A woman has gone viral on social media after sharing a ‘life-changing’ hack that will help you avoid the annoying paper leaflet that’s always wrapped around medication when opening a new packet
Say goodbye to fiddling with the pesky paper leaflet when opening new packs of medication with this nifty trick.
If you’ve ever been left wrestling a medication box open, be it a prescription or over-the-counter item, you’ve probably come face-to-face with a lengthy piece of paper known as a Patient Information Leaflet (PIL). These leaflets give you important information about the medication you’re about to take, and while it’s vital that you read them, they can be a pain when they’re wrapped around your tablets.
It might not be the biggest of life’s challenges, but it’s irksome enough that one clever lady’s hack has gone viral with people desperate to learn the trick. Shannon took to TikTok to share a foolproof way to ensure you always open your medication on the leaflet-free side – just keep an eye out for a particular detail on the packaging.
Shannon revealed that the leaflet is always tucked around the pills on the same side as the box’s expiry date. So, by opening the box from the opposite end, you can dodge the annoying insert and get straight to your medicine hassle-free.
She explained: “If you’ve ever been mildly annoyed that whenever you open some medication, you’re confronted by a massive leaflet, it’s always the opposite side of the expiry that you should open the medication.”
The woman then proved the trick to be true by holding up a box of paracetamol from Tesco. She first showed the side where the expiry date was printed, and then turned the box around to open it from the other side – revealing two strips of paracetamol with no leaflet wrapped around them.
While the trick seemed like “common sense” to some commenters, others said it was “life-changing” news. The revelation has taken even pharmacists by surprise as one confessed: “Not me being a literal pharmacist and only just learning this.”
Another person added: “As someone who opens BOXES weekly to refill my weekly medication box – I fear you may have changed my life.” A third joked: “I’m frantically searching how to nominate you for a Pride of Britain award.”
One commenter asked how Shannon stumbled across her nugget of wisdom, to which she replied she had studied biomedical science at university and had been told the trick by a lecturer.
If you are taking new medication, you should always read the leaflet carefully. It contains vital information about your medication, including the active ingredients, how to take it, potential side effects, precautions to take when using it, what to do if you miss a dose, possible interactions with other medicines, and information on storage and expiry dates.
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