(no subject)

[phosfate]

Mom left behind a giant jar of St Joseph Children's Asprin in the medicine cabinet. It's good until, like, 2015, so I'm trying to use it. But it's very strange to choke down 6-8 tiny pills every time I get a headache. I know that one day, I'm gonna swallow wrong and one's going to go straight into my brain.

Comments

[ymfaery]

Does this apply to other OTC drugs as well, or just aspirin?

[kamiki-seto.livejournal.com]

Just aspirin produces that odor...other drugs break down differently

The chemical name for aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. (This is why it's so hard on the stomach.) When aspirin breaks down, it breaks down into acetic acid and salicylic acid. Exposure to moisture and humidity are the most common causes of this breakdown. (Not good to keep aspirin in a humid bathroom.)

Acetic acid is vinegar.

So if you smell vinegar in an aspirin bottle, it's a sign the aspirin has started to break down chemically. It won't hurt you to use - but it won't be effective and it ends up being much harder on the stomach.

Aspirin is so cheap anyhow that it's not worth keeping if there's any suspicion it's started to break down.

The stuff has a fascinating history....neat article on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin