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

By: Birgitta

Birgitta — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 01:57:57 +0000

Just stumbled across this and really had to smile - my mother works in an Apotheke. They sometimes get unannounced visits from the Apothekerkammer for quality assurance. They claim to be customers and test the service.
A particular test customer asked my mother for some Aspirin, and, it’s true, my mother didn’t just give it to her, she started asking questions, by the book. What do you need it for, are you taking any other medication, etc. etc. (I’m not a pharmacist, so I can’t remember all the questions) Turns out, the test customer had answers that made her recommend something else, even advise strongly against Aspirin.
So sometimes it’s not a bad idea to be “forced” to go to an expert…

By: FreddyE

FreddyE — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:51:33 +0000

I really don´t understand the problems you all have. I actually LOVE our Apotheken. Who ever runs a pharmacy here needs to have a degree in pharmaceutics and can help you choose the right medication almost as well as a doctor.

By: Sven

Sven — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:51:58 +0000

I had a German friend visit me in Canada, and after a hard night of drinking he asked for 2 Aspirin to help fight his headache. I gave him 2 and before I could stop him, he chucked them into his glass of water and stared at them. I told them they’re not the kind that fizz up and dissolve. This confused him.

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.