I'm taking care of most of my family's medical supplies and only listing what I'm in charge of. I'm not including any prescription medications in the following list. That said, I welcome all suggestions for OTC.

I cannot swallow pills, so I include liquid or chewable medications or medications I can pulverize with a pill crusher.

In addition to my medical bag, I EDC a modified Traveler Kit and have the following on shelves or in a plastic bin. Loose or odd-shaped items are in the container. Items in their original box or bottle are on the shelves, some of which are to refill my medical bag and my EDC first aid kit.

MEDICAL INFORMATION
(1) The Survival Medicine Handbook
(1) Where there is no Dentist

PERSONAL PROTECTION
(1) Biohazard Waste Bags, 50-Count Box
(4) Hand Sanitizer, 32 Ounce
(5) Hand Sanitizer, 8 Ounce
(6) Nitrile Gloves, 100-Count Boxes
(25) Bear Claw Glove Kits

AIRWAY
(1) Lubricating Jelly, 3g Packet, Box of 144

WOUND
(8) Alcohol Swabs, 200-Count Box
(13) CoFlex LF2, 2"
(1) Trauma Pad, 5" x 9", 25-Count Box
(1) Non-Adherent Dressing, 3" x 4", 100-Count Box
(4) Sterile Gauze Pad, 3" x 3", 100-Count Box
(1) Povidone-Iodine, Swabs, 100-Count Box
(4) Povidone-Iodine, 8 Ounce Bottle
(8) Stretch Gauze, 3"
(1) Knuckle Bandages, 100-Count
(7) Wound Care Kit

IMMOBILIZATION
(12) Triangular Bandage

MEDICATION
(4) Glucose, 15 g
(3) Liquid Acetaminophen, 8 Ounce
(1) Alka-Seltzer, 116-Count
(12) Aspirin, 36-Count
(4) Biofreeze, 5 Large Patches
(4) Children's Benadryl, Allergy, 8 Ounce
(12) Carmex
(87) ChapStick
(1) Caladryl, 6 Ounce
(1) Cornstarch, 14 Ounce
(1) DayQuil, 12 Ounce
(4) Cough Syrup, 8 Ounce
(3) Gold Bond, 10 Ounce
(4) Liddell Letting Go - Homeopathic Remedies, 1 Ounce
(1) Loperamide Hydrochloride, Anti-Diarrheal, 8 Ounce
(1) Milk of Magnesia, 12 Ounce
(1) Natrapel, Tick & Insect Repellent, 3.4 Ounce (100 ml)
(1) NyQuil, 12 Ounce
(72) Omeprazole, 20 mg, 14-Count Bottle
(4) Pepto Bismol, 16 Ounce
(1) Rid Super Max, Lice Kit
(5) Simethicone, Antigas, 48-Count
(1) Sunscreen, 8 Ounce
(4) Vaseline, 13 Ounce
(1) Vicks VaporRub, 1.76 Ounce (50 g)
(1) Visine, 1/2 Ounce

INSTRUMENTS
(10) Scalpel, Sterile, #11
(1) Microdot Xtra Glucometer
(1) 25 Count Test Strips
(1) Microdot Xtra High (red) testing solution
(1) Microdot Xtra Low (blue) testing solutions
(25) Twist-top lancets

OTHER
(1) Chinook Travel Suture Module
(1) Chinook Travel Syringe Module
(1) FIRST AID KIT DENTAL GRAB N GO™
(1) EYE CARE EMERGENCY KIT

Jeanette Isabelle

That's a pretty thorough list! Thanks.

Is the children's Benadryl for you or do you have children in the family? If not for children then I'd include adult Benadryl.
If you have children include some children's pain relief such as children's Motrin or such. There was some kind of a shortage on children's pain meds recently so keeping some pre-stocked is a big help.

Also I'd stock some other pain relief besides just acetaminophen. Add in Ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin) and maybe Naproxen (Aleve).
A quick example I found https://www.hss.edu/pediatrics-difference-between-tylenol-advil-aleve.asp
Anti inflamatory can be usefulin some situations.
Some Pedialyte, or drop drop or even Gatorade can be handy.

The dental grab and go kit looks a bit overkill to me. A small bottle of dental pain relief and a temporary filling pack will suffice unless your preparing for post end of the world

Thanks for the reply. It's for me. As I said, I include liquid medication because I can't swallow pills.


I have aspirin and acetaminophen listed. Do I need a third option as well?


I have aspirin listed. What anti-inflammatory medication are you considering?


I don't have it listed because I don't consider it a drug, but I have packs of POWER ADE.


The world's end is why I have the Dental Grab N Go.

Ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin) and Naproxen (Aleve) are anti inflammatory (I don't believe Asprin is) and sometimes they work better for pain, or when you have a long term pain such as after surgery doctors might have you alternate between ibuprofen and aspirin.

For non-end of the world something like
https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/red-cross-toothache-complete-medication-kit/ID=prod1769-product and https://www.cvs.com/shop/cvs-health-temporary-lost-filling-loose-cap-repair-prodid-695108

You can buy pretty much anywhere, walgreens and cvs were just the first hits I found when looking for a picture.

I had a filling pop out on a Friday night so I had to get through the weekend until Monday,so a dot of the pain relief, then the temp filling to fill the hole until you can get to a dentist helps.

Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory medication. Nevertheless, taking your suggestion to heart, I will get ibuprofen in addition to aspirin and acetaminophen. Naproxen, on the other hand, does not have a liquid or chewable form.

Does anyone besides Eugene have a recommendation or a suggestion for something not listed?

Jeanette Isabelle

I guess I maybe have more input because I've done the taking care of meds for our family for a while.
I keep a stock of dayquil, nyquil, Mucinex, Zertec as well.
My allergy doctor has me use Zertec instead of Benedryl and the doctor office at work usually says to use Mucinex when I go in with cold/flu symptoms.
Rx stuff:
Our son has multiple diagnosis and has been on a lot of medications so while you can't stock like OTC I do however track the rx meds each family member has taken in a spreadsheet. Each new doctor always asks medical history and will often ask if we have tried x or y medicine. So I simply record the meds, rx# and date prescribed and a brief reason so we can quickly answer the doctor answers.

Also the durable stuff.
We have thermometer, blood pressure cuff, one of those finger blood oxygen readers.
It would also be worth while doing a CPR class and have some of those CPR shields.

I have DayQuil and NyQuil listed. I can add Zertec, but does Mucinex come in either a chewable or liquid form?


I have all that except for the pulse oximeter in my medical bag.

Jeanette Isabelle

Inspired by what you wrote, I researched the different allergy medications. If I dealt with allergies all the time, I would need something different, but Benadryl is better for those with occasional allergy symptoms.

Jeanette Isabelle

Will try to address several of the issues raised:
Physicians no longer use/recommend oral benadryl much: too short lasting, needlessly sedating.

Much longer lasting, and much more potent (est. 10X more) antihistamines are cetirizine (Zyrtec), and levocetirizine (Xyzal).
Both are also MUCH less sedating than Bendadryl, especially levocetirizine.

Both are more expensive than generic Benadryl, but both are available as liquids, both are OTC.

Cetirizine and levocetirizine work well on an occasional basis.

Aspirin becomes anti-inflammatory if you take 3-4 tabs every 4 hr or so for at least 6 doses. It may be the most hazardous to the stomach of the options discussed, and tinnitus, ringing of the ears is an issue at this big a dose. Aspirin also is one of the quickest medicines to break down in storage: one of several where the manufacturers "expiration date" has some relation to reality.

There is little data as to whether the expiration data on the two above liquid meds is real or not: an advantage of the tablet versions is that, except for aspirin, they seem to last for decades.

Yes, Mucinex (guaifenesin) is available as a liquid.

Naproxen tablets, and others, can be put into a plastic bag, like a ziplock, crushed into powder with a hammer, then dissolved into the beverage of choice.