Comments on: Germans won’t let you buy aspirin without professional help

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:48:35 +0000

I hardly use 10 aspirin per year and they have an expiration date - so what sense does it make to buy 200? It would take me 20 years to consume them…
Is the expiration date on german/austrian aspirin a fake? How many aspirin per year do americans consume?

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:49:36 +0000

So true…

I love the big Aspirin bottles in American stores containing more pills than i am ever going to swallow

By: ohcibi

ohcibi — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:31:01 +0000

i’ve heard from some exchange-students that american people even take their vitamins in pills (there is something like vegetables and there are vitamins in it, you knew that?). so i think its nothing to wonder about, when americans feeling uncomfortable not getting their drugs…
and even here in germany the people are going to buy more and more pharma-crap just fighting their symptoms and not even thinking about fighting the reasons of a disease or whatever (of course its good for the doctors, when the symptoms are back, the patient is back and the “krankenversicherung” pays more money). heidruns example with the feversish kid is perfect. this way of medication makes children drug-addicts before they are born (since the mother is taking her pills also)…..

of course its a pain in the a** when you cant buy special things on certain days or daytimes but. but most non-commercialdrug-addict-germans are able to manage that problem…

By: Hugo Z Hackenbusch

Hugo Z Hackenbusch — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:18:53 +0000

@Kim: Yeah right, and the Apotheken Notdienst will charge you at least €4 convenience fee for opening the door after hours to sell you something, even if it’s just cough drops…
But it’s only fair, pharmacy takes a whole lot of time to study and they want their revenge in some way.
I recentlysolved the aspirin problem as a side effect by flying to San Francisco to visit a friend. I bought them off Walgreen’s; the first 200 for $3.99, the second 200 for $1.99 and some Ibuprofene as well. I’m still flyin’….

By: Zeitlos

Zeitlos — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:21:40 +0000

@Curtis:

So Tylenol is a ingredient name that became a brand name and now is used for different products with different ingredients? Okay, that makes me less confused
I’ve justed looked it up on the Tylenol homepage and it seems that the Tylenol problem, is a little bit like the theraflu problem: the Tylenol allergy stuff combines three ingredients to help against the allergic reaction as well as pain and stop the nose congestion.
In Germany this means, you would have to take three different medicinies (Pain killers, nose spray and antihistaminics) at the same time….I guess I will try to lay my hands on some Tylenol for next summer.

By: Anony

Anony — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:46:20 +0000

@Anne: yes, you are the only one…

By: Quarterodeon

Quarterodeon — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:09:49 +0000

Having seen ‘Must Love Dogs’ last week, I could not understand Sarahs and Jakes problems with getting their rubber. I mean, you always say the shops are open 24/7 and you can get everything in a drugstore, even at Wal*Mart.

By: Planet Germany

Planet Germany — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:27:13 +0000

I actually buy over the counter medication in the UK whenever I’m there… it’s just too difficult here in Germany.

Now… can you tell me where to get a prescription for enough hard liquor to kill a horse?

By: Curtis

Curtis — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:56:01 +0000

@Zeitlos

I think you guys are a bit confused here. Paracetamol is the active ingredient in regular Tylenol. I was referring to Tylenol for Allergies which is a completely different product that contains completely different ingredients. There are probably 7 or 8 different Tylenol products on the market in the USA, each with different active ingredients for different ailments.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:52:56 +0000

@Piet

I really have no idea. He’s told me that he’s tried everything available here and that nothing works as well as Tylenol for Allergies, including prescription drugs he gets from the doctor.

I had a similar conversation with a pharmacist regarding Theraflu. I usually always have a box of Theraflu at hand for the winter season but unfortunately last year I got really sick with the flu and my stash of Theraflu ran out. I took the empty box of Theraflu with me to the local pharmacy to see if they could find a substitute with the same active ingredients. According to the pharmacist, it was indeed possible to find the same active ingredients, but I would have needed to take three different medicines, which she did not recommend. She didn’t know why, but there was no single flu remedy in Austria that contained all the active ingredients of Theraflu.