Under estimating over the counter medication

[Medusa]

I thought that I had a reasonable stock of over the counter meds ie Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. Unfortunately all of us, despite normally having pretty good immune systems have been struck down with varying symptoms of a similar virus over the past week. For me it was viral tonsillitis which floored me and made me take my first sick leave from work for more than 5 years. I went to get Paracetamol tonight only to find there were none and that Mum's stash had also been depleted without anyone informing me. 4 people x 8 paracetamol a day x 7 days = 224 Paracetamol a week. Obviously stocks would last longer in the case of earache, headache, period pain etc, however for me it really brought it home that my pain killer supplies would run out pretty quick in a SHTF situation. Time for a very quick rse-stock which will likely mean visiting several chemists and shops to get my supplies back up due to the restrictions on how many you can buy at one time.

[Plymtom]

Those two are hard to keep on top of for a family of five, fortunately I do shop at four different supermarkets every week, only one of us doesn't have at least codeine on prescription too, but the basics still get used by three of us on an almost daily basis, it would be handy if doctors could issue a sort of license to bulk purchase the stuff, we all understand the NHS gets screwed by chemists and wants us to buy our own (cheaper) basic pain killers but two packs of sixteen, which in itself is probably an adequate overdose? I mean who gets depressed so badly that they have to go shopping to do away with themselves?

For my money I'd have had manufacturers put a warning covering most of the packet/bottle clearly stating that overdosing on this stuff is probably the worst, most painful drawn out death imaginable - phone the samaritans instead!

[Brambles]

It wasn't long ago another member (was it le mouse?) had a similar epiphany. and that got me questioning my own stash, which I instantly increased.
You can get packs of 96 Ibuprofen tablets and bigger packs of paracetamol from chemists. You have to ask for them and you can generally get 64 Paracetamol. Independent chemists are cheaper than Boots. But as usual, do your own research.

[ukpreppergrrl]

Might have been me. I had flu a couple of summers ago. I had a high temperature for 10 days and a lower temperature but still felt like crap for another week. Given you can buy packs of 16 tablets cheaply in supermarkets and you can take a max of 8 tablets a day, that's a pack every 2 days. So if you're taking them for two weeks, that's 7 packets. I knew all this, but I'd never actually done the maths before. At the time I had 10 packets stashed so I just had enough, but it made me realise that just one episode of flu had completely wiped out my stocks. I live on my own so only have to deal with one person being ill at a time, but even that one person being ill one time had exhausted my preps. If there had been more than one person and I'd passed on the flu to the other(s), then we'd have been in trouble. Well..we'd have been in trouble if it hadn't been possible to restock immediately, which is the key point! For normal usage 10 packs is plenty sufficient. But if you're ill for an extended period of time, then it's not enough by a long shot. I now throw in a couple of packs most times I go to a supermarket.

[Citizen H]

aha, Being a rufty tufty type of guy and working through most illnesses and injury's, "head down and get on with it frame of mind" I will have to admit I was wrong with this Virus Flu type of stuff that's going around, I refused all medication advice and just continued to work even though experiencing nightly coughing fits.... after a week I was flat on my back and not going anywhere so in the end I relented and x2 Paracetamol every 4 hours, they did have a bit of an impact on the symptoms. I don't do Lemsip however I did mix fresh ginger with hot apple juice and honey...... a splash of Vodka is optional..... I still have my doubts about having the flu Jab as everyone I know who had the jab still had Flu and in some cases it was worse than what I experienced. one final comment... watch those expiry dates.... but don't be quick off the mark to ditch them as that still contain active ingredient's that still work beyond the expiry date.

[whenfires]

Thanks for the timely reminder! I've just ordered another batch of medications from ebay. You can buy packs of 6 boxes with free delivery which saves picking a couple up each time at different shops.

[Le Mouse]

It wasn't long ago another member (was it le mouse?) had a similar epiphany. and that got me questioning my own stash, which I instantly increased.

It might have been me during The Great Buggeration of my knee. I got through ibuprofen lysine like no tomorrow and as I live alone it was hard to get more stock as the only person who I could get to do some shopping for me was my mum and she couldn’t even buy me the pizza that I liked, so I wouldn’t trust her to buy me the right tablets, especially since she doesn’t really ‘believe’ in ibuprofen

So now I pick up ibuprofen and paracetamol whenever I go past a Savers (cheapest actual shop for ibuprofen lysine that I’ve found). I also keep aspirin in my EDC FAK in case anyone has a heart attack.

[Brambles]

It wasn't long ago another member (was it le mouse?) had a similar epiphany. and that got me questioning my own stash, which I instantly increased.

It might have been me during The Great Buggeration of my knee. I got through ibuprofen lysine like no tomorrow and as I live alone it was hard to get more stock as the only person who I could get to do some shopping for me was my mum and she couldn’t even buy me the pizza that I liked, so I wouldn’t trust her to buy me the right tablets, especially since she doesn’t really ‘believe’ in ibuprofen

So now I pick up ibuprofen and paracetamol whenever I go past a Savers (cheapest actual shop for ibuprofen lysine that I’ve found). I also keep aspirin in my EDC FAK in case anyone has a heart attack.

Yep! That's it.

[itsybitsy]

I swear by Naproxen now. Only on a script in the Uk but freely available over the counter in Spain. I had a chat with my lovely doctor and he wrote me a script for 124 tablets. That'll keep me going for a while, plus I've got my little stash from a recent trip to Espana.

[Deeps]

Every trip to the supermarket we tend to top up on our 2 packets, mostly brufin as we both have need for it on occasion although I like to pick up some paracetamol too. Apart from the 2 main stashes I've got some squirrelled away in various packs and even my second wallet. I should really get some codeine for the house too as we don't have any.

Galloons of antihistamines and cold capsules/sachets all over the place as well. Probably should do a stock take but as we just keep adding, not sure its worth it.