[DoorsOfPerception]

A friend took One and a half Tylenol 3 tablets a few hours ago (Acetaminophen and Codeine Phosphate), which amounts to 450 mg Acetaminophen and 45 mg codeine.The problem is, he checked the expiration date a few minutes after he took them, and found that the bottle said to discard by 4/5/08... and now, of course, it is 5/18/08- I know that some drugs are dangerous to take after they expire, are codeine or acetaminophen very bad? It is only a month and a half expired, so will they still be okay?

[Liam S]

Expiration dates on drugs are usually very long so a month or so would rarely make enough difference for them to be dangerous. I think the main concern is that they get less effective after this time.