What's in your first aid kit/medicine cabinet?

[Ponka]

It's about time I set one up. Everythings all over the place and I probably haven't got half the stuff I need.

Have recently got a few basics (some very old) and a lockable medicine cabinet from IKEA.

What have you got in yours that you find useful? Any tips?

don't forget antihistamine cream

Cheers. Yes, much needed here. We have a cat. I'm guessing from your name that you do, too.

arnica for bruises.

Is that like Witch Hazel?

I'm proud of my medical kit in a very sad way I was the only one out of 12 people in my student flat to have one and I became their unofficial nurse when i came to hangover remedies and such! I keep it stocked up with aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen (all the dirt cheap generic ones that cost about 20p a box) because of ever present tonsillitus. Merocaine lozenges to numb my throat at times like that. Cystitis remedy - don't need it all that often but when you need it you need it NOW! also cough medicine, throat sweets, eyedrops (which come to think of it I should probably throw out), bandages, plasters, anti histamines and, bizzarely, a foil survival blanket. Generally, name brand stuff is a waste of time- alka seltzer is really just posh aspirin, and ditto with ibuprofen vs nurofen. Digital thermometer is great for both me and dd. Lots of other random stuff too, but you basically just have to accumulate stuff that you know you will need to hand should the situation arise, and remember to sort through every now and again and get rid of the older stuff.

lavender oil - for cuts, bruises and burns
aloe vera - for burns and rashes
sudocrem - to dry up cuts & rashes

there seems to be a bit of a theme

cyctitus stuff
anti histamine tablets

piriton syrup if lo has big allergic reaction v good
plasters and other obvious calgel, calpol etc stuff

some homeopathic/complementary stuff which i use far more often the most useful of which is:
rescue remedy, instant stop crying remedy for big bangs or falls
arnica creame
tea tree antiseptic cream
aconite 30c for shock of any kind
pulsatilla 30c coughs and colds

errr....calendula ointment

that's it really.

I wouldn;t be without:

Waspeze for mozzie bites
Sachet or two of diarolyte (sp?) - I'm sure it saved my life once
Echinacea tincture & 500mg Vit C tablets to ward off colds

Paracetamol (kids and adult)
Ibuprofen (ditto)
Resolve (recent addition)
Tums and gaviscon/zantac
Plasters
Tubigrip
tea tree oil
Vaseline
Piriton

And a load of leftover-tried-out-completely useless stuff e.g.

some cough med from boots natural range which tastes of licorice and is vile
benylin for chesty coughs
corvonia (never used, too frightened of health warning!)

Lol Littlelamb, I think I'll give the foil survival blanket a miss.

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone.

Next step, actually do that first aid course I was meaning to do so that I actually know how to best use the stuff I buy!

ponka - no I don't have a cat or any animal! Nor hairy legs or ladygarden

Just liked the name furball

PMSL Furball (litterally, being as I'm heavily pregnant !)

MN bathroom cabinet essentials

I'm glad someone has brought this up!

If I can impress on all of you the importance of having an eye wash in your medical cabinet. Although you can wash your eye out with water, the proper eye washes you get from the chemist have a little bath that you fill up with sterile solution and then swig on your eye.

They are really important if your child has had something dripped in their eye (like say bleach or something) or has something stuck in it.

I thought eye baths were no longer recommended s first aid? (We had A&E person in last year to work to talk us through first aid)

Thanks. I knew this would have been done before somewhere and had a quick look but couldn't find anything obvious.

Just interested SueW, what's wrong with eye baths, according to current thinking? Sounds like a good idea to me.