If I am interpreting his posting correctly: I believe what he saying is that to test the OTC meds when you normally get sick. Just try them at home where you can stay in a nice cozy bed, so you can determine what positive and negative effects they may have on you before trying them under stressful conditions out in the field. Pete

Pete is correct; sorry I didn't make my point more clear.

When you get a cold at home, try some of the OTC meds to see which works best. Yes, find out at home if you're allergic to something that is packed in your FAK. Find out if and to what degree certain cold meds make you drowsy or keep you wide-eyed awake. For example I know through experience that I simply cannot tolerate some cold meds because they make me so sleepy as to be dangerous. Find out now, not while huddling in the shell of your downed airplane or whatever.

I think it is probably better to suffer the symptoms than to discover in the field that you don't tolerate a medication. Other than antibiotics very few curative medications have been discussed here. Symptom relief is just that. Analgesics, decongestants, antacids etc help relieve symptoms but do nothing to remedy the underlyng illness. If you find the sinus soo debilitating that you need some relief from it then some sudafed might be helpful in your FAK. OTOH, if you have never taken sudafed then a survival situation is not the right time to discover that you are alergic to sudafed. The sinus headache is far superior to anaphalatic shock resulting in inability to breath, and death. The sinus headache is probably superior to the drowsiness that causes you to walk over the edge of a cliff or to make the decision to fall asleep rather than bother to build a proper shelter and fire. If there is a medication that you have experience with that you find helpful when you have a cold - by all means include some of it in your FAK. OTOH testing medications for the first time in the field is very dangerous.

IMNSHO, I would never include any medication that I knew caused drowsiness. In a survival situation I would want full alertness and I would want to be able to choose my sleep schedule. I do carry earplugs and eye shades so that if I have established safe shelter I can safely sleep even if it is loud and bright.