Original photo by georgeclerk/ iStock
We often rely on the medicine cabinet when headaches and stomach pains creep up, but how often have you paused in a moment of discomfort to think about the origins of the medications that aid your maladies? Chances are, not very often. Yet many of the over-the-counter drugs kept in a home first-aid kit have their own interesting stories — like these eight common items.
Benadryl
The tiny pink tablets that can clear up allergic reactions may never have been invented if chemist George Rieveschl had succeeded in his first career. The Ohio-born scientist initially planned to become a commercial artist, but couldn’t line up much work thanks to the Great Depression. Instead of pursuing his art dream, Rieveschl studied chemistry at the University of Cincinnati, where his experiments years later on muscle-relaxing drugs uncovered a histamine-blocking medication. “It seemed like bad luck at the time,” Rieveschl once told the Cincinnati Post about his unexpected career shift, “but it ended up working pretty well.”
Tums
Creating a new medication is sometimes a labor of love — at least, that’s the case for Tums. In 1928, Missouri pharmacist Jim Howe developed the chalky tablets to treat his wife’s indigestion. However, it wasn’t until Nellie Howe gave out samples of her husband’s concoction to seasick travelers on a cruise ship that Jim was inspired to sell his acid relievers. Tums hit pharmacy shelves two years later, sold for 10 cents per roll, with a name chosen from a radio contest in St. Louis, the same city where 99% of Tums have been made for nearly 100 years.
Eye Drops
Soothing irritated eyes isn’t just a modern problem — researchers believe humans have been using some form of eye drops for at least 3,500 years. Medicinal recipes from ancient Egyptians included heavy metals like copper and manganese. Modern eye drops are far removed from these early origins, but most contain saline, which was first used for medical treatment in 1832.
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Pepto-Bismol
No one knows why the original maker of bismuth subsalicylate, aka Pepto-Bismol, chose to dye it a bright pink, considering the solution is actually beige before coloring is added. However, the unnamed physician from the early 1900s who first mixed up the stuff is credited with trying to cure cholera, a deadly food and waterborne illness that causes severe stomach distress. Initially called “Mixture Cholera Infantum” and meant for small children, the stomach-soothing blend contained zinc salts, oil of wintergreen, and a now-iconic pink coloring, among other ingredients. While the early version of Pepto couldn’t cure cholera (which requires rehydration and sometimes antibiotics), it did help treat symptoms, which is why it became popular with doctors. In the early 20th century, New York’s Norwich Pharmacal Company sold its version, called Bismosal, in 20-gallon tubs; today, name brand Pepto-Bismol is manufactured by Procter & Gamble, who continue to dye it the recognizably rosy hue.
Aspirin
The headache-melting ingredient in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, is a human-made substance, though it’s a cousin to salicylic acid, a naturally occurring substance found in the bark of willow and myrtle trees. Humans have gathered those ingredients for medicinal remedies for millennia; ancient Egyptians and Greeks used them to tamp down fevers and pain. Synthetic versions were first made in 1874, and by the turn of the century, German chemist Felix Hoffman created the first aspirin — initially sold in powder form — as a remedy for his father’s rheumatism.
Acetaminophen
American chemist Harmon N. Morse first developed acetaminophen, which would eventually become the world’s most widely used pain reliever, in 1878. However, it would take decades for the medication — called paracetamol outside the U.S. — to become an over-the-counter medication, thanks to fears that it could cause methemoglobinemia, a blue skin discoloration that signals issues with how blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. (The fears turned out to be unfounded.) In 1955, McNeil Laboratories began manufacturing its version of the drug, called Tylenol, which would eventually be purchased by Johnson & Johnson and marketed as more safe and effective than aspirin. While many scientists didn’t agree with this claim, Tylenol became an over-the-counter medication within five years and soared in popularity in the following decades.
Ibuprofen
The inventors of ibuprofen created the inflammation-relieving drug with one health condition in mind: rheumatoid arthritis. Pharmacologist Stewart Adams and chemist John Nicholson began their hunt for an aspirin alternative in the 1950s, with the goal of creating a safe, long-term option for patients with the autoimmune condition. Testing one experimental compound on his own headache following a night of drinking, Adams found the prizewinning formula, which was patented in 1962 and rolled out to U.K. pharmacies under the name Brufen. By 1984, ibuprofen had become an over-the-counter medication in the U.K. and U.S., and by the time its original patent expired in 1985, more than 100 million people in 120 countries had taken the medication.
Multivitamins
Vitamins are more preventative than reactive; they can’t cure indigestion or discomfort. But in their earliest forms, vitamins were meant to ward off health conditions caused by nutritional deficiencies. The first commercial vitamin tablets emerged in 1920 following decades of research into illnesses such as beriberi (a vitamin B1 deficiency), and gained traction during World War II due to fears of nutritional constraints caused by rationing. Vitamin consumption held on after the war ended, and today nearly 60% of Americans take a daily vitamin or dietary supplement.
Nicole Garner Meeker is a writer and editor based in St. Louis. Her history, nature, and food stories have also appeared at Mental Floss and Better Report.
