[hamster-bamster]

Usually, I peel off the label (the identifying part of it) before recycling empty bottles that contained Lithium pills, because Lithium is a giveway bipolar drug and I do not want my neighbors - in a huge apartment complex - to know I have it.

With Synthroid bottles, I do not bother, since it is not a psychiatric drug. That I take it to compensate for the damage done by Lithium and not due to an organic hypothyroidism is too much for a neighbor to suspect.

I had a little experiment looking for a simpler way to preserve confidentiality - I took a black Sharpie and tried to cover all the confidential information on my medication bottles. It did NOT work!

So I wrote the post (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Livin...70022196607489) and am pasting it below.

If somebody has an easier way than mine (peeling off labels every month is annoying), please share. Thanks!

Stigma is alive and well, so protecting the privacy of your medical information is key.

Before recycling or otherwise disposing of empty medication bottles, peel off the paper label and shred it. Note that even taking a Sharpie to go over your name, the name of the prescribing doctor, and the pharmacy information is not sufficient - the identifying info might still be visible because the marks left by a Sharpie are semi-transparent.

If you do not have a shredder, look for shredding events in your community, which are more often than not free.

Every paper record that is connected with your taking psychiatric medications or seeing a mental health professional MUST BE SHREDDED if you do not need it - that includes leaflets that often come with prescription drugs.

[hamster-bamster]

I am now thinking that the best way is to take the bottles to the pharmacy and they dispose of it professionally. But that would only work well for people who get their meds at a brick-and-mortar pharmacy - you drop off the old bottle for proper disposal and pick up a new bottle.

i get the medications in the mail, so for me it would be an extra trip... still, something to think about (maybe combined with grocery shopping). Also, the community mental health clinic I go to has a mailbox-like receptacle for disposing of old/unneeded medications. I guess it can be used for empty bottles, too.

[Raindropvampire]

I don't know if this is how all labels are or not BUT the labels that my pharmacy uses has ink in them. It's like how most receipts are printed heat brings out the ink. So if I take a lighter or other heat source to my prescription label it releases the ink and the whole thing turns black and illegible. Hope that made sense.

There have been several exposes on TV about pharmacies just throwing bottles given to them in the trash. I know Wal-green's has gotten called out for it several times. I would never trust someone else to get rid of my labels.

[hamster-bamster]

thanks very much! I did not know about the exposes. I will try the heat tip on my labels. What an interesting solution!

[Raindropvampire]

Well I have trouble peeling the labels so I thought I'd try heat to loosen it. To my surprise the whole thing just turned black Happy accident

[Blitter2014]

Can you soak the label off and make the ink run by leaving it soaking it in a sink of water overnight?

[Velouria]

Good thread, hamster-bamster! I do exactly the same thing, peel off the labels. And then I tear the labels into pieces. It's a pain in the butt.

I'm gonna try Raindropvampire's idea and use a heat source next time. Thanks for this!

[HALLIEBETH87]

Try soaking the bottles in the bath tub over night to get it off easier

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by Blitter2014

Can you soak the label off and make the ink run by leaving it soaking it in a sink of water overnight?

I will try that, too, next time I have an empty bottle.

I soak wet cat food cans before I recycle them anyway, so it would be trivial to just throw an empty bottle into the dish pan.

[BipolaRNurse]

Wow, I never even thought about that---every month I've just been chucking the empty Rx bottles in the trashcan. I live in a house not an apartment complex, but still I don't necessarily want people to know I'm on half-a-dozen psych meds! Thanks for bringing this up, Hammy.

[hamster-bamster]

I am already testing the soaking method. first, the empty bottle kept popping up in the pan, but then - thanks Archimedes - I filled it with water and it immediately sunk to the bottom of the pan. After an hour, I could scratch the label fine, but it was still annoying and time consuming; I am waiting to see what happens after the bottle has been soaked overnight; hopefully, the label would just come off without effort.

[Sometimes psychotic]

You Can get thick metallic ink pens at art supply stores, they are opaque....acrylic paint would also work...possibly white out...

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by Sometimes psychotic

You Can get thick metallic ink pens at art supply stores, they are opaque....acrylic paint would also work...possibly white out...

Amazon.com: Sakura Gelly Roll Marking Pen Opaque White for white out?

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by Blitter2014

Can you soak the label off and make the ink run by leaving it soaking it in a sink of water overnight?

YES!

See this post with a picture of a completely white bottle with no traces of the label whatsoever:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Livin...70022196607489

Except that I did it in a pan and not in a sink - I am paranoid about the sink possibly overflowing because I live in an old building and the plumbing is not good and the faucets leak.

Heh. It's good to know I'm not the only one. (BF thinks -- and accurately so -- that I run on the paranoid side…)

95% of the labels are on WAY too well! I've scraped, pulled, soaked, used Goo Gone, you name it -- and still it's a time-consuming total p.i.t.a. to even get it gnawed up enough to preclude info procurement, let alone be satisfied with the thoroughness of the results.

But I can't not do it. No way.

I have also done the bring-them-to-the-pharmacy-for-"recycling" thing. I'd still scrape off at least my name. I did that for quite awhile. Then just recently, I brought some in, and the person in the pharmacy confided that they don't really recycle them. Duly noted, and back to the full-on label assault it was…

Raindropvampire, your idea intrigued me so much I ran straight off and tried it. (I used a hair blow drier.) Mine did not turn black, BUT the label became easy to peel off cleanly! In very little time at all.

THANK YOU!!!
This will save untold hours…

[hamster-bamster]

Thank you to the people who exposed that pharmacies do not live up to their promises of "safe" disposal.

I recorded that - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Livin...70022196607489

Like Innerzone, I will now try the blow dryer method.

[~Christina]

LOL I just answered your other thread in the meds portion of this site..

Bic lighter = problem solved

Why scrape when you can burn a few seconds

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

LOL I just answered your other thread in the meds portion of this site..

Bic lighter = problem solved

Why scrape when you can burn a few seconds

I can explain. I soak cat food cans - my city requires that they be rinsed, but if I rinse them right after emptying them, they do not rinse well and I have been known to get scratches - so I soak them in a pan overnight and next day they are completely clean. So for me throwing a bottle in a pan in which I am already soaking empty cans is no big deal.

If you do not soak anything, then a lighter is more convenient.

[heyxxmcfly]

I'm not sure which pharmacy you use but the one I work in is required to put all pill cases in a specific 'hippa bin' and we have an outside company that takes the bags, and paper waste away to be disposed of. Who ever told you they dont recycle bottles should be fired. Most places are required to have safe disposal.
My area has alot of "Take Back Events " where the police set up booths and take all un-used or old drugs away to be disposed of.