Panado Tabs 24 Blister Pack

Paracetamol is the world's default painkiller and fever reducer, first-line in essentially every pain guideline on earth. It works centrally, damping the brain's pain signalling and resetting the fever thermostat, without irritating the stomach, thinning the blood or straining the kidneys the way anti-inflammatories can, which is why it is the analgesic that ulcer patients, asthmatics, warfarin users and most pregnant women can still take. Its single serious weakness is the overdose margin: the gap between the full daily dose and liver-destroying territory is small, and the danger is invisible for the first day. Panado is the name South Africans say when they mean paracetamol; the 24 blister pack is the standard cabinet stock of the flagship analgesic.

Headache, period pain, toothache, fever, body aches: one correctly dosed molecule handles the everyday list for almost everyone, including the people anti-inflammatories exclude. No medicine cabinet is complete without it. Keeping a full, in-date pack at home is the difference between treating a 2am fever and improvising; it is the one medicine that should never need buying urgently.