Expired Morphine

I have several 15 mg tablets of MS Contin. They are 4+ years old. What is the shelf life of this medication?

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From what others have stated, Morphine has an expected shelf life of 2 years. However, there's actually a lot of conflicting information out there around the topic of expired medication. According to a Harvard Medical School family health article, except in rare cases (i.e. tetracycline), there is little chance of danger due to taking medications even up to 15 years beyond their expiration date. This conclusion was based upon a study conducted at the request of the US military due to stockpiles of expensive drugs they could otherwise need to replace every few years. The conclusion was that 90% of those drugs remained effective 10 - 15 years after the expiration date.

But the question is whether or not the drug you have happens to be one of these drugs from the study... (I have not seen the list of drugs used in this study).

Source: health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml

With solid information like that, I would still feel comfortable giving it's potency a chance if you really have no other means of pain management. I hope this info helps!

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How long does an unopened Rx bottle of morphine last? I'm cleaning out my closet and found an Rx dated 2013. Is it OK to take?

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Just ran out of my morphine sulfate er 30 mg which I take morning and night (approx. 12 hours apart. Being Sunday, I can't get in to see my doctor). I have the morphine sulfate er 15 mg bottle left over that I had just before my doctor switched me to the Morphine sulfate er 30 with 4 days of pills left which I would have to double up on each dose to make the 30 mg each. They are a bit over a year old (05/13/2016). Is it ok to take them?

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