Medicine cupboard?

[Everythingtoseehere]

not a heavy Prepper really but found reading this board very helpful (🙏) before and during Covid.

I have spent the day going through the final cupboard to sort before the house move and have loads of ood non prescription medication to be chucked.

can anyone tell me what they keep in as a core not first aid but general good things to have in in - savlon, lempsip etc and if its worth keeping any ood medicine - will it harm me or just be less effective?

I lost a whole day once, researching medications past their expiry dates. Most of them are still OK way after, although they may lose efficacy, apparently.

Ibuprofen/paracetmol/night nurse/broncho stop/antihistamine
along with various creams and plasters

i feel bad now for planning to chuck them🥺

Do you keep eye wash?
I got one to throw away unused but it’s not cheap

Paracetamol. Ibuprofen . Antihistamine. Basic dressings.

This is enough to deal with anything until you can get to a chemist

I wouldn't keep anything that's to go in my eyes, no. Too risky. I was talking about tablets really.

Paracetamol and Ibuprofen/Calpol for children
Anti histamines
Night Nurse
Cough Medicine
Throat lozenges
Lemsips (own brand are fine)
Dioralyte or similar rehydration sachets
Thrush treatment (own brand is fine)
Savlon or similar
Bite and sting cream (Anthisan or similar)
Sterile wipes
Saline pods for wound washing
Cold sore treatment (own brand is fine)
Sachets for UTI's (Cystopurin or similar)
Oral gel for mouth ulcers
Clove oil for toothache

In my experience things always happen on a weekend/bank holiday or when even the late night chemists are closed. Aim to keep things in stock to keep you going until you can get to a chemist or a GP. If there are several of you (adults and older children) in a family a packet of paracetamol and ibuprofen will only keep you going for a very short time if you all come down with a flu type virus and are too unwell to go out to get supplies). A salt water mouth rinse works well for sore mouths or sore throats, honey and lemon in hot water also works well for colds if you prefer this to sachets, keep a jar of honey in your supplies and you can freeze lemons.

🙏
do you keep eyewash in your stock?
think I’ll throw this away

My list would very similar to diversions above. I also have Voltaril and some codeine left over from an operation incase I need something stronger.

I also have some of those gel burn dressings you can instantly pop on a burn - I keep them in the kitchen. Like these...

Eye wash is usually 0.09% salt / water. I keep loads of the small tubes in all my kits, but then I use it for washing wounds and cleaning casualties so we can get them into a Taxi home. Honestly mine never get a chance to time expire.

In the house I just tend to use tap water for eyes.

As eye wash is only saline solution, unless it goes cloudy and gets small bits in it, in a pinch I would use it (if it was all I had). But cost wise I would just bin it down the sink and replace. As it is only salty water I is really not worth the hassle of dragging it to the chemist.

Adult and child ibuprofen and paracetamol (a couple of packs of each)
Soluble aspirin (adults)

Decongestant tablets
Antihistamines

Anti diarrhoea tablets
Dioralyte
Stuff for constipation if you are prone to it

Cough mixture

Anbesol(anaesthetic for mouth)
Mouth ulcer treatment.

Strepsils and /or cloraseptic for throats
Honey

Sudocrem

Plasters,
Micropore
Plaster roll
Large sticky dressings
Large non stick dressings

Tubigrips various sizes.
Bandages. (Various sizes) Safety pins.
Scissors.
Tweezers
Cling film.

Medicine spoons/ dosing syringes.

Sounds almost identical to my medicine cabinet 👌

Couple of months late to this thread but I'd still like to give my input, we have a huge medical box on top of our fridge which has;

• plasters in all different sizes
• burn dressings
• burn creams
• spray plaster
• bandage wraps
• antiseptic creams
• numbing creams with anesthetic in (germolene)
• blood sugar testing kits
• CGMs (both Libres and G7s)
• glucose gels/drinks/tablets
• blood pressure monitor / heart rate monitor and spare batteries
• diarrhea tablets
• rehydration sachets for both kids and adults
• vitamins for both kids and adults
• electrolyte sachets
• antihistamine creams
• antihistamine tablets
• antihistamine liquid for kids
• paracetamol
• Calpol and multiple syringes/measuring spoons
• Codeine tablets
• Epipens (adult dose)
• antacids tablets
• 2 x thermometers
• cough sweets/liquids
• insulin pump and syringe

Without actually checking, that's all I can think of that's in there.
It's both our usual medicine box and in case of emergency box, so a lot of the items are used and replaced every month

Cold and flu sachets, and Night Nurse
Paracetamol
Dressings and plasters
Antiseptic cream
Cystitis and diarrhoea treatment
Sore throat tablets
Vick
Hayfever and allergy treatments.
Clove oil

All of the above plus a first aid book stored with it all for quick reference. Also, eye wash capsules and urine test strips in case of any blood in urine.

My medicine cupboard could definitely use a bit of a refresh! But I try to keep:
Adult and child ibuprofen and paracetamol
Strepsils
Dioralyte
Imodium
Cough medicine, adult and child
Plasters
Burn gel
And am planning to expand to dressings and bandages

If you have a family member on blood thinners or with a clotting disorder - haemostatic gauze and steri strips in a selection of sizes.

I’ve also got an eye torch to check pupils and look for foreign bodies in small places!

Reusable and disposable ice and heat packs.

Spray on wound dressing also really good especially if you have elderlies with thin skin.

Also worth downloading the St John’s Ambulance first aid app for up to date advice.

I have a decent first aid kit but wouldn't know where to start with medicines. Are these lists things you have used before or just in case of societal collapse type things? I have paracetamol and ibuprofen but last took any four years ago for a flu like illness. I throw it out and replace when it goes out of date.

For any medication, even over the counter none prescription medication like Paracetamol I highly recommend the British National Formulary (BNF). Its that big important looking book in the Drs office.

It list all the medication, there uses and dosages (both by age and for each condition), what you can take them with as well as what you can not and possible side effects.

I have always had an "Out of date" edition in the house, picked up either on ebay or from a book shop. To be honest very little goes out of date with the medication I keep, its just some of the newer stuff might not be listed.

However, I am embarrassed to say I never considered looking on line. Last week a colleague just mentioned she had it in her favourites on her phone.

BNF (British National Formulary) | NICE

Now I will keep updating my paper copies just in case I lose power or the internet, but if you need to look up any medication, all the info (and more) is on the BNF webpage

If you don't normally use any medications then what would you keep in, in an event where you didn't have access to a pharmacy?

The BNF have an app too. Probably not hugely useful without Internet connection but it is there!

Antihistamines
antisan cream (antihistamine cream for bites or stings)
different sizes of plasters including the large square padded ones for big cuts
savlon
bepantheseptic
packets of tissues
Non alcoholic cleaning wipes for cuts
paracetamol
moogoo cream (eczema)
insect repellent
various spfs
after sun
aloe Vera gel
diorylte
lockets/ lozengers
cough medecine
lemsip