Get your medicine cabinet ready for the flu

During climate changing period, many families encounter with health problem. Everyone should be prepared even with those who are healthy, get your med stuff ready and be prepared against the flu.

In fact, during the winter, there is a lot of people that get sick with the flu, plus, there are records of those who has got influenza tend to increases every year. So, we should always have our home medicine cabinet ready with drugs and equipment against flu. In foreign countries, the tool kit, namely Flu Survival Kit are medicines and equipment that can easily be found. Many medicines and devices, such as antipyretic, pain reliever, cough, sore throat, or nasal decongestant might already be at home.

Let’s check the list on what should be prepared.

List for the cold is:

•              Fever and pain reliever

•              Cough syrups and drop.

•              Nasal sprays

•              Decongestants

•              Thermometer

•              Tissue paper

Caution: please consult doctor before applying every medicine for children. Some of the above medicine has a depressant effect on the nervous system which may cause danger to children (especially under 2 years old) as well as adults in certain chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease. It needs to be carefully applied under doctor’s or pharmacist instruction.

Now, I will introduce you the medicine for cold:

Fever and pain reliever

Acetaminophen (well known as paracetamol) is a medicine that is classified as a safe to use medicine group, can be applied both in children and adult. It does not irritate the stomach, can reduce fever, and relieve pain well.

Caution: This group also has side effects on the liver. Especially those whose liver is in abnormal condition or overeating. They may cause damage to liver. Besides, they are strictly forbidden for those who are allergic to drug. Those drugs have always been with us since I could realize.

There are categorized to two groups:

Non-Steroid Anti-inflammatory Drug (NSAID)

To reduce inflammatory, i.e. Aspirin, ibuprofen, etc. can be easily found in common pharmacy shops. They have a better effect in fever reduction with great side effect than paracetamol, including abdominal pain, black stools, blood vomiting, or even piercing your stomach. It also worsens the function of platelets which make the bleeding to stop harder (for dengue fever)

This group of drugs can easily cause death according to the above side effects (excluding to drug allergies). We do not recommend you to take these medicine without any prescription from doctor or pharmacist (especially when you can’t realize what kind of disease you have got).

That is, Paracetamol seems to be easier to use. Less dangerous It is a drug that can be bought and taken at home. If you feel any of these symptoms

Cough syrups and drop.

This drug can be applied regarding to the symptoms. There are 3 kinds of drugs: 1. Expectorant 2. Mucolytic 3. Suppressant (with dextromethorphan) and Lozenges

Expectorant and mucolytic are classified in safe to use group, can be easily bought such as Bisolvon, Mucosolvan, Icolid, Mucolid, etc. These medicines will keep the mucus from thickening, can be easily taken out by via cough, less sputum, and recover from coughing itself. It can be taken both children and adults with rare chance of being allergic or side effects. They must be taken based on the instruction (body weight) along with a lot of water for clear up phlegm.

Cough suppressants work well with dry coughing (none of phlegm can be spotted). They are taken to cure cough. However, some drugs in this group may have a critical side effect like depression on the nervous system, causing drowsiness, some may progress to drug addiction. In case of a lot of sputum is still spotted, this drug will suppress the cough, causing sputum no-way out. It needs to be carefully applied under doctor’s or pharmacist instruction (especially for children).

Lozenges can commonly be found at the pharmacy shop ( or even a grocery). Most of them have similar ingredients and give the same result like anesthetic to prevent sore throat, Menthol for cooling, clearing the throat, nose, with a bit of antiseptic and vitamin C (for some) to make it delicious and helps in clearing the colds (may or may not). Moreover, some of them are differentiated, offering a variety of sugar free, clear tablets, or even made as mouthwash product (costly). They show less harm with unclear effect but it  can make you feel comfortable ( with a bit numb at your throat), less pain. Do not apply overdose of it.

Nasal decongestant

It is also called Antihistamines which can be commonly found. One of them is well-known (Chlorpheniramine) and have been widely applied as they have a quick effect, cheap, can be kept for a long time. It helps to cure allergic condition, but taker may feel sleepy (slightly helps to sleep). Nowadays, there are many new drugs that have been produced which remove the sleepy side effect and kept you throat moist, long term effect with only a single pill. It is recommended to apply it under doctor instruction as they are expensive (some even cost as high as buying 300 pills of Chlorpheniramine). It is not always necessary for every case. Some those are

Nasal decongestants - these include Pseudoephredine that we are familiar with and well known as Maxiphed, Actifed (with antihistamines) is a good drug which also in form of tablets and liquid (for children) and can be easily found. However, personally, I do not recommend you to buy them yourself due to their side effects e.g. causing palpitations, headaches, and get dizzy. They can also cause some children nightmares and crying.

Nasal spray is an alternative option that some people like. One of their types called saline nasal sprays are applied to clean the nose, cure runny nose from the flu, and breath easily. In addition, this type of spray does not contain any drugs. Therefore, it can be used many times (may be 2 times per hour). Please consult the doctor for the antidote or Steroid type due to the nose could be tightens after using it for a long time.

In fact, there is another group of drugs that doctors don't usually use but local people often combine the mentioned drugs like paracetamol and chlorpheniramine, taking them at the same time which helps to reduce both fever and snot. Some of them are well known such as Tiffy, Decolgen, as well as Tylenol (with a brand of Tylenol Cold). It works well comparing to taking them separately. However, we should be careful about the size of the drug, how much and how many milligrams each pill contains. Since the drug has been easily found for so long, people usually take a lot of it. Sometimes they take it together with other common drugs. For instance, both Tiffy and Tylenol are taken at the same time in which both contain Paracetamol as an ingredient may cause an overdose uneccessarily.

Antibiotics is applied to kill the bacteria which should be taken under closely controlled by  the specialist (doctor). Moreover, 80% of fever caused by virus infection can be recovered itself without taking any antibiotics. Some drug could be taken based on your symptoms along with a lot of water, taking sufficient rest. Unnecessarily taking antibiotics will cause the bacteria or virus to become stronger and even encounter difficulty in treatment.

Thermometer

This measuring device should be kept ready to be used whenever you need. It is necessary to accurately measure your current temperature which preliminary helps detecting fever and taking medicine to recover in time.

A glass thermometer (with mercury inside) is a very high accuracy temperature measuring device. It can be easily applied under the tongue, without any batteries, durable, cheap. However, it is hard to read the scale (experienced and expertise required), take some time waiting for the mercury to reach the same temperature of the user (taking out to soon will result in mis-reading), hard to use in children (they could bite it). Some of them were made in digital reading which also required time to measure. The other type is applied on the user’s forehead which is cheap but inaccurate and easily broken. The infrared type tends to be more popular. It can be easily used within a blink but comes at a high cost, required batteries, and experienced in measuring (must allow the light to reach the ear drum, may need to pull the ear in some cases). In case of measuring via mouth cavity, do not use it right after drinking hot or cold water.

Drinking a lot of water

We have been recommended from elderly for so long to drink water as much as you can. This is theoretically correct due to it helps our blood circulatory system to work effectively, reduce heat, unthickening mucus and easily to cough out.

Just drinking clean water (hot, warm, or cold is totally fine). Typically, they usually drink warm water because it does not irritate the throat, stopping snot. However, drinking cold water is also fine or having fruit juice can even add more vitamin to you. Mineral water may not be necessary if you do not vomit or have severe diarrhea.

Please avoid soft drink due to it would cause distension, stomach irritation, causing obesity, unable to eat, drinking less water

For milk, it may cause nausea and, or distension.

The amount of water you required may depends on your daily activities, weather, and climate. However, you can easily notice by observing your body, removing water by your secretion and excretion (especially urination). A clear urine indicates that you have sufficiently water. Try to drink water greater than the normal level that your body requires.

Lastly, do not forget to take a rest 

Dr.Tanes Puapornpong

Department Surgical Department