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?

The lack of inhalers and now I think of it, presumably anti histamines, was horrendous for the wheezes I used to get as a child now found to be caused by fur and dust allergy (we had dogs and I spent a lot of time jumping on my bed kicking up dust). Born early 70s and the first inhaler I got I was an adult. As a child my mum just told me to calm down and lower my shoulders if I had an asthma attack. Hideous.

Only if doctor prescribed it i think

I was born late 70s and remember being given Calpol for pain relief, Buttercup syrup for a cough, Disprin Direct fast melts for migraines, Beechams original powders for a heavy cold or flu (which I still swear by, though they are increasingly more difficult to find these days) and a home made honey and lemon drink for a cold with a sore throat. Vicks vapour rub was a standard in our house through the winter, as was a glass of water with salt and sugar mixed in for rehydration for prolonged vomiting- which was totally revolting. Sudacrem both for sunburn and nappy rash for babies, germolene for small cuts and grazes, calamine lotion for chicken pox, anbesol for mouth ulcers, and lucozade in addition to various combinations of the above for when I was ill in bed. In the 80s there was very much a sense of patch you up and off to school you go with minor to moderate illnesses. I remember sitting at my desk with my eyes and nose streaming or with a moderate headache and having to just get on with things, as days off school were reserved for upset stomach type illness, migraines and what was considered being ‘properly’ ill either with flu or the usual measles/ mumps/ chicken pox type childhood illnesses.

Junior aspirin until it was declared unsafe for under 12s then Calpol.

Dm used it to bring down a fever or for headaches.

@RampantIvy I was born in 1957 and had completely forgotten about Disprin. I remember being given it but not very often and I can't remember what for. If I had a really bad cold I was given honey, lemon and brandy in hot water but that was only very occasionally. TCP was the "go to" for cuts and Vicks was rubbed on my chest for coughs (which I loathed!). I also remember Andrews Liver Salts which I was given sometimes and I loved that.

Lucozade was bought from the Chemist, and was wrapped in Sellophane.

When I had toothache mum soaked cotton wool in Whiskey, and put it on there.

We hardly went to the Dr, once went to A&E when I cracked my head.

I don’t think many younger parents know how to treat common childhood complaints at home, everything is a trip to the GP, or A&E.

I don't remember Ibuprofen until the 80s - not sure whether that was because it was prescription only or not available or my mum just didn't buy it.

There were some tablets called called 'Librofem' in the mid-80s that worked really well for period pain (which I suffered with terribly as soon as my periods began). 'Feminax' which I think was paracetamol based didn't touch the pain, but Librofem which was Ibuprofen was excellent.

Paracetamol was definitely around without prescription in the 70s.

We had Junior Disprin, Milk of Magnesia and Andrews Liver Salts

Junior Asprin, Fennings fever cure, Milk of Magnesia, Buttercup syrup. I can still taste them!

Did nobody else have gargling with Disprin for a sore throat? Maybe that was an Irish thing. Also a plastic caplet would have one end taken off and jam put on it. Not sure what was in them, maybe antibiotics, or how the jam would make it easier to swallow….

Disprin if it was my mother (and there were actual symptoms), a tablespoon of cod liver oil from grandmother 🤮 also haliborange vitamin tablets every day from November to March. Lucozade also, which we loved!

I remember people gargling TCP

Not me but my parents also used to get Kaolin and Morphine over the counter.

Yes, that morphine 😅

Has anyone mentioned Gentian Violet for scrapes and scratches. Purple liquid in a glass bottle dabbed on with cotton wool.

And there were no blister packs. Tablets came in little glass bottles with a little bit of cotton wool in thr neck, presumably to stop the contents rattling around.

Oh Christ TCP.

Still it prepared me for Laphroaig when I was older.

Scary and hideous. I was also affected by dust an animal fur, specifically cats, which fortunately we didn't have. At 25 I did work experience at a kennel/cattery and had a bad asthma attack later at home. For the first time, the GP issued a (giant!) nebuliser for use at home and steroids for my lungs. That's probably the worse episode I ever had.

born in the 50's
Angier's junior aspirin which tasted of orange
Germoline for cuts and grazes
Galloways cough syrup which was brilliant in hot water, the fumes really did unblock your tubes
Lucozade of course, there was only one flavour then and the yellow cellophane wrapper was highly prized
Paracetamol was only launched in 1955 and was then on presciption only, didn't come off prescription until a year later and I suspect that then, people stuck to "tried and trusted" remedies as medications were not cheap, there were very few generic options. I suspect that there wasn't the massive switch to paracetamol for children until as late as 2002 when it was banned for under 16's because of Reyes Syndrome.

I actually took a much less medicalised approach than my mother (born in the 1940s). She is a classic baby boomer who dosed up on every pharmaceutical (mostly legal) she could get her hands on. She will claim to be a nature loving hippy though. She takes antibiotics for everything. She's now got absolutely no immune system and gets every infection going, although to be fair she's also had cancer and radiotherapy twice. If I have a cold she will ask if I've been to see the doctor about it. We used to get taken to see the doctor for everything - I remember having cystitis as a teenager in the late 80s and the NHS doctor made a house call.

My kids have seen a GP maybe twice in their entire childhood.

I used to get really bad hay fever as a child - streaming nose and eyes. I was prescribed some kind of tablet - assume an anti-histamine - which didn't really do anything.

Then my mum decided to try some tablets from the health food store - again, I don't know what they were but I remember they were relatively large, round pills with a shiny grey coating.

They not only cleared my hay fever then but after whatever summer it was, 1979 I think, I never had hayfever again. Whether it was a coincidence and I outgrew it or those tablets set up a permanent immunity I don't know, but it was like a little miracle.

Disprin very occasionally, but had to be virtually dying first. And forget the idea of ever having a day off school for being unwell.

I just looked up paracetamol and discovered it was created accidentally in the 1950s but ignored for 70 years because other drugs were used to treat fever back then until they were found to be toxic to the liver. And it's actually a by-product of something that liver created itself when attempted to process the toxins pin that other drugs. Fascinating!

Oh I remember Kaolin and Morphine. And yes, it really was morphine. It was very expensive and used sparingly. A bottle would last for years.

I've got a book of vintage adverts and there's one from the 1940s I think that recommends parents give their children a teaspoon of TCP to swallow if they have a sore throat!

Yes to soluble aspirin. Later in the 80s I would have one paracetamol broken into quarters as I couldn’t swallow them. Lucizade for recovering after a sickness bug. Karvol for colds-a rubbery ampoule you cut the top off to drip on your pillow. Definitely kaolin and mirphine and also calamine lotion. We had travel sickness pill - tiny coloured pills in a brown medicine bottle. In my head they are multi coloured pills but actually only remember takin the bright blue ones. I swear they made me more sick.

@ BS in 60’s we were given TCP to gargle for just about anything.
& forced to eat cotton wool sandwiches if we threw-up😳.