 [ Symptoms ] what kinds of medicines do i need to stock at home [ Disease ] narrowing down your home pharmacy to just ten medicines — will simplify your life and free up some room in those medicine cabinets that may be overflowing use the kiss rule keep it safe and simple first take out all of those medicines and line them up on a table look at the expiration dates and dispose of any old ones if you have any leftover antibiotics from prescriptions you never finished throw all of those away too medications for conditions that you no longer have or are unlike to have can be discarded as well group your home pharmacy into categories cold medicines ointmentscreams painfever medications etc this will help you find duplicates — medicines of different brand names that do the same thing the categories of medicines that you should have in your home pharmacy pain and fever medications acetaminophen tylenol and ibuprofen advil motrin in both adult and child strengths if you have children if you have an infant you may need infant strengths as well remember that ibuprofen also has anti inflammatory properties antiseptic solutions cuts and wounds should be carefully cleansed so your pharmacy should have hydrogen peroxide betadine solution or the equivalent topical antibiotics your choice they come in both ointments greasy but protective and creams rubs in easily and all are considered equally efficacious for the prevention and treatment of minor skin infections some topical antibiotics are better for burns — you should have a burn ointment in your cabinet hydrocortisone this topical steroid is also available in creams and ointments used for itching treating mosquito bites etc antifungal medications use for athlete is feet or fungal diaper rashes if the woman in the house is prone to occasional vaginal yeast infections some miconazole monistat is nice to have available stomach and intestinal disorders include a good stool softener such as colace docusate sodium or a mild laxative such as milk of magnesia i do not routinely treat minor diarrhea but having kaopectate or even pepto bismol at home would be helpful over the counter tagamet cimetidine or prilosec omeprazole would be appropriate to include along with maalox or mylanta salt you can get this from the kitchen but making your own saline 14 tsp of salt to 8 oz of water can be used for gargling or homemade nasal spraydrops antihistamines drying up a watery nose or controlling itchy allergies benadryl diphenhydramine is the most common but it can be sedating claritin loratadine or zyrtec cetirizine lasts longer 24 hours and both are considered non sedating all are available in both adult and children formulations decongestants medications containing pseudoephedrine sudafed or phenylephrine are for stuffycongested noses they can be stimulating and may interfere with sleep decongestants also drain mucous so taking them at night is going to cause a river of drainage it is best to do this during the day when you can blow your nose cough medicines there are two types expectorants makes you cough by loosening mucous and suppressants