To ask for your medicine cabinet heroes?

[Waifwafer]

Here's mine:

Otrivine nasal spray is an absolute saviour! I only discovered it last year and I've had some absolutely horrendous colds made better by using this stuff. It completely clears your nose within minutes. I went from not being able to breathe through my nose at all, to being able to sleep through the night with my airways clear. Amazing.

Would love to some other good medicine cabinet tip offs!

Blistex (previously blisteze) medplus in a round blue pot. It works wonders for chapped lips. My lips split in the middle during the winter and this stuff is brilliant. I also use it for when you have a cold and have been blowing your nose and it goes all red underneath. This stuff has a little menthol and camphor in it so it is a bit like a nicer Vicks. They do a relief cream as well which is excellent. Wouldn't rate the moisturising balm though. I keep the medplus in every room of our house and also in my car.

@HunkyPunk

Does anyone else remember kaolin & morphine liquid for stomach upsets and diarrhoea? Used to be readily available over the counter in most pharmacies and was one of my best ‘go to’ remedies. Think it fell out of favour and although it’s not been banned, I haven’t seen it for decades!

It caused so many problems that pharmacies, even back when I worked in one, used to keep it under the counter if at all. The Kaolin was the powder that settled at the bottom so abusers would just drink the top part for the morphine. We used to have a list of questions before selling and always shook it vigorously, knowing it would take ages to settle!

My contribution to this thread is Buccastem-M, sold for nausea associated with with migraines but wonderful on hangovers

Difflam throat spray, Nurofen plus (used very rarely!), sudocrem for skin issues, and vicks vapour rub.

I opened this to say otrivine! I discovered it a few years ago when my consultant sent me home with a bottle after sinus surgery to help the swelling in my nose, have always kept at least one bottle in the house for emergencies ever since!

@Waifwafer

Just thought of another: Feminax tablets for period pain. Way better than plain paracetamol. Got me through some very awful teenage heavy periods - luckily nowhere near as bad now in my 30s!

Tesco and Asda own brand migraine relief pills have the same ingredients as the pink feminax but waaaaaay cheaper 🥰

Holland and Barrett aloe Vera gel - except it's in the fridge not the medicine cabinet.

Fantastic for scrapes, cuts, burns and scalds, sensitive skin flare ups, stretch marks... all sorts!

Covonia - best cough mix ever!

Anaesthetic throat spray - personally I prefer chloraseptic but difflam too. Not only for sore throats but also toothache! A low dose anaesthetic but will get you through till you can get to dentist. Spray the gum under the affected tooth both sides

Lavender and chamomile oil - used in conjunction with the aloe gel also for panic attacks and helps a LITTLE with insomnia

For trapped wind and reflux - refreshers! I shit you not! Relieves the problem without causing diarrhoea the next day and far more pleasant than meds

Olbas oil - my sinuses are crap!

Ginger - for nausea, diarrhoea general upset stomach

Bach flower remedy - takes the edge off anxiety attacks

Sudocrem.

Arse and nose cream in this house!

Difflam is brilliant for throat pain. Also antihistamine for cold symptoms, helps clear sinuses and the drowsy versions help to sleep!

Hydrogen peroxide - brilliant gargle that sorts out sore throats from the initail tickle.
You can also use it on the skin to clean cuts etc.

& Anthisan for insect bites

Ibuprofen
Paracetamol
Nurofen period pain
Glucose tablets
Non stick dressings
Anbesol (sp?) for toothache
Sudocreme

Otrivine for bad sinuses which I am prone to. Sudocrem for anything skin related. Vicks. A herbal cough syrup which a Romanian friend swears by - there is no English on the box or bottle but whatever is in it seems to really help anything respiratory!

Graphista INSPIRED use of Refreshers there! But it totally makes sense!

Charcoal tablets for dodgy tums.

I used to swear by otrivine when I had a cold (which wasn't often) but since having my dc, I can't use it anymore. I'm sooooo gutted!! Now it seems to make my blocked nose even WORSE! Like my nose will literally explode off my face, it's awful! Weirdly, Sudafed tablets, which are essentially the same thing but in tablet form, works ok. Not as well, but it helps 🤷🏻‍♀️

Difflam for sore throats. The chlora-wotsit spray is AWFUL, just numbs the skin and you end up with a really uncomfortable sensation.

Boots own version of First Defence. Doesn't hurt your sinuses.

Lyonsleaf calendula and marshmallow balm for little dry and sore patches of skin.

Calpol plug-in for children with coughs and colds.

Hydrocortisone muco-adhesive tablets for mouth ulcers.

Night nurse

Not medical but Wrigleys Extra peppermint sugar free chewing gum is the best thing for suppressing a tickly cough - much better than cough medicines or sweets. I think it has menthol in so also clears the nose.

Vicks, metanium (yellow nappy cream if you have babies), oragel for toothache, calpol plug and refills, paracetamol, ibuprofen. Plasters - blister plasters.

This is only available in the Republic of Ireland
Exputex for chesty coughs - breaks down phlegm. Amazing stuff

Not medical but Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream - great on so many skin and lip issues

For really tough to get rid of headaches:
Solpadine (paracetamol and codeine)
Nurofen Plus (ibuprofen and codeine)
Syndol (although the original version may have been discontinued)

@TheSpottedZebra

Aloe Vera gel for mild burns. Keep it in the fridge. Chloraseptic spray for sore throats.

Brilliant for sunburn too 😊

Dioralyte

HERO!!! It’s the first step with any illness. Within half an hour things start looking up.

Anbesol for mouth ulcers - don't bother with the gel, buy a bottle and use a cotton bud to lay the stuff directly onto the ulcer.

Another vote for Tyrozets - ask for them over the counter.

Difflam or Chloroseptic spray for sore throats - definitely

Acyclovir for cold sores - at the first sign of soreness use it regularly. Get to them early.

I forgot - Nytol (the original antihistamine one) - my GP reccomended as a sleepting tablet years ago when they were cutting back on prescribing sleeping tablets (|I used to be prescribed about ten a year, and there was a concern they were habit forming ).

If I get into a pattern of not sleeping, really helps break the habit and get a decent nights' sleep.
Boots do an own brand one, but unlike other generic drugs, there's not much price differential.

I'm amazed by how many people not only don't have anti-emetics in their medicine cabinet, but also don't know you can get them over the counter — or, even more surprising, don't even know they're a thing that exists. I have prescription metoclopramide and prochlorperazine because I get migraines, but you can get prochlorperazine over the counter (Buccastem — a little tablet you tuck under your lip, so you don't even need to be able to keep anything down).

Lactulose. Have had horrific post-surgery constipation this week. Took some lactulose the other night, 1.5 hours later, woke feeling so much more comfortable in the stomach, went for a wee and ended up easily doing a poo.