In the first week of 2013, I got sick. It was on Wednesday that I started to feel tired and cold. When I went home after work, I got into my bed, fully clothed, pulled the blanket up over my head, and slept for a while. Over the next few days, there was a lot of shivering, a lot of sleeping, and a lot of randomly weird body aches. I still don’t understand why being sick means you have to feel like someone has been continuously throwing oranges at you.
After my first round of sleeping off the fever, I had to start using pharmaceuticals. In order to get what you need for a cold in Germany, you have to go to an Apotheke. You can’t buy over the counter cold medicine in grocery stores here like you can in the US; you must go to an Apotheke for your medicinal needs. They all use either a variant of this red ‘A’ logo, as seen on this receipt, or in some cases, an internationally recognized green cross.
What I purchased this time around is pictured below, except the Ricola cough drops. Those are the same here as they are in the US.
Aspirin – This is pretty much the same as it is in the US. The packaging is different, to meet Germany’s exacting packaging and trash rules, but aspirin is aspirin. I grew up having Bayer aspirin all my life, and didn’t realize until I got to Germany that Bayer is a German company. They’re a very big name in medicine here.
Grippostad – This is a multi-symptom cold medicine. It has components for head and body aches, runny nose, cough, and fever. It also has a boost of vitamin c, and it’s pretty effective at masking the rest of those symptoms for a little while.
Lemoncin – This is for sore throats. It’s a lemony losenge. It tastes pretty good.
Aside from that, I just fight being sick with lots of water, eating when I need to, and taking lots of rest.
How do you cope when you’re sick?
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 
Oh no, I hope you feel better soon. Water works miracles on any type of sickness. I had no idea Bayer was German but it explains the logo. It’s quite… official. :). When I’m sick, I try the mind over matter method… I get all dressed up like a deranged prom date and make myself do puzzles and watch movies. It seems to cut my sicktime down by at least half. Dave does the “bad host” method and smokes/drinks till he can’t stand it. He figures nothing can survive in that environment and he must be right, because he’s rarely sick for more than a couple of hours. Feel better!
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I wrote this post several days ago when I was much worse; I’ve moved past most of that to “just clogged up a bit, thanks.”
It always takes me about a week after every other symptom is gone for my energy levels to return to normal though. Harumph!
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get well soon!
I noticed that the Lemoncin isn’t on your Apotheke receipt!
Drugs in Germany always cost so much, which is one reason I stock up on Tylenol, aspirin, and other drugs that I want when I’m sick whilst stateside — I prefer having them in stock so that I don’t need to leave the house when I get sick.
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Good eye- the Lemoncin was from a previous sick time purchase. Lemoncin was actually the first medicine I bought in Germany last year- I went to the Apotheke with a sore throat and that’s what they suggested.
I agree with you on stocking up- some things have matches here. Paracetamol is Tylenol. Aspirin is Aspirin. But Thomaspyrin, despite being the same thing as Excedrine, is just not as effective. And I still haven’t found anything quite like Sudafed or Mucinex here.
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I usually try as long as possible to pretend I’m not sick and hope it goes away. My first trip to the apotheke was actually for my wisdom teeth last week, and I’ve really avoided the meds at all costs even though I have them.
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Hope you’re feeling better soon!
Whenever I start to notice a cold creeping up on me, I immediately start drinking hot lemon tea with honey or chop up some ginger and make a hot tea out of it. I’ve also adopted the German habit of wrapping a scarf around my neck to keep it protected — no idea if that helps, but I kind of like it. 🙂 And of course, lots and lots of sleep!
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I agree- When I start to feel a little oogie, I sleep with a scarf on also- keeping the neck warm definitely helps me.
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I’m glad you posted this because I feel like I’m starting to get sick and I would not know what kind of medicine to buy here! Hope you’re feeling better!
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Drink lots and lots of water, Hailey. Good luck holding the sick at bay!
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Drinking lots of green tea, getting foods that are easy to prepare (canned chicken soup, eggs, and toast are my staples when I’m sick), staying warm even if it means wearing a heavy coat when the weather is springlike, and sleeping as much as I feel the need to. Oh, and guaifenesin (the expectorant in Mucinex) is very helpful too.
I’m glad you’re feeling better now! Everyone in the neighborhood here seems to be coming down with the flu or getting over the flu.
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My methods: hot apple juice (undiluted) with a cinnamon stick for flavor for vitamin C intake (I will leave the merits of that up to the pharmacists) and Aleve, imported from the U.S., for general headache relief. Occasionally I take a dose of Sinupret from our local Apotheke for decongestive purposes — that seems to work OK, too.
I’m not big on scarves — I’m usually too warm, wherever I am, as it is.
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I haven’t seen or tried Sinupret. How does it compare to Sudafed, in your opinion?
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Nowhere close to as effective as Sudafed, but the best you’ll get here w/o a prescription and no drowsiness.
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Hmm. I’ll have to give it a try- I use Sudafed like candy.
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The BF brought over some ‘Bronchipret’ for both of us, and I’ve been drinking a ‘Husten und Bronchial something’ Tee as well. So far neither has done a darn thing but I’m hoping it’s on it’s way out as I’m going through tissues at an alarming rate. Better out then in though, right?
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I like how Ricola, on the receipt, has “bonbons” after it. Now I wish there was a chocolate bon bon medicine. Omnomnom
I had the flu recently too. NO FUN AT ALL. 😦 I don’t know what I would have done without Mucinex and Sudafed and my albuterol inhaler and nebulizer… the first week was barfy fun times, the second week was snot out the wazoo. Now I’m just back to regular allergies and I’m like OH THANK GOD. hahahaha! Amazing how being super sick can put everyday sickness into perspective.
It’s interesting how the money on the receipt uses commas instead of periods between dollars/cents. Or whatever it’s called there. *noob* I’m so glad you’re writing about this, I get to live vicariously through your foreign experiences! Weeeee!
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Yeah, in Germany, one thousand euros is printed as 1.000, and one euro is printed as 1,00. You can imagine how much confusion this can cause at first.
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