Cold War

I managed to acquire a cold over the last few days. Probably a combination of causes: Maybe not enough sleep in the last couple of weeks, too much time on airplanes, I have not had a good blast of 275 freeway exhaust in a while...

So I went off to a local Apotheke, or pharmacy. But it is different. More like the pharmacies I am more familiar with in England, they do not have rows and rows of shelves and you go pick out your own stuff. Instead, a pharmacist is there waiting to hear you tell them what your symptoms are.

The other day when I could feel this coming on, I stopped in one to get some vitamins. Got the vitamins (drop them in water and they fizz like alka seltzer) and had an interesting talk with a pharmacist who had relatives in Colorado and loved to go skiing there. This time, the same Apotheke but different pharmacist. She had been to many warm places in the US because of many relatives - Florida, S. California, S. Carolina, etc. She was very helpful, too, and quizzed me carefully about my symptoms. She provided me with nose spray, cough syrup, and some Claritin (I think this started as allergies). She did not know the brandname Claritin but looked it up and I recognized the generic name.

Now, a day later, I am feeling much better. I cannot read what the ingredients are in these bottles but they seem to work and that is important.

I am not certain exactly how far the Apotheke can go in terms of prescribing drugs - whether it is only over-the-counter items or more serious drugs. I will investigate and let you know.