MediNait

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend:

NYQUIL!

Aaaaaaah, Nyquil....well, at least the German equivalent. 

So, the Hub returns from a week of traveling and business meetings with a nasty cold, revealing that one of his colleagues who sat next to him on the flight to Sweden and then in their meetings has been diagnosed with pneumonia. This colleague was nice enough to cough all over the Hub and share the nasty little germ that turned into his pneumonia.  Gee, thanks Buddy.

Let's just say that last weekend, the first gorgeous weekend of the year incidentally, was a wash.  The Hub was laid up in the apartment, all pitiful like, and I was Frau Nursemaid.  Don't get me wrong, I hate seeing him sick and would do anything to help him get better.  I even went to the Apotheke for him! Even with my strong opinions (read fear) of the Apotheke and having to blurt out all of your ailments to the Pharmacist person (in German) as detailed in this previous post .

We really needed to get him well as quickly as possible because he was headed back to the States this week for meetings and stopping off to see his mom who is in her eighties.  Getting her sick is not an option.  He can't even have a sniffle when he goes to see her.

So, off to the store I went...and look what I found lurking on the shelf behind the Pharmacist person...our old friend Nyquil.  Now, you can change packaging, you can call yourself MediNait and your maker Wick, but you can't hide that beautiful blue/green hue...

Of course, the Pharmacist person told me that this product was to suppress his symptoms and also sold me some foul tasting stuff to solve them.  But out of the store I skipped, with the goods in hand.  The Hub spent a weekend in bed and took his medicine when I doled it out to him and was able to travel for the whole week, including his trip to the US at the end of the week.

Leaving me behind, with his cold, of course.  Ugh.  At least I have the Nyquil to myself.....

The Cure for what Ails You....Maybe.

I noticed this vending machine some time ago in one of the Sbahn stations, while I was waiting for a friend to meet me.  This machine dispenses what would seem to be a lot of helpful remedies...and is cleverly called "Erste Hilfe med-o-mat" (First Help)  Why, oh why would you need to get your analgesics or pregnancy tests from a vending machine you ask?  Read on!

Several of my friends right now are nursing colds of varying degrees...my friends T and B have had the "In the Bed for Days and Feel Like Death" variety, while I have been nursing the edge of a cold for a few days.  It started out with  a scratchy, borderline sore throat with achy ears and a headache.  Today it has moved a bit into my nose, where I am sure it will take up residence for a few days.

If I were at home, I would have the well illuminated, aisles chocked full of remedies waiting for my self diagnosis.  Stuffy nose? Runny nose? Congestion? Sneezing?  At the local CVS or Walgreen's, they have something for each one of those maladies.  Combination of all of the above? Oh, yes, the word that is the beacon in the fog of any illness:  NYQUIL.  And, of course, it's sidekick: DAYQUIL.

When I go back to the States or visit England, I always stock up on the over the counter meds.  I am used to the anonymous, impersonal self diagnosis that probably keeps all of us doped up on too much medicine, and I must say, I like it!

In Germany, there is only the up-close, self effacing, potentially embarrassing telling all of your problems to the Pharmacist person in the white jacket who then diagnoses what you need to cure what it is that you have told them is ailing you.  Not a lot here is over the counter, not even aspirin.  Yup, you gotta ask for that...at least that is normally behind the counter.  If you are in need of the real-deal drugs, the White Jacket person (and what training does this person have anyhow?!) has to go into some sort of back room that holds all of the good drugs hostage and retrieve what it is they think will cure you. 

And, the pharmacies (Apothekes) are not all open every day-most of them are not open after 2 pm on Saturdays and all but the "Emergency Pharmacy" is open on Sunday.  This is an Apotheke that takes turns with the others in their vicinity to open on a Sunday-you find the location of this Emergency Pharmacy either from the sign on the door of your local one or in the neighborhood papers that they leave in your vestibule (and my landlord whisks away as fast as he can).

But here, in the seclusion of a remote Sbahn station, the price of your privacy is just as far as the coin in your pocketbook...you can get by pressing the corresponding (#):  (1) 20 Bandaids.....(2) 1 Dressing Pack-maybe an Ace bandage?... (3) 5 Pre-moistened Disinfecting wipes.....(4) 5 Kleenex...(5) 1 Emergency Shower (huh?)  (6) tampons, and the like...and that's just the first few.

You can also buy various health related tests.....for (9) pregnancy, (10) prostate disease, (11) sobriety,  (13) a drug test, (14) for the flu,  and for a (15) UTI.

Someone from this company must be a thinker:  you'll notice that the (7) 4 pack of condoms are right next to the (8) mouthwash spray.