One must always be prepared for health emergencies. Your home’s medicine cabinet must-have essentials to give instant relief to a lot of common problems like cold, fever and stomach aches. While running to a physician is not always necessary,and onemustat leaststocks their medicine cabinet with the following essentials:
- Paracetamol: Fever outbreaks can happen all of a suddenweather change, switching between hot and cold environments or flu can lead to fever. To reduce the temperature, keep paracetamol like Crocin, Calpol or Dolo ready. These are mild doses that can help with regular.
- Painkillers: A painkiller is a must for sudden muscle pains, soreness, headache, backpain, toothache etc.Ibuprofen or aspirin can be used for temporary pain relief. Combiflam or Disprin can be used.
- Acidity:Wrong kind of food consumption, medicinal side effects or stress may cause acidity-where stomach acid irritates the abdomen and food pipeline. For these, one may use Zintec or Rantac tablets that may ease minor acidity problems. Solutions like ENO may work too for very mild cases.
- Antihistamines – Minor allergies, skin irritation or hives rashes are common and can be triggered without warning. It is good to have an antihistamine to reduce the effect of an allergic Avil or Cetirizine or Allegra can be kept handy for the same.
- Anti -Diarrhea:Diarrhoea is common and usually doesn’t require treatments, but sometimes upset bowel movements can make things uneasy. Anti Diarrhea medications help a person feel better. A lot of drugs are available, some over the counter drugs include AD, Imodium and Pepto-Bismol.
- Constipation:Discomfort or strain in bowel movements is also a common issue, that needs to be addressed. When at home treatments don’t work, one can switch to medications like Dulcolax or MiraLAX that help ease the issue.
- Antiemetics:Be it motion sickness or uneasiness due to certain conditions or viral infections the feeling of nausea and vomiting is very common. Antiemetics prevent these conditions. Avomine is the most widely used antiemetic.
- Cough Medicines and Cough Syrup- Coughs can get nasty and can irritate. There are two types of coughs generally, dry and wet cough. They can accompany flu or can occur individually due to an infection. Having cough syrups and basic cough relief medication for both these areadvisable. Benadryl or similar ones are recommended.
- Vitamins and Immunity Boosters: Multivitamins and immunity boosters can be taken occasionally if fatigue is consistent. Some days are tiring than the others and food cannot provide the necessary nutrition. Also, weather changes can affect immunity and strength. General multivitamin tablets and immunity boosters can be helpful to bring back the energy needed.
- Soothing skin Ointments: Sometimes, rashes, mildeczema or dermatitis can occur due to contact with chemicals or plants. This can lead to sensitive skin, itching and make it irritable. A skin soothing cream or gel will provide instant relief in such situations and make a rash worse.
- Eye and Ear Drops: Sometimes certain irritants can enter our eyes. The simplest way is to use eye drops that can pull out the irritant through excess lubrication. Having one handy can help get rid of small particles that sometimes enter the eye uninvited.Similarly, ear drops can help soothe any pain or irritation in ears.
- Wound Dressing First Aid: A supply to address a would,or a cut should be ready with anyone. Antiseptic liquids, cotton, bandages, antibiotic creams like soframycin, should be present to clean and dress a small would or incase of a severe one, cover it till medical help is provided.
- Pain Relief Sprays or Gels: Muscle spasms and pain in joints, back, muscles or bones can take over due to some A pain relief spray or gel-likeIodex, Moov or Voliniwill provide warmth to the underlying muscle or swelling causing relief to the pain.
- Antibiotics: Minor bacterial infections can be cured by introducing antibiotics that are more strong bacteria that destroy the bad bacteria causing the infection. While antibiotics should be prescribed by a doctor based on the illness, keeping a general antibiotic can prove to be a good idea for an emergency. Most commonly used are amoxicillin, doxycycline, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin.
- Anti Fungal Medications: Fungal infections are different than bacterial ones, and they require special care and treatment. A fungal infection can be caused by dermatophytes, yeasts, or moulds, onthe skin, under nails and hair. Oral antifungal medications likeitraconazole can help.
- Nasal Sprays: A congested nose can obstruct the day to day Be it due to cold, sinusitisor allergies, anda nasal spray can come to the rescue to decongest the nose and ease the discomfort. Always keep a nasal spray like Nasivion handy.
These medicines are only for acute problems, for prevailing and serious concerns it is necessary to consult a doctor.