In the event of an emergency or natural disaster, you may find that emergency services in your area will be crippled or unable to deal with the high volume of calls. That is why it is always a great idea to have some over-the-counter medicine for first aid on hand.
You should keep this OTC medicine in a survival kit so it’s portable and keeps everything together. This way, you can keep the medicine in your bug-out bag or Survival Kit and easily access everything at a moment’s notice.
Listed below are the most important non-prescription (over the counter) drugs that you should keep in your survival kit in case of an emergency.
1) Antiseptic
If you get wounded in any shape and form, it’s standard procedure to disinfect a wound before you patch it up. This prevents infection from setting in while you wait for the wound to heal. Common examples are iodine, hydrogen peroxide, and rubbing alcohol.
2) Pain Relievers
Though we can all take a bit of pain, it can sometimes be hard to move or travel when in pain. To make sure that you are always in a condition to move when you need to, you should take some pain relievers such as aspirin and naproxen sodium.
3) Antihistamines
Although antihistamines don’t really cure allergies, they help to provide relief from the symptoms of allergies.
4) Laxatives
If you are suffering from constipation, it’s great to have a laxative on hand. Just be careful when using over-the-counter laxatives because they can cause dependency and reduced bowel function.
5) Antacid
Antacids are used to reduce the symptoms of indigestion and heartburn.
6) Sunburn Relief
Sunburn can be extremely uncomfortable and can prevent you from moving around. There are a lot of creams and gels that contain camphor, menthol, and aloe which can provide relief.
7) Cold Rub
A clogged nose can be extremely uncomfortable and will make it harder for you to do any physical labor or activity. A cold rub such as Vick’s can help provide temporary relief to a clogged or runny nose.
8) Cough Medicine
Most of the time, you don’t really need to treat a cough. But if a particularly bad cough is keeping you awake at night, you might want to consider an antitussive to suppress the cough. If you are having trouble breathing, you might want to take an expectorant to help thin the mucus.
9) Anti-Diarrhea
It can be hard to move around when you have diarrhea. Fortunately, it usually only lasts for 2-3 days. Drugs such as loperamide and bismuth subsalicylate can help provide relief while you wait.
In addition to all of the mentioned over-the-counter drugs, you should also make sure that your survival kit also includes enough bandages that can be used to patch-up and stop the bleeding on particularly nasty wounds.
Also make sure to include special medication, over-the-counter or prescription, that you or members of your family might need to treat individual conditions.
Though a survival kit contains all of the essentials, the drugs for your survival kit aren’t meant to treat any major diseases or wounds. The idea behind a survival kit (with over-the-counter drugs in it) is to give first-aid and keep you alive long enough to get proper care.
What do you think?
Are there any other OTC (over the counter) drugs/medicine you think you need in your survival (bug out) bag?
2 replies to "The 9 Over-The-Counter Medicine You Need in Your Survival Kit"
I always carry hydrogen peroxide in my medical kit. Good list. I’m adding laxatives to my kit now too (good point about these)
It’s good to be prepared. Thanks for the tips. I’m putting together my kit and this helped.