How do you store GTN sublingual tablets?
Store GTN sublingual tablets in their original container. They can be used for up to eight weeks after the container has been opened. After this time, get a fresh supply.
How is GTN stored?
Your Glyceryl Trinitrate tablets will be presented in a glass airtight container with a foil-lined cap. Keep them in this. After use reclose the bottle cap tightly. Do not put cotton wool, other drugs, or anything else in the bottle with the tablets.
Why is nitroglycerin in a glass bottle?
Abstract. Nitroglycerin is a volatile substance which evaporates from tablets if strict precautions are not taken. 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.
What precautions are taken when administering nitroglycerin?
Nitroglycerin sublingual tablets should not be chewed, crushed, or swallowed. They work much faster when absorbed through the lining of the mouth. Place the tablet under the tongue or between the cheek and gum, and let it dissolve. Do not eat, drink, smoke, or use chewing tobacco while a tablet is dissolving.
How do you dilute GTN?
Glyceryl Trinitrate need not be diluted before use but can be diluted by 1:10 up to 1:40 with 5 % glucose solution, 5 % glucose solution and 0.9 % sodium chloride solution, or with 0.9 % sodium chloride solution. The solution, whether or not diluted, should be infused slowly and not given by bolus injection.
How long can you keep a GTN spray after opening?
A GTN spray has an expiry time of up to three years, whereas GTN tablets expire eight weeks after opening. You can buy GTN medicines from a pharmacy without a prescription if you need to.
Why is GTN administered sublingually?
GTN sublingual tablets are designed to dissolve quickly under the tongue. This area of the mouth has a large supply of blood vessels that allows the medicine to be rapidly absorbed. Glyceryl trinitrate taken in this way is used to give rapid relief from the pain of an angina attack.
Can nitroglycerin be plastic?
Plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene generally do not absorb nitroglycerin. Consequently, it is recommended that only infusion solution containers made from glass or a plastic known to be compatible with nitroglycerin (i.e., polyolefin) be used for mixing infusions.
Why is nitroglycerin not packaged in plastic?
Never strip package nitroglycerin tablets. Nitroglycerin is an unusual drug which has a sig nificant vapor pressure which causes it to volatilize and leak from nontight containers or adsorb onto or into packaging material.
How do you dispose of nitroglycerin tablets?
Medicinal nitroglycerin may be disposed by incineration in an approved incinerator with adequate pollution control devices for the removal of nitrogen oxides or placed in a permitted sanitary landfill. Syringes containing residual medicinal nitroglycerin should be managed as regulated medical waste.