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Home Pharmacy Introduction

So you or someone you are caring for is beginning to feel a little ill. What should you do? The best advice is to notify the doctor if any condition is concerning to you. For routine illness, you may want to try some over-the-counter medicines, available without a doctor's prescription, that you can get at your drug store to relieve certain symptoms.

Here are some helpful hints on what you can keep at home for minor illness and take before going to see the doctor. You may even get lucky and fix the problem altogether with your very own home pharmacy.

The medicines listed here are made by various companies. Most of these medicines are also made by large pharmacy and grocery store chains, whose house brands have the advantage of being less expensive. Read the label to see which medicines are the active ingredients. There you will find the generic ingredients that are referred to here. Acetaminophen, for example, is the generic name for medicine sold under the brand name of Tylenol, among others.

These generic medicines are the key ingredients that will act in your body. The inactive ingredients are usually preservatives and stabilizers that do not affect your body very much at all.

As always, it is important to follow the directions listed for each medicine. Sometimes you can take these medicines differently but only under the advice of the doctor. If the over-the-counter medicine does not seem to give the results you expect, you should see your doctor.