Born in the 70’s, did you have paracetamol etc?

[PersephoneParlormaid]

As a child I don’t remember being given any medicine if I was ill, only if I went to the doctors and was given antibiotics. If I was unwell I was wrapped in a blanket and put in bed with a hot water bottle. Were you given any painkillers like we give today?

Karvol! Another forgotten name. When my daughter was a baby (early 90s) she had a cold and I bought some Karvol to help her tiny little blocked nose. Did it come in little gel capsules that you twisted to release whatever was inside, which then soaked into the pillow or sheet? Something like that, I think. The smell was immediately recognisable even though I'd forgotten the existence of the stuff till then.

I’m reading this thread out of interest as I’m an early 90s baby but these used to come in little capsules you could twist the end off then put the drops onto a pillow didn’t they? I ate a whole pack minus the one she used on my cot sheet after she left the packet within reach through the bars of my cot on her bedside table when I was 11 months. The dr who came on a call out to me said I’d be fine but would have stomach ache and oily poo for the next few days 😂

There was an orange flavoured cough syrup called Tancolin that was totally delicious.

There were actually a lot more effective OTC drugs available in the 70's/ early 80's than now. You could buy codeine linctus (the only cough medicine that actually works for dry coughs but will also get you a bit high if you drink a lot of it) and kaolin and morphine (they stopped that though as people used to let it settle and drink the morphine bit with a straw to get high- must have been constipated AF). Could also buy solpadeine/ co-codamol in pretty big quantities without an interrogation.

Born in 1976 I don’t remember calpol being around then. It was junior disprin for aches and pains. Cherry benalyn (sp) that was quite potent and vile tasting for coughs and colds. Plus Vicks vapour rub and copious amounts of bright orange lucozade!

I remember a nice tasting banana flavoured medicine from the doctor IIRC an antibiotic.

I was born 1980 and remember my mum crushing up, I'm assuming, a paracetamol tablet and having it from a dessert spoon with some milk occasionally if I was poorly. Funny, I never would've remembered that until I saw this post. Crazy to think we didn't just have Calpol readily available 😂

early 70’s remember being given Kaolin & morphine for poorly tummy, assume that was otc med then -though things always got left in meds cupboard for years!

In the '70s (not 70's) we had soluble paracetamol mainly, as children. I don't remember ibuprofen at all.

It was readily available (as in you could buy it in all chemists) but it was much more expensive than a pack of the tablets

My cousins and I were always given phenergan on flights to America to visit family during the 90s (all of us aged 1-8) 🤦🏻‍♀️

Born 62, very rarely any medication, but do remember TCP for gargle for sore throat, hot water bottles for earache, Germoline for cuts, Andrews for upset stomach, Vick for everything else. Even doctor was reluctant to prescribe penicillin for my recurrent tonsil issues, saying I'd grow out of it, or the infection would pop up elsewhere if the tonsils couldn't do their job!! I did have a mum that believed no illness was too bad to go to school, so she sent me off with what became chickenpox, then a bad bout of the flu and even an absess from a broken tooth where my face swelled up. No tablets of any sort though, even if crushed, I just couldn't swallow them, or would spit out even when crushed.

Sounds like they didn't read the instructions, it was meant to be dissolved with hot water. Mum added diluting juice to make it taste better.

And how's this for placebo I still have hot orange when I feel rotten.

Andrew's liver salts was a cure all in our house

DF left DM when I was 5, DM couldn’t afford to heat the house so like pp said, perhaps it was financial. So I find your comment, and the same comment by another person, really mean.

I also remember being given a bowl of warm milk with bits of bread in it and sugar if i was just getting over being ill
Which my mum called pobbies.

Junior aspirin. My mother used to have Phensic which I now know wasn't paracetamol but she still calls paracetamol Phensic.

If I was unwell, it was either junior aspirin, milk of magnesia, antibiotics or hot ribena.

No, I do not recall being given any medicine. Some kids at school did and I recall asking my mum. She said "it's expensive". This from the woman who smoked 30 a day!

Me too! Born mid 70s! Always disprin

Maybe thats why my mum added diluting juice

Born 71 and I remember asking for paracetamol at the school office and being given it. So that was 82-87.

Well, yes. Most people posting on Mumsnet are British and grew up in the UK. We have had free GP and hospital treatment since the late 1940s. Where did you grow up?

Febrilex medicine for coughs, karvol on pillow and on hanky taken into school, vicks vaporizer going all night making the room smell vile the next morning. Then at middle school herbal tablets seemed to be the norm unlike my family who used the ineffective Tunes, and in fact were eaten for pleasure too

Disprin
Vicks
Germoline
TCP
Milk of Magnesia
Calamine lotion
Exlax

Those were the staples of the medicine in our house (70s)

This discussion has been interesting as seems there was definitely a cost factor for many of us, since medicines that actually work were more readily available than now but we didn't get them that often. I guess there was also less awareness around generic medicines than now (or maybe less availability depending on patents).

Disprin. I used to love it, such a fizzy treat!

Disprin here too. Born 1971. I remember when ibuprofen came out over the counter in the 80s. Game changer! One thing my mum gave us in winter to keep us well was a spoonful of malt in the evening. We used to line up for it and lick the spoon til it was completely gone, delicious!!