What A Sicko!

I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything here, and hopefully I haven’t lost all of my devoted readers…but I have been sick for the last week (they have the flu over here too) and haven’t really been up to writing much. I am starting down the road to recovery at this point, so hopefully I will find more opportunities to write.

One interesting thing that came out of being sick was my few trips to the Pharmacy (or Chemist, as it is often called here), for some kind of relief from the pressures, aches, and pains that go along with being sick. One of the reasons we decided to move to Ireland (as opposed to some other country) was that English was the spoken language. Going into a Pharmacy, however, I felt like I was speaking a completely foreign language. Everything is called something different. Unless you know the root medical terminology for the drugs you are used to, speaking in brand names for familiar drugs will only yield puzzled looks. Along with that, different kinds of medicines are popular here. A Thera-Flu-like hot drink has seemed to be all the rage here, where it is just one of many in the states.

Ireland’s drug regulations are also much more restrictive here, so your options are paired down considerably and nothing is as powerful as the stuff you can get back home unless it is prescribed by a doctor. Tylenol, an incredibly common painkiller, is too powerful for the Irish standards for over-the-counter purchase and must be prescribed. I have yet to see a bottle of Ibuprofen on a shelf, and in the States that is like candy to anyone over 40.

So, via a plethora of recommendations for the drugs best suited to "cure" the common cold, I have been testing out just about everything that comes my way. This hasn’t yet yielded any loopy side effects (mostly because I have been doing my best to only take one thing at a time), but I am still waiting.