Information status: July 8, 2026. This article is for consumer education, and does not constitute diagnosis or medication advice. Specific product choices should be made after reading the package insert and consulting a pharmacist.
When choosing an over-the-counter medicine, it helps to start from your symptom, then consider the risk classification, ingredients, dosage form, and contraindication reminders — and to consult a pharmacist and read the package insert.
1. First separate mild symptoms from signs that call for medical care
When the Japan Pharmaceutical Association introduces self-medication, it emphasizes choosing a medicine that matches your symptoms, lifestyle, constitution, and medication status, and reading the package insert. A mild cold, headache, or gastrointestinal discomfort may be candidates for OTC, but if symptoms are severe, long-lasting, recurrent, or accompanied by high fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe abdominal pain, altered consciousness, or the like, medical care should come first.
2. Eight common OTC symptom categories
- Cold and cough: distinguish fever, runny nose, cough, phlegm, and sore throat; flag duplicated ingredients and the risk of drowsiness.
- Pain and fever relief: distinguish headache, toothache, menstrual pain, and muscle pain; flag stomach conditions, liver/kidney disease, alcohol, and concomitant medication.
- Rhinitis and allergy: distinguish sprays, oral antihistamines, and combined eye-and-nose symptoms; flag driving and glaucoma/prostate risks.
- Gastrointestinal and constipation: distinguish stomach pain, stomach acid, diarrhea, constipation, and indigestion; note that persistent abdominal pain or blood in the stool calls for medical care.
- Eye drops: distinguish dry eye, allergy, fatigue, congestion, and contact-lens use; note that eye pain or reduced vision calls for medical care.
- Topical skin care: distinguish eczema, itching, wounds, fungal infection, and acne; flag infection, spreading, and use in children.
- Oral and throat care: distinguish lozenges, sprays, gargles, and mouth ulcers; flag high fever and difficulty swallowing.
- Vitamins and fatigue: distinguish nutritional supplementation from the symptoms of a genuine illness, and do not present health products as therapeutic drugs.
3. A four-layer filter for choosing OTC products
- By symptom: why the user has come.
- By risk classification: OTC, Class-1, designated Class-2, Class-2, Class-3, and quasi-drugs.
- By population: children, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, the elderly, people with chronic conditions, and those already taking medication.
- By purchase method: add to cart, pharmacist confirmation, or inquiry to a medical institution.
The PMDA’s OTC package-insert search, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s materials on guidance-required and general-use medicines, and the Japan Self-Medication Industry’s search tool all point in the same direction: users can look things up themselves, but the final judgment should still center on the package insert, the risk classification, and consultation with a pharmacist.
References
- Japan Pharmaceutical Association: Self-Medication
- PMDA: Package-Insert Search for General-Use and Guidance-Required Medicines
- PMDA: General-Use and Guidance-Required Medicines
- Government Public Relations: The Risks of Medicines and Their Correct Use
- Japan Self-Medication Industry: Choosing the Medicine That Suits You