A while back, I mentioned going to the pharmacy to get some medicine for sinus pressure. This is what I ended up with:
The pharmacist said to take up to 50 drops at a time (notice the dropper thingy on the bottle) and that would be about a spoon. A spoon? Maybe I looked confused, so she confirmed with a co-worker. Yes, a spoon. (I wasn't confused, by the way. I just thought it was funny. Because we use teaspoon and tablespoon as a form of measurement, but it's a precise amount. A spoon, on the other hand, isn't so precise.) Anyway, so I head home with my medicine.
I only had a few minutes at home before I needed to leave again, so I pulled out a spoon and filled it with the medicine. It was pretty hard to get the drops to come out since it's a glass bottle, so I couldn't squeeze it. I fill the spoon, stick it in my mouth and immediately I know something is wrong. It taste terrible. And burns. Then a panicked thought came to me -- what if I was supposed to put this up my nose and not in my mouth?!
Okay, let's pause for a moment. Normally I would never think about putting something up my nose unless I knew that's where it was supposed to go. You can usually tell by the bottle, right? But this bottle was strange. I had to shake each drop out one at a time. And if I needed a spoonful, why on earth was there a dropper on the bottle. So in this brief moment, I thought perhaps the nasal medicine bottles were a little different in Austria than in the U.S.
So, what's a girl to do? I started downing water -- to dilute the medicine, just in case. And I started scanning the instructions (which were, of course, in German) for words like "mouth" or "nose" to give me some clue. Eventually, I found instructions that said you could mix it with tea or fruit juice, so I knew I was safe. Later I remembered from a previous experience years ago that European medicines often have a much higher alcohol content than U.S. medications -- thus the bad taste and burning.
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Now that I've written all this, I think the story works much better in person. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.
7 comments:
I understand the confusion! They use "droppy" medicine like that in Brazil, as well. I also tried to coax the medicine out faster by shaking and squeezing it (although it is futile to squeeze glass). Those types are generally much more tolerable mixed with water.
I enjoy the blog! Glad to see you're doing well!
I found this post humorous! It is so interesting to hear your stories (and Amanda's and Kari's)! I check your blog daily!
Hee! I hope you at least got a good buzz off of it!
I thought the story was quite effective over blog as I was reading I thought, "Oh no, she wasn't supposed to drink it!" The suspense was quite good in my opinion.
Wow, I'm glad this story was such a success!
Ann - Did you ever find a way to get the medicine out easily? Maybe this is their way of preventing an overdose. Or maybe they think getting the medicine out is so frustrating that you'll forget all about the pain by the time you get the medicine out of the bottle.
Candice - I'm so glad you read! And that you commented! I love it when people comment for the first time.
Gina - I'm not taking that much medicine. But it does make me feel better. :)
Candace - Yes! I was going for suspense. Maybe I should consider writing a true crime novel -- they're full of suspense.
This was a good story in person! By the way, you can get this medicine in tablet form and without a prescription. Why I didn't mention that when you were here two weeks ago I don't know!!
So, I know this comment is a little after-the-fact, but your reference to the spoon measurement reminded me of a recipe I found online once. It was for a Turkish dish, and the person who posted it used the measurement "soupspoon." Soupspoon? Say what? Just exactly how much is a soupspoon? I tell you, a world without standardized measurements is a breeding ground for chaos and anarchy. Ask Sharkdog - he knows :).
By the way, I'm glad you didn't ingest nasal medication.
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