medical and health supplies

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Started 1 year ago by luxcat
Latest reply from bandicoot
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luxcat
Member

I took a quick look around but didn't see this topic addressed yet. If it has maybe someone could point me to the right spot?

I seem to have my personal beauty and hygiene supplies uncluttered to an extent that pleases me, but I struggle with something else under the bathroom sink.... medical supplies! I can imagine this is even a bigger challenge for families with kids, especially kids of various ages. Even with just my DH and I it's a struggle. What's under your sink?

So far I've come up with "must haves" of...
*bandaids
*antibiotic cream or wipes for cuts
*antacids
*cough syrup
*ibuprofen
*cortisone cream for rashes
*aloe vera for burns and sunburns
*benedryl (just in case, none of us have any major allergies but it seems like one of those things one should have on hand)

Of course I have a ton more than this... not sure what to keep and what to toss. Ideas anyone?

Posted 1 year ago #
FatStupidAmerican
Member

Cough syrup tends to have a short shelf life, I make sure I make all of the medication I have with an expiration date with a sharpie.

Personally I could talk for hours about what people should keep for first aid.

Posted 1 year ago #
susanintexas
Member

I keep a small first aid kit that we take on trips, but we use it for every day emergencies as well, as this helps me ensure that it is kept current. It contains pretty much what you listed above, plus anti-diarrhea pills and tweezers.

Posted 1 year ago #
ninakk
Member

I keep about the same, but also migraine meds (replace with your standard set of meds), no cough syrup but antibiotic thingies that you keep in the mouth and slowly let dissolve if you have a sore throat (sorry my brain is about to go to sleep soon), disinfectant in liquid form instead of wipes (kitty is a biting one so I use more of it plus bandaids in a year than I had in a decade before), snakebite kit (we travel in the archipelago where you can find the friends but it's also good for stinging thingies), support for sprained ankles, etc.

I have an excellent little first-aid kit which contains a lot of cool stuff that you hope you'll never use. Space blanket to keep people warm for instance. *shudder* On the wishlist now is a tweezer for removing ticks (we have the lovely Borrelia disease here and I seriously need to get vaccinated or I won't relax outdoors) and the web soaked in a pharmaceutical to put on open wounds plus the gauze to cover up (already have tape for attaching it).

If possible, always keep these products in a cool, dry place rather than the humid bathroom. I know it's difficult to do sometimes though. Out of kids' reach shouldn't even have to be mentioned but I'll do it anyway. Stay safe, everyone.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

we are fortunate to have no ongoing health issues in this household, so that cuts down on a lot of various clutter.
neither of us are on any medication.

as for emergency stuff, we have the barest of basics:
bandaids/bandages/tape
an eyewash cup
dettol
panadol
some antihistamine tablets (after i had the most peculiar and violent allergic reaction to an unknown something, late last year)
scissors/tweezers
and a workshop with gallons of essential oils, all of which i know how to use!

we are 25 minutes from a small country hospital and 75 minutes or a helicopter ride from the big base hospital on the coast.
i guess they have fully equipped emergency rooms. i see no need to double up on supplies!
if i lived more remotely, i'd re-think my stance and have some extra things on hand....but i truly believe that most injuries will hang on for 25 minutes and the ones that won't are going to kill you regardless.
and i am good at making do.

Posted 1 year ago #
Jude2004
Member

Out of all of those, we have bandaids. All the rest of it seems extraneous to me. Of course, I live a block away from a grocery store, but still... What do you need all that stuff for?

Posted 1 year ago #
cami
Member

I wish I could live with just bandaids! That was when I was 20, childfree and without horrible knees.
In my house there needs to be pain relievers in adult and child strength, along with cough meds, eyedrops, allergy pills, antibotic and burn creams, sunscreen and antacids. When I feel crappy, I want to take a shot of NyQuil and go to bed, not go out in public and spread my germs around. ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
needtocleanhouse
Member

I love this topic. I've never really though about it. Now that you've brought it to my attention I'll be thinking about what it is I really need filling up my medicine chests!

Posted 1 year ago #
Jeri Dansky
Member

Here's my list, excluding any prescription medicines:
- nasal spray (for my allergies)
- Neosporin antibiotic cream
- Benadryl
- Advil or other Ibuprofen (for inflammation, headaches)
- Tylenol of other acetaminophen (for fever)
- Pyridium (to relieve symptoms of urinary tract infections)
- bandaids of various shapes & sizes
- elastic bandage (for sprains)
- moleskin
- chapstick
- caladryl or equivalent (to remove the itch from bug bites)
- cough medicine
- thermometer
- baby powder
- aloe vera for burns
- sunscreen

Some of this gets carried in my purse, and much of it gets carried in my car, because I might well need it when out and about. I've had a very bad reaction to some restaurant food three times in my life, once when I was out of the country, and the Benadryl - taken immediately - was crucial. If I just carried two things, it would be bandaids and Benadryl.

If I'm traveling, I might also add:
- immodium or lomotil (treatment for diarrhea)
- aspirin
- mosquito repellant

Posted 1 year ago #
ninakk
Member

I forgot to mention antihistamines come pollen season. Nice.

Well, Jude2004, some of the things in my medicine cabinet were bought or gifted to me for a specific purpose and since we keep seeking similar situations frequently enough, I don't see a reason to stay away from it. Many of the things mentioned on the lists above clearly reflect either hobbies or geographical locations and the needs that arise from that. I very rarely buy anything to do with sun and sunburn, but if I go to such a place on this planet I would definitely carry them with me since my skin burns faster than you can say toast. Others live remotely and need to have a basic supply. When sh*t hits the fan, I don't want to find myself without the snakebite package in the middle of nowhere, where a helicopter might not find even enough ground to land. The meds in this package last for a few years so why be unfrugal when there's room for it? Same goes for tick tweezer; do you know anything about Borrelia? I can't afford chucking sore-throat related things out right when it's done and then buy a new set whenever it appears the next time. Basic ibuprofen will always be around too; their shelf life is decent and they work very fast as the pharmaceutical has been dissolved in liquid. There are few places in this country where pharmacists (or grocery stores for that matter) keep open 24 hours a day (there's only a bit more than five million of us), so I'd rather have a shoebox worth of stuff tucked away for small emergencies.

Posted 1 year ago #
vjb
Member

I recently decluttered my medicine box to just bandaids, panadol, Butter Menthols, neti pot, liquorice tea (for coughs), vitamins and aloe vera gel. I still have a tiny tube of cortisone cream (I got a rash from the synthetic lanyard a client gave me for their swipe card, would you believe!) and one of anaesthetic cream too, but won't replace those.

Do cough syrups actually work? I always thought they were a scam.

Recent discovery for those of you with aloe vera in your medicine cabinet – it works better than OTC cream for soothing itches. We had Stingose and some other tube of stuff, but they were useless on the ferociously itchy bites we all got recently from the local mosquitoes (it's been so humid and tropical here that the mosquito population has quadrupled). But one quick squeeze of aloe vera and oh! the soothing relief!

I have to thank my mother for this one – thanks Mum!

Posted 1 year ago #
lottielot
Member

I'm with vjb on the cough syrups! Those lozenges which numb your throat are good for very sore throats though, but I finish them if I have a bad throat and re-buy when needed. Here's my list:
antihistamines for my allergies, but also handy if visitors are allergic to our cats or someone has a weird reaction to something, usually dh. Nurofen and paracetamol for dh and I, we get a lot of headaches. Kid paracetamol and ibufrofen for the kids, though in a dire emergency they can have a half tablet of adult stuff. Luckily we're over the worst of those small child fevers...Band aids. That's it. We have a pharmacy a few hundred metres away, petrol stations will sell pain killers after hours and we have a hospital a mile away. We don't have poisonous snakes, spiders, mozzies or anything other than the odd wasp. My dh buys LemSips when he has a cold or flu, I prefer honey and lemon anyway to wash down paracetamol and it tastes better. I tend to chuck out sun cream at the end of every summer as it doesn't last, our climate means we don't need it for more than a few months, lol :) Oh, and I do keep zinc cream for noses and faces longer as it is more chemically stable, being based on physical rather than chemical protection. My dh is forever buying stuff for every eventuality, but that's his business and he keeps it in his bathroom, he's a sucker for marketing gimmicks!

Posted 1 year ago #
luxcat
Member

well this is what I ended up with, at the end of my project. Sunscreen is with my "beauty products" as are tweezers, which I use for both eyebrows and the occasional splinter. I also did not include any prescription meds, which I am sadly loaded down with.

• Bandaids
• 4 large thick gauze pads and a roll of medical tape- can always cut down to what you need
• antibiotic ointment (Neosporin)
• Small tube petroleum jelly
• Chapstick
• Cough drops
• antacids (small roll of tablet type)
• cough syrup (debating this one, we have some leftover after a recent illness, probably won't replace it once it's gone/expires)
• Alka Seltzer plus cold med (original)
• Vicks Vapor Rub
• ibuprofen (in 200mg tabs)
• cortisone cream for rashes
• aloe vera for burns and sunburns (small, with lidocaine)
• Benedryl (no one in my family has allergies, but I don't want to be unprepared should I have a guest who didn't tell me they had a shrimp allergy... and it has a long shelf life. Also doubles as a sleep med if needed.
• UTI tablets (kills pain until you can get antibiotics)
* forgot to mention also an herbal tea for the occasional bout of constipation, and some packets of Emergen-C which we use pretty often (store both of those in kitchen)

Posted 1 year ago #
nws2002
Member

Here's what I keep in the house:
• Ibuprofen (fever reducer, anti-inflammatory, pain reliever)
• Diphenhydramine (both an antihistamine and a sleep aid)
• Bandaids (I buy the assorted size box)
• Triple antibiotic ointment
• Saline to flush wounds (I buy it in the contact lens section)
• Aloe vera gel

I also have one of those prepacked first aid kits in the car. I just toss the whole thing once a year and buy a new one, usually when I'm getting the car ready for winter.

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

Eeks, I've got tons of different things, and we are both (in general) rudely healthy. We prefer to have single-ingredient items rather than multis, except for the occasional bad cold when you just want to glug down some Nyquil (or a Theraflu + Southern Comfort) and call it a day.

Tablets for:
-antihistamine
-decongestant
-cough suppressant
-expectorant (all of these top four: we live in a highly polluted area. One must cope.)
-ibuprofen
-headache tabs (generic of Excedrin)
-ibuprofen + sleep aid
-headache + sleep aid
-antacid
-multivitamin
-Vitamin D
-Vitamin C chewables
-Ricola cough drops

That is just what *I* have, and I keep it all in the kitchen in an upper cabinet. Our kitchen stays significantly cooler than either bath, due to the orientation of our building. ... DH has some naturopathic stuff that he keeps in his bathroom.

Also in my bathroom are the first-aid items, which don't get much play; and in fact I have some that are pretty elderly and need to be retired. Cortisone cream, disinfectant, antibiotic cream, Band-Aids. Razor rash lotion. :-) Etc.!

Posted 1 year ago #
djk
Member

Hmmm.

1 bandaids (no real substitute for these, is there?)
2 muscle rub
3 aspirin+C (which is simply fabulous for just about everything. Maybe it is more effective because it is a fizzy tablet that you pop into a glass of water and hits your bloodstream a lot faster. Or maybe because the drugs here are STRONG)
4 cooling gel (am prone to sunburns and cooking burns, and have yet to find an aloe plant to buy here)
5 Claritin for my infrequent allergies
6 throat lozenges
7 various herbal teas from the Apotheke
8 various essential oils
9 DH has 2 prescription medicines and a saline nasal spray

ETA:
forgot to add Vick's Vaporub and Vaseline. They are such staples and last forever.

I would not add lip balm as a medicine, rather a cosmetic, just as I would not consider non-medicated hand lotion as anything but a skincare item.

Not sure that I would count vitamins as medicine either. Also have those.

2nd ETA: discovered 3 boxes of expired OTC medicine in DH's side. I don't even know what they are for! Now gone.

Posted 1 year ago #
Sesberry
Member

Ah, this is a big issue in my house....

My husband has an ileostomy – so he has 2 boxes and a drawer full of all the related bits and bobs for changing his bag. We also have a ton of loperamide (Imodium) – not having a large intestine means you don’t absorb much water so sometimes things need, er, thickening up. (gross) Not that he ever needs to take it, so it just sits in the drawer. We also have a load of codeine for his back.

Plus he has cancer, so every chemo session we come home with boxes and boxes of drugs which never get fully used up and just sit around. (I’m going to have a hunt for them all tonight so I can count them and only bring home what’s needed tomorrow.)

And of course, there’s the box of regular stuff – ibruprofen, eucalyptus oil, paracetamol, decongestants, anti-histamines, eye drops, plasters, antiseptic (aforementioned husbandface is a mountain biker – lots of scrapes and cuts every week when he has high speed cuddles with holly bushes!) new bottle of cough medicine every winter, an emergency tubigrip, couple of slings (oh, yeah, he’s always dislocating his shoulder too. SO high maintenance!! teehee) etc etc.

It’s a bit overwhelming to be honest, I’m not sure what to do with it all. I do a regular cull of out of date things. But it still all takes up so much room, and all has to be within easy reach as husbandface’s ileostomy stuff is used every day. But I don’t want it all out in the open staring us down – our lives don’t (as much as possible) revolve around his cancer or his ileostomy and I don’t want our home (our sanctuary really) to look like a hospital.

Any ideas?

Posted 1 year ago #
djk
Member

Sesberry, I am trying to visualize how much physical space this would all take up. Perhaps an attractive lidded box (I had some hinge-lidded wicker boxes from Chinatown for very little money, perhaps 15 dollars apiece. They didn't make the cut for the international move, but I can't say I don't miss them!) Two stacked would be the size and height of an end table. They were available in different sizes too. I am a big fan of all boxes and baskets to keep like with like as I cannot stand things just randomly out in bits and bobs. Perhaps something that matches your decor, which can be repurposed when DH is well again?

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

I just recently decluttered my medicine cabinet and threw away everything that was past its expiration date or hardly ever used (about ten different packages and bottles!) and this remains: Aspirin, paracetamol, clinical thermometer, wound salve, antihistamine and *drumroll* bandaids ;o) Other related stuff is in the bathroom (arnica salve for bruises, tweezers, vaseline) or kitchen (various teas, scissors) where they are being used.

@ Sesberry: When my Dad had his ileostomy, my parents simply bought a small metal Ikea shelf for his stuff and put it into the guest bathroom, and so it kind of became his. He also had a box (pretty-looking, about the size of a shoe box) somewhere in the living room where he would toss anything chemo-related. For when he left the house, he got an outdoorsy-looking shoulder bag for everything he needed and he told me, winking, that it was indeed very practical (Seinfeld episode with the "male handbag", anyone?). I think it's important but pretty hard to try to not let your lives revolve around the cancer - the medication, the chemo and its related side-effects, and getting to know all the things about digestion (food, texture, bag size...) to be able to plan your day - because it does impact your day after all, and you just have to make the best out of it and be practical. Sincere good wishes for your husband! :o)

Posted 1 year ago #
Netleigh
Member

I think Justin Case is keeping my medical supplies, the best bit is the ice bag provided by the hospital in Austria when I'd had a skiing accident. It's just like the ones on peoples heads in cartoons, but it was very effective at moulding to my shoulder and has been used on my easily turned ankles since!
Then DH had hip replacements and had to buy the cryocuff and crutches, so he's kept those, he might need a revision in 10-20 years! However the crutches are in the loft so not too much of a storage problem.

Posted 1 year ago #

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