Instability of nitroglycerin tablets (2024)

FAQs

How stable are nitroglycerin tablets after being opened? ›

The tablets kept in small, amber, tightly capped glass bottles in a refrigerator maintain their potency for three to five months if bottles are opened once a week. After five months the unused tablets should be discarded.

Nitroglycerin may not work as well after you have used it for some time or if you have taken many doses. Take the fewest tablets needed to relieve the pain of your attacks. If your angina attacks happen more often, last longer, or become more severe at any time during your treatment, call your doctor.

Nitroglycerin spray or pills can be administered every 5 minutes to a total dose of three SL pills, or three sprays [Including what patient had taken prior to arrival].

Low blood pressure: This drug may lower your blood pressure. This can cause lightheadedness, dizziness, and fainting when you stand up. This is called orthostatic hypotension.

Store the sublingual powder at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Sublingual tablets should be kept in the original glass bottle. Screw the cap on tightly after each use and store the bottle at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light.

Many medical waste disposal companies still advise their customers to treat nitroglycerin as a P-Listed RCRA waste.

1 tablet may be used every 5 minutes as needed, for up to 15 minutes. Do not take more than 3 tablets in 15 minutes. To prevent angina from exercise or stress, use 1 tablet 5 to 10 minutes before the activity. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.

A serious problem in the use of nitroglycerin results from its high freezing point (13 °C [55 °F]). This disadvantage is overcome by using mixtures of nitroglycerin with other polynitrates; for example, a mixture of nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate freezes at −29 °C (−20 °F).

You can predict when symptoms will happen, but they may come on sooner, feel worse, or last longer. Get help right away if you have angina symptoms that do not follow your typical pattern. For example, your symptoms may happen at rest or not go away with nitroglycerin. It may mean you are having a heart attack.

Some products that may interact with this drug include: drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction-ED or pulmonary hypertension (such as sildenafil, tadalafil), certain drugs to treat migraine headaches (ergot alkaloids such as ergotamine), riociguat, vericiguat.

Who Cannot take nitroglycerin? ›

Known history of increased intracranial pressure, severe anemia, right-sided myocardial infarction, or hypersensitivity to nitroglycerin are contraindications to nitroglycerin therapy.

Saliva around the tablet will help it to dissolve more quickly. Do not eat or drink, smoke or chew tobacco while a tablet is dissolving.

As discussed, sublingual medications get absorbed by the tissue under your tongue and pass directly into the bloodstream. This may be an advantage if you have any health conditions that affect your GI tract or liver. They generally start working faster than traditional oral medications.

Giving aspirin several minutes before nitroglycerin may potentiate this process, and this may be the reason why patients who received their first nitroglycerin after aspirin were feeling better.

Stopping chest pain during an angina attack

You use glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) tablets and spray under your tongue. The medicine is absorbed into your body very quickly this way, so you can take it for fast relief of chest pain caused by angina.

Instability and desensitization

In its undiluted form, nitroglycerin is a contact explosive, with physical shock causing it to explode. If it has not been adequately purified during manufacture it can degrade over time to even more unstable forms. This makes nitroglycerin highly dangerous to transport or use.

Official answer. According to a 1974 study, the shelf life of sublingual nitroglycerin tablets is 3 to 5 months¹ once the original bottle is opened. This was at a time when nitroglycerin tablets were supplied in bulk bottles and dispensed in smaller quantities by the pharmacy.

Elimination: Nitroglycerin plasma concentrations decrease rapidly, with a mean elimination half-life of 2 to 3 minutes. Half-life values range from 1.5 to 7.5 minutes. Clearance (13.6 L/min) greatly exceeds hepatic blood flow.

♥ Glyceryl trinitrate tablets expire three months (90 days) after the bottle has been opened, or on the expiry date printed on the bottle, whichever is first. ♥ Ask your pharmacist to dispose of any expired tablets for you.