austin, Texas, found himself in a similar situation a couple weeks ago when a stuffy nose and deep cough clouded the start to his semester. He began taking Sudafed to ease his symptoms. After taking his first dose, Vigil examined the box and discovered the medicine had expired over a year ago. Vigil immediately tossed the medication and hopped in his car toward the pharmacy.
Tama Sawyer, the director of the Poison Control Center at the University of Kansas and a pharmacist, says as time goes on medication may lose its effectiveness. That's why Lisa Oller, also a pharmacist and a senior certified specialist in poison information at the University
of Kansas Hospital Poison Center, doesn't recommend anyone take medication after its expiration date.
"If it is expired, it should probably be replaced," Oller says. "Think of it kind of like something in your kitchen cabinet that is expired. Do you really want to eat that?"
It's not hard to find the expiration date on most medications. Oller says the expiration date for over-the-counter medication can usually be found on the back of the bottle. Sawyer says it's a good idea for shopper to check the expiration date before they make a purchase. Otherwise, they could only be throwing their money away on old medication.
"If you shop at Dollar General Store or other outlet-type store, make sure you check the expiration date," Sawyer says. "I have found many of these products are already expired at the time of purchase."
Just because medication hasn't expired doesn't mean it's still as potent as the day it was produced. If medication isn't stored properly, it may stop working long before its expiration date.
Oller says humidity and moisture can affect the actual composition of the medication and can cause the drugs to degrade more rapidly as
EXPIRED MEDS
STILL DEPENDABLE OR JUST PLAIN DANGEROUS?
// JUSTINE PATTON
well. Sawyer says medication should be stored in a place with a stable temperature. The glove box of a car, for example, is probably the worst possible location. Oller discourages storing medication in refrigerators as well, unless otherwise noted on the bottle, as refrigerators often provide easy access for children.
The good news? Taking most expired medications won't cause sickness. However, a few medications become poisonous after they have expired. Sawyer says a class of drugs prescribed primarily to treat acne, which includes Tetracycline, Doxycycline and Minocycline, can have serious effects on individuals' kidneys if they ingest the medication after the expiration date. Oller says insulin and liquid antibiotics are also unsafe to take after they expire because they degrade more rapidly than other medications and lose their effectiveness quickly.
Shelby McCreery, a sophomore from Shawnee, says she only checks the expiration date on her prescription medications. McCreery says when she takes over-the-counter medications, such as Advil for a headache, most of the time she doesn't notice the expiration date.
Sawyer says just because medication isn't expired doesn't mean individuals should hold onto it.
"If it is a prescription medication, take it as directed and don't hoard the remainder for the next time you get sick," Sawyer says, "Your illness may not be the same."
Sawyer also discourages passing medication onto someone else with similar symptoms.
Instead, she recommends getting rid of it.
Disposing of medication the right way is really pretty simple — but there are a lot of wrong ways as well. Oller discourages flushing expired medication down the toilet, whether it is liquid or solid, because the drugs potentially could get into the public water supply, which includes the water pouring out of kitchen faucets. This could cause problems for people with allergies, pregnant women and small children as well.
HOW TO DISPOSE OF MEDICATION:
+ Put unused or expired solid medication in a sealable bag.
+ Don't forget unused or expired pet medications.
+ Add unused or expired liquid medications.
+ Add a small amount of water to help dissolve solid medications.
+ Add kitty litter, sawdust, or coffee grounds to make medicine unattractive to children and animals.
+ Seal and gently mix the contents together.
+ Toss the bag into the trash.
+ Remove and destroy personal information on medicine containers.
+ Toss, or where possible, recycle medicine containers.
Source: www.smarxdisposal.net
library expansion approved
The expansion will include the construction of a new parking lot and the addition of 100 public computers.
INDEX
Classifieds ... 9A
Crossword... 4A
Cryptoquips ... 4A
Opinion... 5A
Sports... 12A
Sudoku... 4A
You Bakery, on Jan. 28. The owners said they hoped to fulfill students' and residents' desires for late night sweets after a late night on the town, while staying up to study or while staying in with friends. They said their goal was to have the cookies at their customers' doorsteps as fast as Jimmy John's does.
A VISIONARY,
A BUSINESSMAN AND
A BAKER
Rafferty, McCallough and Olsen said they put a lot of time and effort into making the company run smoothly.
Rafferty is the visionary. He came up with the idea for the bakery after seeing something similar succeed while he was at school in Colorado. He said he thought one in Lawrence could make money, too.
McCallough is the businessman.
"I ordered their cookies last Thursday with my friends and I have never had a better chocolate chip cookie," said Shannon Spurlock, a junior from Burlingame, Calif. "All of the cookies they serve are great. I would know because I ordered one of every kind to be sure I ate
"the best cookies ever."
"I decided to go ahead and make the recipes myself just because it would be better for our ingredients and our storage purposes," Olsen said. "This doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense unless you know exactly what is in our cookies, which is a secret."
While Lucky You Bakery has not been open long enough to determine how much it makes on an average night, business has tripled since opening weekend, said McCollough. So far, the owners have handed out a few flyers and have mainly relied on word of mouth, Facebook and Twitter to generate business.
y had received the they and they were especially excited about what they had learned.
"It has been a cool lesson of interdependence to see how we all click together," McCollough said.
As for where they are headed, none of them really know. With brownies to join their menu soon, Rafferty hopes for expansion. He said some day they may even like to have a store front.
The cookies cost $6 for six or $12 for 13. Lucky You Bakery is open for delivery Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Customers can order online at luckyyoubakery.com or by calling (785) 855-1466.
"We want it to grow." Rafferty said. "We want to continue perfecting what we do, but we don't know how large the market is. It's going to be a journey."
Edited by Helen Mubarak
Aaron Harris/KANSAN
Above: Bailey Olsen, a senior from Overland Park, measures ingredients for a cookie mix. Olsen, Jack Rafferty, a senior from Shawnee, and Will McCullough, a 2008 alumus, opened Lucky You Bakery, a cookie delivery service, two weeks ago.
Top: Balley Olson, a senior from Shawnee Park, WM McCullough, a 2008 KU alum, and Jack Rafferty, a senior from Shawnee, own a local cookie delivery business called Lucky You Bakery.
The Suarez sisters work to uncover bones from an unknown dinosaur species found at a dig site in Utah. The twin sisters named this species Geminiraptor suarezarum.
DINOSAUR
Species named after graduates
BY LISA ANDERSEN landersen@kansan.com
In 2004, twin KU graduates Celina and Marina Suarez discovered a new dinosaur species; now the species is officially named after them: geminiraptor suarezarum.
The 29-year-old geochem-
ists from San Antoni made the discovery while doing research at a separate site in Utah. The two began following a layer of rock that strayed from the site. Marina wandered into a gully
SEE DINO ON PAGE 5A
where they saw bones sticking out from the rock.
After spotting limb and toe bones, the sisters came back the next morning with a group of
"I remember my sister saying 'Wow! Jackpot!" Celina said. "We were pretty excited and knew we had found a significant site."
School of Social Welfare faces cuts
BY CLAYTON ASHLEY cashley@kansan.com
The Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center in Lawrence is facing a state funding cut for the fifth year in a row, creating a potentially negative effect on the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.
Dave Johnson, CEO of Bert Nash, was candid about his plans for the potential $372,000 cut.
"This particular cut we're going to fight as hard as we can," he said.
Gov. Sam Brownback's proposed 2011 budget calls for $15 million in
SEE BUDGET ON PAGE 5A