Putting together a medicine box from scratch - what would you put in it?

[prepperpig]

Having discovered yesterday that I have stuff in the medicine box from 2001 I am starting again. What would you include in a medicine box?

The only things surviving from the old medicine box are:

plasters - range of sizes
sticky bandage thingy for sprains
some gauze
some surgical tape
an insect bite/sting spray
a box of paracetamol
some calpol tablets.

Everything else needs chucking - a lot of it is unidentifiable

Something like tcp for cleaning wounds, compeed plasters are brilliant for blisters, maybe ibuprofen (you can take that with paracetomol for bad pain). Having a tweezers in there is useful in case of splinters.
I also have a bandage roll, scissors and safety pins/bandage grippers. And bonjela.

Antihistamine tablets
Ibuprofen (adult and child)
wound wash
sterile saline (great as wound wash or eye wash)
sterile dressings
diarolyte
diarrhea tablets
antacids
thermometer
tweezers
blister plasters

Savlon
Spray on plaster

The last first aid course I went on was evangelical about triangular bandages, they have so many uses from slings to folded as a regular bandage, I'd get a couple of those. I have a basic first aid kit, so no drugs, creams etc, these are kept elsewhere. Fool blanket might come in useful if it's the type to go travelling or in the car??

Piriton. Good for allergies, chicken pox itches, hay fever etc

Mine has

Plasters of many shapes
Magnesium sulphate (drawing paste for splinters and boils)
Optex (eye wash)
Dettol (wound wash)
Paracetamol
Ibuprofen
Tweezers
Antihistamine
Ear thermometer
Savlon

You've reminded me I needed some bandages!

Calamine lotion is useful.
Witch hazel is good for bruises.
Aloe Vera or Arnica cream.
Tea tree oil or cream
Mouth ulcer gel
Different types of painkillers
Cold & flu meds
Cough mixture
Deep heat or ice gel
Pack that can be heated or frozen for muscle strains

Strepsils
Gavison
Tubi bandages
Crepe bandages
Decongestant nose spray

Strepsils
Difflam Spray
Cuprofen (8 hour ibuprofen)
Ibuprofen
Paracetamol
Clarityn
Day and Night Nurse
Cold and Flu tablets
Rennies
Diarrhoea medication
Thermometer
Savlon liquid
Plasters
Blister plasters
large sterile pads
Tape
Optrex Eye wash
Optrex itchy eye
Tubigrips

Piriton
Calpol
Nurofen
Anbesol teething liquid
Sudacrem

I sound like a walking pharmacy, but I just like having the right thing. We are not taking things that often at all! For example the children's Piriton has only been used once.

I need to put one together for the car. I have a medicine cupboard. It has:
Piriton (children's medicine form and adult tablet form)
Paracetomol tablets & calpol
Ibuprofen tablets and ibuprofen children's medicine
Plasters (a new cheap pack every week as dd covers herself, her dolls and my poor feet in them. Flip flops are not walking shoes btw). Better adhesive sticker ones are kept with the medicines.
An ice pack in the fridge (actually it's the gel pack that came with my epilator)
Germolene

That's it.

Whatever it is, if you haven't needed it since 2001 don't bother buying another one!

Other than plasters I can't remember a single occasion when I needed anything else of the bandage type at home (and I'm a first aid trainer among other things so have a good selection on hand).

Ovex and a nit comb were stalwarts in my medicine cabinet when we had small children.

Definitely diahorrea tablets, you're never in a fit state to go out and buy them when you need them

Main things in mine are:

Plasters
Painkillers (paracetamol, ibuprofen, ibuprofen + codeine for bad period pain)
Antihistamines
Strepsils
Nasal spray

We must have lot of other stuff in there as well because it's pretty much full but I can't think what off the top of my head

plaster roll plus scissors
antibiotic cream
antiseptic cream
spray for stopping insect bites and stings from hurting
cold sore cream
saline sachets
eye drops (antihistamine and moisturising)
compeed plasters for blisters
sudocrem (has wide variety of uses)
tea tree and lavender oil
nit comb (kids always seem to get nits just as we go on holiday)
pain killers
antihistamine tablets
piriton
spray on plaster stuff

Bazucca! My kids seem to pick up verrucas and warts

Agreeing with Purple with Red about not using bandages these days, but I do have micropore, lint and (waterproof) finger-stalls for hand-cuts, some BioFreeze roll-on (for pain but also useful to help stop bleeding I've found) and best of all, an aloe vera plant which lives in the kitchen rather than the medicine box and is miraculous for burns.

I don't think there is any point buying things that you may not use regularly. Quite a few of the posts above have duplicate items- ie pain killers (paracetamol) and flu 'remedies' which are one and the same thing but with some flavourings and caffeine added.

Most medicines have a shelf life of 2 years so lots of stuff will get ditched. It's better to buy things that are essentials and first aid items rather than things that you might need but probably won't. It also depends on the age of your children and other adults.

So...

pain killers - ibuprofen, paracetamol and soluble aspirin (latter for anyone with signs of a stroke- can be a life saver while waiting for help.)

plasters
antiseptic cream
tweezers
burn plaster/ dressing
large sterile bandage
hydrating sachets for extreme diarrehea
imodium
insect bite spray
antihistamine cream

NO savlon, no wound cream etc. You open it, use it once and it then is a lovely breeding ground for bacteria; so you should chuck it away but no-one does. But you don't need it - any cuts, grazes etc should be washed in boiled cooled water, or just the stuff from the tap. Anything too big for that gets medical attention.

you could also have some individually wrapped wound wipes. A pound a pack from Wilkinson.

eye wash should be single use only.