Picture this: Your head is killing¹ you, so you open your medicine cabinet in hopes of finding some Advil. It's there! But wait. It expired a year ago. Now what?

想象一下：你现在头疼的厉害，所以你打开药柜希望找到Advil止痛药。找到了！但等一等，一年前药就过期了。现在该怎么办？

It's a predicament most of us have faced, so it begs the question: What do expiration² dates on over-the-counter and prescription³ drugs really mean, and is it ever safe to take expired medication? After all, who decided⁴ that your go-to migraine relief can't be consumed after, say, April 23, 2020?

大多数人都面临过这样的困境，所以引出了这样的问题：非处方药和处方药的过期日期意味着什么？吃过期的药是否安全？毕竟，谁规定了偏头痛止痛药过了2020年4月23日就不能吃了呢？

"By law, drug manufacturers are required to stamp an expiration date on their products," says Margarita Rohr, MD, of New York University Langone Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health. "This date represents the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee full potency⁵ and safety of the medication."

"根据法律规定的，药品制造商必须在药品上标明过期日期，"纽约大学Langone Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health的玛格丽塔·罗尔医学博士说道。"这个日期代表制造商仍可保证药物的完整药性和安全性。"ccording to Dr. Rohr, there's actually little scientific evidence that expired medications can be toxic⁶ or make you sick the way rotten food can. "The drug is likely to lose some potency after the expiration date, but it is not clear how much potency is lost over a certain period of time past expiration dates."

罗尔博士表示，事实上能够证明过期药物有毒或者会让你感到恶心（像腐烂食物那样）的科学证明非常少。"过期之后，药品可能会失去一定的药效，但尚不清楚过期后的某个时间段会失去多少药效。"

Just beware: Certain meds' expiration dates may matter more than others. "Insulin and nitroglycerin [which is used to treat chest pain] are known to very quickly lose their potency and therefore should not be used past expiration dates," notes Dr. Rohr. Other drugs that shouldn't be consumed after their use-by date include liquid antibiotics⁷, which aren't as stable as their pill counterparts, and some injectables. Norepinephrine (used to treat shock and low blood pressure), for example, should be discarded if you notice discoloration, adds Dr. Rohr.

但请注意：有些药物的过期日期可能比其它药品更为重要。"众所周知，用于治疗胸痛的胰岛素和硝酸甘油会很快失去药效，所以过期后不应使用，"罗尔博士指出。其它过期后不能再使用的药品包括：液体抗生素（没有固态抗生素稳定）和一些注射剂。例如，如果去甲肾上腺素（用于治疗休克和低血压）的颜色发生变化，则应丢弃，罗尔博士补充道。

As for how to decide when to swallow a drug that could potentially be past its prime, Dr. Rohr recommends considering why the medication is being taken in the first place. "If you are taking a blood thinner like warfarin to prevent blood clots⁸ or an anti-seizure medication like dilantin or phenobarbital, it would be important to make sure the medication has full potency to help prevent detrimental⁹ effects of medication failure," she says.

至于如何决定何时该吞下一种可能不再强效的药，罗尔博士建议，首先考虑一下为什么要服用这种药。"如果你正在用像华法令这样的血液稀释剂来预防血凝块或像二苯乙内酰脲这样的抗癫痫药物或镇静安眠剂，那确保这些药物的完整药效十分重要，以防止药物失效带来的有害影响，"她说道。