What Should Be In Your Personal Medicine Cabinet?

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From time to time, a small or large malady can affect our health out of the blue, and cause us either discomfort or the need for further attention. As far as this is concerned, it’s a good idea to purchase a few items to stock your medicine cabinet. Remember, though, that a medicine cabinet needn’t only be defined as the wall cabinet in your bathroom, or the pill jars you have prescribed to you by a Doctor. Many things can serve as an aid in these circumstances, such as a bag of frozen peas helping to dispel swelling after accidentally banging your head during DIY efforts (we’ve all been there).

For someone curating their own living space for the first time, or someone simply hoping to be stocked up for the new year, it can be important to inspect your personal medicine cabinet or basket to ensure you have everything you need. Additionally, further measures such as following a first aid course can help you apply care if you need to. This can provide you with the extra confidence you need to apply the best care.

Please, consider the following:

First Aid Kit
A first aid kit will provide you with many things, such as bandages, scissors, a suture kit, burn cream, gauze, and ointments to help sterilize wounds. They can be invaluable if one of your family members encounters a nasty accident such as falling from a bicycle. It can be harsh performing first aid on yourself if no one else is around, but it is necessary to have these materials.

These materials can be quite sensitive in nature, so keeping them high on a shelf where your younger children are unlikely to find it can be important. We would also recommend that you regularly restock these items within and check their condition because the worst time to find out you’re lacking a certain stock item is when you need to use it. You can purchase first aid kits online, in stores, or from pharmacies.

Pain Relief
Pain relief tablets can be important for a variety of reasons. Usually, the pain relief medication you can buy over the counter will be paracetamol, certain ointments, and ibuprofen, stronger pain relief medicines can be found on a need to purchase basis for the most part. Acetaminophen’s and NSAIDs of other varied qualities can also be important.

This can help you stay on top of a flu or certain light pains such as headaches. Ensure that you read the label on anything you take, because some painkillers can react with others and cause you a heightened chance of side effects or medical need.

Cold & Flu Medicine
Cold & Flu medicine are usually comprised of the medications explored above but will also have extra ingredients, for example caffeine.  This can help you settle the irritating congestion that may limit your breathing or cause you to cough often. Cold and flu medicine must also be taken carefully, because it can be that while within your hour limits, taking the medicine more than four times over a 24 hour period is simply not recommended.

Cold and flu medicine should not be considered a cure or something to abuse, but rather a genuine relief from the worst of your symptoms. To that end it can be invaluable, and it’s worth stocking in your medicine cabinet. Also, we would recommend that you have the same for your children, but in clearly marked child varieties. These are often much less concentrated than adult medicine, but can help a child deal with the effects of this most irritating of illnesses.

Sun Cream
Those who fail to protect their skin in the midst of summer will often find themselves burning up and causing harm to themselves. There is also a myth that those with darker skin, higher melanin, needn’t wear sunscreen. However, it’s perfectly easy for said person to burn, and that’s not okay. Keeping a certain factor of SPF cream depending on your needs (very high for pale or fair skin, for instance) is essential, and can heavily reduce the risk of skin cancer.

During the summertime you’re likely to go through this quickly, so be sure to purchase a few bottles in bulk, and perhaps miniature bottles for the bag you carry to work every day. You cannot be certain that a burn will not occur, and so it pays to be prepared. This way you can also ensure best practice for your children.

Heartburn Treatments
Heartburn can be a very uncomfortable problem commonly felt among those consuming certain kinds of foods that encourage acidity within the stomach. This can lead to stomach acid rising and causing pain in the chest and sometimes, difficulty breathing. This is why it’s so important to have heartburn treatment to hand should you need it, as it can help you counteract these issues with an easily ingested solution. Gaviscon dual action peppermint is by far one of the most trusted products on the market, as it enacts a twofold system to help you neutralize your stomach acid safely whilst also providing a protective barrier that prevents it from rising.

This can, for many, give them an immediate and comforting respite from heartburn issues, particularly in long-term sufferers. Almost anyone can be susceptible to heartburn however, so it’s worthwhile to hold some relieving medicine such as this in your medicine cabinet should you need it (especially the day after drinking or eating heavily spiced foods).

Travel Medicine
Travel medicine may not be utilized all the time, but it can be good to have it on hand when you’re packing to go. A small first aid kit can be useful when on the road, but it can also be worthwhile to have anti-nausea medication should you need it, especially if you usually experience these issues. Travel aids could also include the everyday and necessary items you may consider, such as extra fresh tampons and personal hygiene kits.

Lip balm, sun cream, skincare lotion, and a range of other items you may be in need of can also help you stay fresh and prepared as you travel and make the most of your time on the road. Just having this to hand, in a convenient travel case within your purse or bag, can help you feel less out of sorts should one of these requirements come up - and at the very least they can help you remain a helpful travel companion.

Allergy Medication
Allergy medication can also be very useful depending on your needs. This might be medicine to help you counteract the effects of hayfever, or it might even be an insulin shot depending on what kind of items you are sensitive to. Exposure may also require the use of anti-histamines depending on what your particular condition is. The truth is that allergies can become stimulated at any time, and you’ll never predict when they come about. This is why having a backup stock of medication can help you soothe your symptoms, especially if you then need to seek further medical aid.

Vitamins & Minerals
While perhaps not an immediate medication, vitamin and mineral supplements can be a great part of your healthcare kit. Vitamin D, a multivitamin, fish oil and b12 can all be worthwhile vitamins to consume in order to keep on top of your daily quotas, and should always be consumed as part of a healthy and balanced diet.

With this advice, we hope you can better curate your personal medicine cabinet.