Use this only when no doctor, pharmacist, urgent care, or telehealth can be reached. Any of those beats this page. Doses are standard adult doses for non-pregnant adults with normal kidney and liver function. Children are dosed by weight: use the product label or package insert for the child's weight. Verify every dose against the package insert in the box. Red flags mean get the person to definitive care by any means available, even at real cost or risk.
Symptom checker
Tap every symptom present. Conditions are ranked by match. This gives you a starting list, not a diagnosis. Read each condition's "How to check" section and its red flags.
Vital signs without electronics
How to measure
- Pulse: two fingers (not thumb) on the thumb side of the wrist, or the side of the neck beside the windpipe. In infants use the inside of the upper arm. Count 30 seconds × 2. Note whether it is regular or irregular.
- Breathing: count chest rises for a full 60 seconds without the person knowing (they change it if they notice). In children, watch the belly. Look for ribs sucking in, nostril flaring, grunting, or head bobbing. Those signs mean the person is working hard to breathe.
- Temperature: a non-electric galinstan glass thermometer works without batteries. Hand on the forehead only tells you "hot" or "not hot." Fever is 100.4°F (38°C) or higher. Any fever in a baby under 3 months is an emergency.
- Capillary refill: press a fingernail (or the sternum in infants) for 5 seconds, release, count. Pink color should return in under 2 seconds. Slower means dehydration, shock, or cold.
- Blood pressure (manual cuff + stethoscope): inflate to 180, release 2 to 3 mmHg per second. The first tapping sound is systolic and the point it disappears is diastolic. Without a cuff: a palpable wrist pulse roughly suggests systolic is not dangerously low. This is only a rough guide.
- Level of consciousness (AVPU): Alert, responds to Voice, responds only to Pain, Unresponsive. Anything below A is serious; track it over time.
- Pupils: equal, round, and both shrink to a light. Unequal pupils after head injury = emergency.
- Skin: pale, cool, clammy, sweaty = shock. Blue lips = low oxygen. Yellow eyes = liver. Mottled knees in a sick child = poor circulation.
- Hydration: urine pale yellow is good; dark or none in 8 hours (adults) or fewer than 3 wet diapers in 24 hours (infants) is dehydration. Also dry mouth, no tears, sunken eyes, sunken soft spot in infants.
- Urine dipstick (non-electric strips): leukocytes + nitrites point to a urinary tract infection (UTI). Glucose + ketones point to uncontrolled diabetes. Blood points to a stone or infection.
Systematic exam
History (SAMPLE + OPQRST)
SAMPLE
- Symptoms
- Allergies
- Medications (incl. supplements)
- Past history, pregnancy possible?
- Last intake (food, drink, urine, stool)
- Events leading up
OPQRST (for pain)
- Onset: sudden or gradual
- Provokes / palliates
- Quality: sharp, dull, crushing, cramping
- Region / radiation
- Severity 0 to 10
- Time course
Head to toe
- Head: bumps, cuts, fluid from ears/nose, raccoon eyes (skull fracture).
- Eyes: pupils, redness, discharge, yellow whites.
- Mouth/throat: use a flashlight and a spoon handle. Look for tonsil pus, white patches, a swollen floor of the mouth, or tooth abscess. Do not look in the throat of a drooling child who is sitting forward (epiglottitis).
- Neck: chin to chest. Stiffness with fever = meningitis until proven otherwise. Swollen nodes.
- Chest: ear (or stethoscope) on back, both sides, top to bottom. Crackles or one side quieter = pneumonia or collapsed lung. Wheeze = asthma/bronchospasm.
- Abdomen: person lying flat, knees bent. Press gently in all 4 quadrants, painful area last. Check for rigid "board-like" belly, rebound pain (pain on release), and the heel drop test (pain in the belly when they drop onto their heels). Any of these suggests peritonitis = surgical.
- Back: fist tap over each kidney (flank). Pain = kidney infection or stone.
- Limbs: deformity, swelling, pulses past the injury, sensation, movement. Calf swelling on one side = clot.
- Skin: rashes (press a clear glass on a rash: if it does not fade under pressure, and the person has a fever, treat it as an emergency), wounds, tick bites, red streaks.
Universal red flags: evacuate now
- Trouble breathing, blue lips, can't speak full sentences, ribs pulling in (child)
- Chest pain with sweating, nausea, or pain to arm/jaw
- Stroke signs (BE-FAST): Balance, Eyes, Face droop, Arm weakness, Speech, Time
- Confusion, very hard to wake, seizure over 5 minutes
- Fever + stiff neck, or fever + non-fading rash
- Any fever in an infant under 3 months; a limp, unresponsive, or inconsolable baby
- Severe belly pain with a rigid belly, or pain moving to the lower right
- Vomiting blood, black tarry stool (not from Pepto), heavy rectal bleeding
- Bleeding not controlled by pressure; deep wounds to chest, belly, neck
- Signs of shock: pale, cold, clammy, fast weak pulse, confused
- Dehydration in a small child that is not improving with oral rehydration
- Severe allergic reaction (even if epinephrine helped: reactions can return)
- Possible pregnancy + belly pain or bleeding
- Sudden severe testicle pain
My kids: doses from the product labels
Enter each child's current weight (weigh them monthly; weight is how the labels dose). Doses below are copied from the official Drug Facts labels and only apply to products with the exact concentration shown. Store brands (CVS, Equate, Up&Up) use the same concentrations, but check the box.
Before you give anything
- Check the concentration on the box and use only the syringe/cup from that box. Infants' Motrin (50 mg per 1.25 mL) is 2.5× stronger than Children's Motrin (100 mg per 5 mL).
- Count acetaminophen in every product given (cold/flu combos). No aspirin or Pepto-Bismol under 18 with fever or flu. No cough/cold medicine under 4. No honey under 1.
- Where the label says "ask a doctor" (any acetaminophen under 2 years, ibuprofen under 6 months), this tool will not give a number. Ask your pediatrician now, while you can, for written doses for each child and each product you stock, and enter them in that child's "Doctor's doses" box.
Fever: when it matters
Fever helps fight infection. Treat the child's comfort, not the number. How the child acts matters more than how high the fever is.
| Age | Emergency / evacuate | Needs care soon |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 months | Any fever 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, rectal. Also: temperature under 97°F with poor feeding. | |
| 3 to 6 months | Fever with lethargy, poor feeding, fast breathing, rash | 102°F or higher; any fever over 24 h |
| 6 months to 2 years | Limp, hard to wake, non-fading rash, stiff neck, breathing hard, signs of dehydration, seizure over 5 min | Fever over 24 h with no cold symptoms (possible UTI); fever over 3 days; 104°F+ repeatedly |
| 2 years and up | Same red flags | Fever over 3 days; returns after 24 h fever-free; ear/throat/urinary pain |
- Measuring: rectal is accurate under 3 years (petroleum jelly, ½ inch in). Armpit reads about 1°F low.
- Comfort: light clothing, fluids, lukewarm sponge only if they like it. No cold baths, no alcohol rubs.
- Febrile seizure (6 months to 5 years): shaking with fever, usually under 5 minutes, then sleepy. Child on side, nothing in the mouth, time it. Over 5 minutes, breathing trouble, or not waking normally = emergency. Fever medicine does not prevent them.
Dehydration and oral rehydration
Mild
Slightly dry mouth, normal tears, a bit fewer wet diapers.
Moderate
Dry mouth, few tears, sunken eyes, fewer than 3 wet diapers / 8 h without urine, fussy, sunken soft spot.
Severe: emergency
Very sleepy or limp, no urine 8+ hours, cold mottled hands/feet, very sunken eyes, fast breathing, skin pinch on belly stays tented.
WHO oral rehydration plan
- Prevent (Plan A): after each loose stool give ORS: under 2 years 50 to 100 mL (¼ to ½ cup); 2 to 10 years 100 to 200 mL (½ to 1 cup); older: as much as they want. Keep breastfeeding and feeding normally.
- Treat moderate dehydration (Plan B): 75 mL per kg of body weight over 4 hours (your child's amount is calculated on their card above). Then back to Plan A.
- Vomiting: 5 mL (1 teaspoon) every 1 to 2 minutes by spoon or syringe. That adds up to about 150 to 300 mL per hour, and most vomiting children keep this down. If they vomit, wait 10 minutes and restart slowly.
- Home ORS: 1 liter clean water + 6 level teaspoons sugar + ½ level teaspoon salt. Measure exactly. Too much salt is dangerous. Plain water, juice, soda, and sports drinks are poor substitutes for small children.
Choking and CPR (AHA/AAP 2025)
Infant (under 1) choking
Can't cry, cough, or breathe:
- Face down along your forearm, head lower than chest, supporting the jaw.
- 5 back blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.
- Turn face up, 5 chest thrusts on the breastbone just below the nipple line.
- Repeat until the object comes out or the baby goes limp (start CPR).
No abdominal thrusts in infants. No blind finger sweeps.
Child (1 year to puberty) choking
Can't speak, cough, or breathe:
- 5 back blows, leaning the child forward.
- 5 abdominal thrusts: fist just above the belly button, quick inward-upward.
- Alternate until it clears or they go limp (start CPR).
If coughing forcefully, let them cough.
CPR: unresponsive, not breathing normally
- Shout for help. If alone with a child or infant, do 2 minutes of CPR before leaving to call.
- 30 compressions : 2 breaths, rate 100 to 120 per minute, full recoil.
- Infant: 2 thumbs encircling the chest (or heel of one hand), about 1½ inches (one third of chest depth). The old two-finger method is no longer recommended.
- Child: heel of one or two hands, about 2 inches (one third of chest depth).
- Breaths: head tilt chin lift; infant cover mouth and nose. Each breath just enough to make the chest rise.
- Look in the mouth before breaths if choking caused it; remove only what you can see.
Take a hands-on infant/child CPR class. Reading is not enough.
Swallowed objects and poisons
Emergencies even if the child seems fine
- Button / coin batteries burn through the esophagus within 2 hours. Go now. For a child 1 year or older swallowed within 12 hours, the National Capital Poison Center advises 10 mL (2 tsp) of honey every 10 minutes, up to 6 doses on the way to care. Not under 1 year.
- Two or more magnets (or a magnet plus metal): they pinch through bowel walls.
- Iron pills (prenatal vitamins), adult medications (one pill of some heart, diabetes, or pain medicines can kill a toddler), benzonatate, nicotine, lamp oil, gasoline/kerosene (don't induce vomiting), dishwasher pods, caustics (drain cleaner, lye), antifreeze, rodenticide.
- Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222 (free, 24/7, nationwide; works whenever any phone line or cell signal works). Write it on the wall near the medicine cabinet.
- Do not induce vomiting. Do not give charcoal unless poison control says to.
- Note what, how much, and when; keep the container.
- Grid-down risk rises: fuel cans, lamp oil, candles, bleach for water treatment, pool shock, rodent bait, firearm/ammo all around the house at child height. Lock them up.
Childhood illnesses
These are also in the Conditions tab under the category "Children".
Prescription medicines for children
- Children's prescription doses are per kilogram of body weight and differ by condition. The full FDA package insert (Drug lookup tab, then Download all FDA labels) contains the official pediatric dosing section for each drug: use that, with your child's weight in kg (lb ÷ 2.2).
- Ask your pediatrician to write a standby plan now: amoxicillin dose for each child at current weight (the most common childhood antibiotic), ondansetron for vomiting, and an epinephrine auto-injector size if needed. Refresh it each year as they grow.
- Liquid antibiotics expire 10 to 14 days after mixing. Store the powder dry and mix with treated water only when needed. Chewables and capsules (opened and mixed into food) store longer.
- Avoid in children unless a clinician directs: ciprofloxacin/levofloxacin, tetracyclines other than doxycycline for tick fevers, promethazine under 2, benzonatate under 10, viscous lidocaine, loperamide under 2, aspirin, bismuth subsalicylate.
Conditions & treatment
Recognize, confirm, act. Drug names link to the drug lookup. The "Rx" lines show the standard adult regimen used for that condition when no clinician is available.
Drug lookup
Search by generic, brand, store-brand label wording, or by what it treats. OTC on the shelf · BTC behind the counter, no prescription needed · Rx prescription · Rx · LONG-TERM common daily prescriptions, with sick-day and run-out guidance. Controlled substances (opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants) are not included.
Interaction check
Add everything the person takes, including daily medications, supplements, and alcohol. This catches the common, high-risk combinations. It is not a complete interaction database.
Add two or more drugs.
Pharmacy aisle decoder
Store brands (CVS Health, Walgreens, Equate, Up&Up) use the same active ingredients as name brands, usually at a fraction of the price. The Drug Facts box on every OTC package is your pharmacist.
How to read Drug Facts
- Active ingredient(s): this line is the only thing that matters for identity and dose. Ignore the brand name and the "PM / Severe / Max" marketing.
- Purpose: what each ingredient does (pain reliever, antihistamine, cough suppressant).
- Warnings: "Do not use if…" and "Ask a doctor before use if you have…" Read every one.
- Directions: dose by age, and the 24 hour max.
- Cross-check every product you are giving. Acetaminophen hides in dozens of combination products. Adding them together is the most common accidental overdose.
Combination products: what's actually in them
Formulas change and vary by version. Always confirm against the box.
| Product | Typical active ingredients | Watch for |
|---|
Symptom → what to look for on the label
| Need | Active ingredient to find | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pain, fever | acetaminophen; ibuprofen; naproxen sodium | Alternating acetaminophen and ibuprofen is common. Never two NSAIDs at once. |
| Allergy, hives, itchy eyes | cetirizine, loratadine, fexofenadine (non-drowsy); diphenhydramine (drowsy) | Severe swelling or wheeze → epinephrine, not pills. |
| Stuffy nose | pseudoephedrine (behind counter); fluticasone nasal; oxymetazoline spray (3 days max) | Oral phenylephrine ("PE") was found ineffective by an FDA advisory panel in 2023. |
| Cough | dextromethorphan (dry cough); guaifenesin (thick mucus); honey (over 1 yr old) | No cough/cold products under age 4. |
| Diarrhea | oral rehydration salts first; loperamide; bismuth subsalicylate | No loperamide with fever or bloody stool. |
| Heartburn | famotidine; omeprazole / esomeprazole; calcium carbonate | "Zantac 360" is now famotidine, not ranitidine. |
| Constipation | polyethylene glycol 3350; senna; docusate | |
| Nausea / motion | meclizine; dimenhydrinate | Ondansetron is Rx. |
| Fungal skin | terbinafine; clotrimazole; miconazole | |
| Vaginal yeast | miconazole or clotrimazole vaginal (1, 3, or 7 day) | Fluconazole pill is Rx. |
| Wound | bacitracin or triple antibiotic ointment; saline; gauze | |
| Itchy rash, poison ivy | hydrocortisone 1%; calamine; oral antihistamine | |
| Lice | permethrin 1% (Nix) | Scabies needs Rx 5% permethrin. |
| Opioid overdose | naloxone 4 mg nasal spray (OTC since 2023) | Worth stocking regardless. |
| Dehydration | oral rehydration solution (Pedialyte type) | Sports drinks are a poor substitute for kids. |
Identifying an unknown pill
- Every US prescription and OTC tablet has an imprint code (letters/numbers) plus color and shape. With internet: search the imprint on an online pill identifier. Without internet: there is no reliable way. Do not guess.
- Pharmacy stock bottles show the generic name, strength, NDC number, and lot. Use the generic name in the Drug lookup tab.
- Expiration: most solid tablets keep much of their potency past the printed date if stored cool and dry. Never use expired liquid antibiotics, insulin, epinephrine that is discolored, nitroglycerin, or anything that has changed color, smell, or texture. Tetracycline-class drugs (including doxycycline) should not be used past their date.
Stock & prep
Legal ways to build a prescription reserve
- Ask your primary care doctor for 90 day supplies of every chronic medication and refill at day 60 so you build a buffer.
- Ask about a travel/expedition kit. Many doctors and some telehealth services prescribe a small standby kit for remote travel, typically an antibiotic for diarrhea, a broad antibiotic, and an anti-nausea drug.
- Get an epinephrine auto-injector prescription if anyone has any allergy history. Check expiration dates yearly.
- Animal ("fish") antibiotics are not FDA regulated for human use, and their purity and dose are not assured. Do not rely on them.
- Print the package insert (from DailyMed, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov) for every drug you stock and keep it with the drug. It has the pediatric dosing, the full interaction list, and kidney dose changes this tool can't hold.
- Get everyone current on tetanus (Tdap) now: every 10 years, or 5 years for a dirty wound.
Non-electric diagnostic kit
- Galinstan (glass, mercury-free) thermometers x2
- Manual blood pressure cuff (adult + child size)
- Stethoscope
- Penlight + spare batteries; otoscope
- Pulse oximeter (battery, but tiny draw)
- Urine dipsticks (10 parameter)
- Pregnancy tests
- Rapid strep tests (CLIA waived; sold online)
- Glucose meter + strips (if anyone is diabetic)
- Tongue depressors, magnifier, tweezers, tick removal tool
- Peak flow meter (if anyone has asthma)
- Printed references: Where There Is No Doctor; Where There Is No Dentist
OTC stock for a family of 5
Acetaminophen and ibuprofen in adult and children's/infant liquid forms (keep the boxes for the weight charts), naproxen, cetirizine, diphenhydramine, famotidine, omeprazole, loperamide, bismuth subsalicylate, oral rehydration salts (lots), polyethylene glycol, senna, meclizine, guaifenesin, dextromethorphan, saline spray, fluticasone nasal, hydrocortisone 1%, triple antibiotic ointment, clotrimazole, terbinafine, miconazole vaginal, permethrin 1%, naloxone, glucose tablets, zinc oxide (diaper rash), artificial tears, aspirin 81 mg (adults only, for heart attack).
Wound and trauma
Tourniquets (CAT), pressure bandages, hemostatic gauze, rolled gauze, wound closure strips, irrigation syringes, nitrile gloves, SAM splints, elastic wraps, moleskin, burn gel, non-stick dressings, medical tape, trauma shears.
Training that matters more than gear
Adult and pediatric CPR/AED, Stop the Bleed, and a Wilderness First Aid or Wilderness First Responder course (WFR is the gold standard for austere settings). Have a dentist show you how to place temporary filling material.
Sources
- IDSA/ATS 2019 adult community acquired pneumonia guideline (amoxicillin or doxycycline outpatient)
- IDSA/AAN/ACR 2020 Lyme disease guideline (doxycycline 10 days for erythema migrans)
- CDC tularemia clinical care (doxycycline 14 to 21 days; ciprofloxacin 750 mg q12h 10 days)
- CDC giardiasis treatment (tinidazole 2 g single dose; metronidazole)
- CDC Rocky Mountain spotted fever: doxycycline for all ages
- IDSA skin and soft tissue infection guideline; IDSA uncomplicated cystitis guideline
- FDA OTC Drug Facts labels; FDA Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee on oral phenylephrine (2023); FDA naloxone OTC approval (2023)
- WHO pediatric respiratory rate thresholds; AHA/ARC first aid guidelines
- DailyMed (NLM) package inserts. Verify all doses there.