Heaven Forbid

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy with Mr. Yoo to get some cough remedies. Pharmacies here in Korea are interesting to say the least. You cannot buy any type of medication in regular stores, only in pharmacies. Also, the pharmacist is a very informed man who can prescribe things for you. Of course, the down side to this is that you have no idea what you're taking. I've taken so much medication here that I have absolutely no idea what in the world it is. I just blindly trust that it's good for me.

The pharmacist gave me some pills for my cough. They do not believe in liquid medication at all from what I have seen. No cough syrup. I was also given 2 little bottles of warm ginseng drink (Koreans love these little bottles of health elixer/energy drinks, they're all over the place and there are hundreds of varieties). These tasted like moldy butt. What I was really hunting for were some cough drops. I explained to Mr. Yoo what cough drops were, and then I spotted Halls on a shelf to the side. I pointed and said "Halls" and he got me a package. You know when they sell them in a paper tube with 7 or 8 per package? That's what I got. I asked for two but he would only sell me one.

Here is the thing that gets me. He has no problem giving me whatever drugs he thinks are good for me, but he won't give me two tubes of Halls cough drops? Am I going to freebase those cough drops and overdose? Is all of that mentholated vapor going to push me into pulmonary shock? They're cough drops! Nothing more. They're candy with an extra ingredient. It seems so comical to me that of all the things to be cautious about it would be the cough drops. He has no idea what I'm taking, never asked, and he gives me drugs. But cough drops we have to be careful with. I don't get it.