# Miralax - effectiveness if frozen



## Stevect06 (Jun 20, 2014)

I accidentally left the Miralax that I bought in the car overnight, it was in the 20s. Should it still be effective?


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

that's a good question. i'd call a pharmacist and ask . he/she would be your best source of information.

or you could call the manufacturer. their 800 number should be on the label.

good luck! let us know what you find out.


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## Stevect06 (Jun 20, 2014)

Thanks - good idea re: the pharmacist, called the 800 Miralax number, they don't take calls on Saturday.

Just called a pharmacy, the pharmacist said 'good question' ! He did say it's not good to freeze many medications - but since this is a powder

possibly there wouldn't be any harm. When he mentioned it's a molecule that absorbs moisture, I asked whether the structure or characteristics

of the molecule could be altered. That was the good question - I suggested I'll call again Monday (I think it's Bayer) to see what they say. The

pharmacist agreed.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

Stevect06 said:


> I accidentally left the Miralax that I bought in the car overnight, it was in the 20s. Should it still be effective?


You could always just take some and find out.


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## Stevect06 (Jun 20, 2014)

I was thinking of opening the new container and trying it. But with me it's hard to tell - there will still be days (or a few) where things don't 'happen' much. I submitted the question on Bayer's website. I don't need it yet - bought it yesterday because the $5 coupon expired today.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

good luck, Steve, if you decide to try it


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## Stevect06 (Jun 20, 2014)

Thanks Annie, looked on the container - as expected nothing about freezing. But there's probably not many out there that would do an absent minded thing like I did!

The other question I'll ask Bayer is what's the shelf life of the product - I have another container I bought with a coupon a few months ago. Probably (and hopefully) a long time.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

there should be an expiration date right on the container somewhere.

back when i was using miralax--both the name brand and the generic--there was always an expiration date on the container. i currently have a bottle of purelax (cvs' generic miralax) for one of our cats ( she suffers from C, poor thing) and it has an expiration date on it--which i just now noticed has passed lol...


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## Stevect06 (Jun 20, 2014)

Thanks for the tip Annie re: the expiration date, I should have known that! Good to see the container that's almost gone is good till April 2018.

Sorry one of your cats has C. All of mine (5) I think are OK with that I believe. I guess it's a good thing we got on the expiration subject! I was wondering about generic/store brand versions of the product, if they are as effective. Since Miralax generally works for me I better stick with it.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

oh yes--if the brand name works for you, definitely stick with it . i know generics are supposed to be the same med as the brand name but for me, the brand name dulcolax worked much better than the generic bisacodyl. so i stuck with the brand name, even though it was more expensive than the generic. if it works, it's worth the cost. you can't put a price on relief!

five cats--good for you! i love them.. and like they say, cats are like potato chips--you can't have too many








. sweetie--the constipated kitty--is on cisapride and lactulose for her C and we add in miralax if it gets really bad. thankfully, all these things work for her. cisapride is a very effective prokinetic which unfortunately was withdrawn from the market for humans but it's still available for cats.

hope you hear from Bayer soon.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

In regards to generics vs name brand, sometimes it pays to read the fine print. I worked for a large pharmaceutical company for a little less than 5 years. We made name brand pharmaceutical drugs and generic drugs. After we ran a lot (aka a shipment) of a name brand drug, we would clear the line then sometimes run the exact same drug under a generic label. Point being sometimes they are the exact same thing.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

that's interesting, Flossy--thanks


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## Stevect06 (Jun 20, 2014)

Per Bayer the product should be stored within a specified temperature range, which of course I exceed in a big way on the low side! I didn't think to check for that information on the container. Once again - the initial response was 'Good question'. I do have to say their customer service representative was very pleasant to work with. I participated in a survey - my thoughts are the more input/feedback they get about 'us' the better.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

thanks for the update, Steve. that's great that Bayer has such good customer service! and oh yes you are so right--the more input they have on us the better!


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