Let's talk first aid and over the counter meds

[L0V3]

What do you have stocked up at home? Do you have a lot or little? What would you recommend?
I have been collecting a few new items when I can afford to such as plasters, bandages, antiseptic wipes/cream, cold and flu rememdies, pain meds etc.
So what else could you suggest?

Burn dressings and those special finger covers.

I didn't even think of Burns! Thanks

Emergency burn gel
Hydrocolloid dressings as well as standard
Tape - lots of surgical tape!
Rehydration tablets/sachets
Especially if you have kids, the fever patches that cool the forehead.
Hydrocortisone cream for bites and stings.
Antiseptic cream.

Meds wise. Painkillers - paracetamol (acetominophen), ibuprofen, aspirin and a mild opiate. (500/8 Cocodamol for example). I also always keep liquid anbesol which is indicated for tooth pain but also useful for excising splinters etc.

I have the butterfly stitches for shallow wounds, pain killers, burns stuff. Bandages, antiseptic, saline for cleaning wounds, Diarrhea tablets and also the fluid replacement stuff, antibacterial soap, alcohol gel,gauze

The concept of prepping is mostly unfamiliar to me, but I would assume you would all do well with a needle and thread and a lighter to sterilise the needle with.

Steri-strips. Always have an antihistamine here too in case of an allergic reaction to something.

Plasters and bottles of antiseptic. I use them all the time. And OTC painkillers.

Might sound stupid but don't forget tweezers, scissors & safety pins.
I also keep Calpol, Cordosyl, Bonjella, Calamine Lotion, Honey for sore throats, Optrex eyewash plus Thrush & cystitis treatments just in case.

Also forgot Clove Oil, temporary filling kit & superglue.
But it depends how prepped you want to be.

I've been trying to get sorted on this front. We have various prescription medications, and obviously these aren't easy to stockpile. I've been renewing them all whenever I can, even if I'm not immediately out of them. With the ones that some in 28 pill packages, I've been taking the odd half a dose (since this is fine for me health-wise), so I'm not immediately going cold turkey if there's a disruption.

We're well covered in wound care: dressings of various sizes and types, plasters, tape, antiseptics - and I'm making a note to get butterfly stitches. (Ashamed to admit, but I used to self-harm, although haven't in years and years, so well accustomed to caring for wounds.) I'd be wary of using superglue under any normal circumstances, but do have that, too...

OTC painkillers: co-codamol, paracetamol, ibuprofen (with and without added codeine). I'm sure I've read that aspirin has some surprising uses, so might look into that, even though it's not normally a painkiller we use.

Lots of antihistamins, as I have allergies. I keep several types, as I've been adviced to take a combination if I ever accidetally eat something I'm allergic to. I also have extra ventolin inhalers and nasal sprays.

Husband has dental problems every now and again, so I've bought a temporary filling kit, anbesol and corsodyl just in case. Is clove oil actually useful?

Other than that: cold and flu remedies, hyrdocortison cream, diarrhea tablets, rehydration sachets, cystitis sachets, thrush cream.

DM is visiting from foreign parts soon, and I've ordered some boric acid ear drops (do they sell those OTC in the UK?) as I've had issues before where I've found them really helpful.

I keep feeling like I'm missing something...

Some people swear by Clove oil although I haven't ever used it yet so don't know personally.
If you have tooth problems & can't get to a dentist, you'll usually get to a point where you hurt so much you will try anything.
Strangely I have found that teabags can be useful for dental purposes to treat mouth ulcers/infections which include swellings.
A damp teabag placed over the area for quite a long time (could be an hour so you need something for the disgusting tea stained saliva to go into because you will produce loads of it & you might want to replace the teabag with a fresh one part way through) can help to draw out the infection & (having personally been stuck out in the mountains once with a tooth infection a couple of days trek from civilisation) make a massive difference to your pain levels.
Obviously you still need to go to a dentist afterwards as it doesn't fix whatever the infection has been caused by, but in a SHTF scenario, or if you go really wild camping once in a while it's a handy thing to know/try.
I went from through the roof, codeine didn't help at all, crawling around in circles in my tent agony to being able to sleep the night & trek out the next morning pain free.

That's good to know about teabags. The only thing I've ever used them for (apart from actual tea making) is on puffy eyes, on which they work a treat - but not really a prepping concern.

A remote camping trip with tooth ache like that sounds horrendous. I've somehow got to nearly 40 without ever having a toothache, so can only imagine! DH had to have a tooth out this summer, and had a raging infection afterwards, and I've seldom seen him so miserable. Not sure what there would be to do in that situation if a dentist wasn't an option and you hadn't somehow managed to stockpile antibiotics!

Love the teabag tip. I could've done with that recently at the end of a holiday tooth related event.

Don’t forget contraception!
Condoms at minimum alone, but as backup if run out of other methods
Consider a new-style diaphragm too (Caya)
Easiest and most effective option LARC - long-acting reversible methods: copper or low-dose progesterone coil last between 3-10 years
Subdermal implant in arm - 3 years
Injectables 13 weeks (14 maximum) - many services now offer a year’s supply of a version you take away to give yourself
Pills/patches/ring obviously acquire as long a supply as possible.

I am a doctor working in this field, and we run on quite short supplies in clinic - I have only this week read the first info, which is that hospitals should be ordering an additional 6 weeks to their usual stocks in preparation.
No idea what is being advised for community pharmacists, who will supply your GP prescriptions.
Community sexual health/contraceptive clinics will supply the actual medication, and can give 1 year’s supply of pills etc. You often need to request this as the historical default is 3 months’ supply, and GPs are extremely reluctant to give more than 3 months - still trying to work out why this is.
Termination services may well be impacted, particularly medications for medical version.
HRT is often in very short supply already, so again acquire 1 year’s supply if at all possible (perfectly acceptable clinically). I realise that hot flushes resuming are not quite on the scale of life-saving medication, but easily sorted with advance planning.

Very important reminder info @quince2figs

I have a decent stock of ds's inhalers but fairly minimal painkillers etc.

List for payday:

Calpol
Paracetamol
Ibruprofen
Hayfever tabs
Plasters
Burn cream

DH is a first aider at work so pretty good with minor stuff & we both have St Johns Ambulance app things on our phones (& a paper manual)

Not a prepper but I try to keep some supplies of standard painkillers, antiseptic liquids and cream and antihistamine. Also antacids as I get reflux.

I’m going to start stashing some things are Christmas.