If it's a medication, I don't care if it's OTC or prescription, pill or liquid form, it's going in my carry on or personal item. I don't want to lose them. If they are not liquid, of course they wouldn't be a problem in a carry on anyway. If they're liquid, I will put them in a seperate clear zip lock bag and add that bag to the bin my 3-1-1 bag is in, that goes through the scanner, since meds (even OTC meds) don't have to go in your 3-1-1 bag of liquids and are not subject to the 3 oz rule. As long as you declare liquid meds over 3 oz (or contact lens solution for that matter), TSA doesn' have a problem with them being in your carry on. I may have a 3-1-1 bag with liquids/gels, then another clear zip lock bag with cough syrup, contact lens solution, my Victoza pen (for diabetes), a prescription rub on liquid pain med (Diclofenac), etc, in it. I've never had a problem getting through the TSA, with meds. I'm just careful to pull everything that needs to be declared (pills don't, liquid meds do).
I've been told by TSA agents that I don't need to pull the double ended needles I use for my Victoza pen, but still have a tendency to add those to the bag with my liquid meds/contact solution, just to be on the safe side. My mom went with me to WDW Sept 1st-8th and I started to unzip her bag that holds her nebulizer, expecting TSA would want to check it out. The agent asked me what was in it and then told me not to worry about it and just send it on through. I told him there were alot of unit doses of Atrovent solution in there and he again said they didn't need to see it, as the scanner would pick it up and they were used to seeing meds like that. So I asked about her insulin vials and syringes and again was told to just leave them in the carryon, as they were used to seeing diabetic supplies and they did not need to be declared. Coming back from WDW, I didn't even bother to get the nebulizer, it's meds, her insulin, nor her syringes out and nothing was said. They didn't even give them a second look. She also had a large bottle of nose drops and two bottles of eye drops (with only one bottle of eye drops being a prescription. The other two bottles were both PTC stuff). I had put those bottles in a clear zip lock bag with my bottle of contact solution, cough syrup, Victoza pen, needles, and Dicofenac. Again they didn't get even a second look. I had pulled that particular bag though and sent it through in a bin with my 3-1-1 bag.
When we took my grandson down there last Feb, I had liquid OTC meds for him (Tylenol, Motrin, cough medicine, etc). They were in my carryon in a zip lock bag that I pulled out and sent through the scanner, along with the quart 3-1-1 bag. They were all full size bottles.