Over the counter pain killers.

[Rebel Prepping]

Do not discount the effectiveness of paracetamol and ibuprofen. I had tonsillitis 6 times in a year to the point where i was kept in hospital for 4 days while i had intravenous antibiotics, painkillers and re hydration therapy. The next time it came i recognized the signs early. I felt the pain, i grabbed the painkillers and started alternating every 2 hours. It hit me hard again but because i had caught it early i was able to keep the swelling low enough i could still swallow without to much discomfort. I was crushing up multi vitamin tablets into my water and drinking fruit juices so i was able to stay hydrated and got the nutrients to allow my body to fight it and it went away in a week. Not a particularly dangerous problem now, but if we were in a shtf situation with no painkillers and antibiotics i would be out of operation for at least a week and be in incredible pain and it could potentially be fatal if i couldn't swallow (i physically couldn't swallow as the muscles in my throat couldn't contract and was first admitted with severe dehydration having not drank properly in 2 days). These painkillers can be found cheaply in pound stores such as pound land or pound world and is definitely worth investing in. I keep 15 packs of each on hand. Are there any over the counter medications you would recommend i invest in?

[Brambles]

One of our medical members, ParamedicPrepper has provided a list of useful OTC medicines to have in your first aid box. Here's a link.

viewtopic.php?t=13151 It should answer your question.

[yorkshirewolf]

You're limited with over the counter drugs, in quantity and potency, I agree in principle as it potentially stops people abusing them or using them in suicides, though because of the relatively low toxicity you'd need a lot for it to be fatal.

Strongest stuff you'll get over the counter is co-codamol, which is good enough for most pain, but you can only buy a box of 32 - of course you could go to multiple pharmacies and buy a box from each.

With ibuprofen, you'll get a bit more; if you buy the 400mg tablets you can buy a big box of 96 from a pharmacy, so thats a lot more than the small 200mg boxes (which you'd usually take two of anyway)

Paracetamol is usually only 2 boxes of 16, but oddly you can buy in bulk from ebay, last lot i got was 6 boxes for about a fiver. same with antihistamines, i get both cetrizine and loratidine (non-drowsy) from ebay in larger amounts.


As much as drugs are useful and have their place, i mainly try to go with natural remedies, honey for example is excellent for both nutrition and for wound dressings - especially burns (Manuka honey is best - check the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care for more info) and it keeps pretty much forever if stored right.

[Brambles]

Off the top of my head at the moment I have

Ibuprofen
Paracetamol
Cocodamol
Loperamide
Ranitidine
Entrocalm Kaolin tablets
Senokot
Loratidine
Crotamiton cream
Hydrocortisone cream
Calamine Lotion
Sudocrem
Drapolene cream
Bisodol
Voltarol Gel

As it's cold and flu season I've also topped up on..
A couple of inhaler nasal sticks
Generic sinus relief capsules
Generic day and night cold and flu capsules

All of the above from Wilkinsons. There are many more, but I find these are the ones I use.

As Yorkshirewolf has said a knowledge of Herbal Remedies and their contraindications is also useful.

[Drcamburn]

...

[Deeps]

To be fair there's very little medicine in the pharmacy that isn't helpful in an SHTF scenario. As you never know what will happen, having as much of everything as possible can't hurt if you have the room, plus there's always trading.

Rehydration sachets and sleeping tablets would be something to add to the list above. Plus looking at the other post you want to buy the Sophadol Max rather than generic co-codamol as that actually has more codeine in it, so in my opinion worth the extra cost. With the ibuprofen, it's probably better to stock up on the cheaper small packs of bargain 200mgx16 of ibuprofen rather than the larger 400mgx96 cost wise. But I'm not at work so can't actually double check the math on that.

Definitely want to plus one the growing natural remedies comments. I'm going to try a medical herb garden this year.

That's a good shout, hadn't thought of them, thanks for the pointer on the co-codamol too.

[unsure]

can you buy otc sleeping tablets ? .

as for painkillers , we pick up afew box`s when ever were out and about , and a few when we go do the weekly shopping .

[Brambles]

can you buy otc sleeping tablets ? .

as for painkillers , we pick up afew box`s when ever were out and about , and a few when we go do the weekly shopping .

I was wondering that too.

Also, I believe the higher dose Cocodamol requires a prescription so again wouldn't be OTC. Happy to be corrected though.

[Drcamburn]

...

[Brambles]

You'll have to get to a pharmacy and ask at the counter, so you might get quizzed before you can buy them but pretty much every pharmacy sells either nytol (you want the blue pack) or a generic own brand.

The sopadol max from the pharmacy counter in a pharmacy is 12.5mg of codeine to the generic 8mg of codeine. So it's well worth getting a box for severe pains. It's the 15mg and 30mg that are prescription only. Plus I think Nurofen plus might be 12mg of codeine but can't remember that one off the top of my head.

Thanks for the clarification.