Potency of expired hydrocodone syrup

[snarkymalarky]

SWIM recently stumbled across a fairly large bottle of hydrocodone syrup in his medicine cabinet from a surgery several years ago. It is generic, with 7.5 mg hydrocodone bitartrate and 500 mg acetaminophen per 15 ml in 9% alcohol. The label says to discard after February of 2003, 1 year after it was prescribed. What sort of loss of potency should SWIM expect? Is there anything else worth knowing about this stuff? (i.e. do any of those actives break down in something toxic?) FYIY, the syrup smells very "normal" (smells like medicine), and the liquid is clear, brownish yellow with no sort of sediment of any any kind. The bottle has been inside a dark cabinet at room temperature for the past 5 years. Thanks.

[fnord]

well it shouldent be hazardous to you health (besides the hydro/acetaminophen)as far as i can see.

[awakened]

I don't know but this may be my first post but swim has been researching drugs and reading various forums about pharmacology for years.
I can tell you swim took some codeine syrup yesterday with guafinicin that expired in 2003. Swim is sure the guafinicin worked completely as swim became very thirsty but experienced nothing more than mild mild dehydration and thinned mucus. Swim believes that he/she may be codeine intolerant based on a horrible experience with a single Tylenol 3 when swim was much younger in which case there should have been much more of a reaction to the hydrocodone if it hadn't of broken down.