So how is everyone...

[TechMaster]

Going to spend their holidays?

I'm currently in Taiwan (arrived yesturday) mainly to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday, which means I'm spending Christmas and New Year there as well.  I seirously hope my lungs can hold throuigh this holidays (I'm guessing my cats' furs are really giving my lungs problems, last night I had some trouble breathing until I raised the height of my pillow).

[Tintenfisch]

Don't worry Tech it's probably a whole lot of nasal drip.  gotta love that mucus.  Anyways I'm spending it at my cousins house playin games and fooling with the new shit we're getting.  i however am getting a camera and I know this for a fact because my mom doesn't know how to close out of amazon.com.  That will be the greatest gift of all ).

[D--]

I'm here in my apartment, thinking about how love triangles are made of ass and poo, and being involuntarily stuck in one sucks.

On the bright side, I can turn it into a script and sell it to a Korean TV station for a new shitty drama to make lots of money. Bitchin.

[EienNiHen]

I seirously hope my lungs can hold throuigh this holidays (I'm guessing my cats' furs are really giving my lungs problems, last night I had some trouble breathing until I raised the height of my pillow).

If it's a congestion issue, you might try this stuff called Mucinex.  It's 600 mg tabs of guaifenesin (an expectorant).  It's basically a more powerful, 12-hour version of Robitussin in pill form.  I take it when I get really congested from all the weather changes/travelling around the holidays.  I don't know if you can get it outside the US, though.

[D--]

I'm guessing Mucinex is not available in Taiwan. It's not available in China.

It's also royally fucking expensive at nearly $0.75 per pill.

[EienNiHen]

It's also royally fucking expensive at nearly $0.75 per pill.

Yeah, it is pretty expensive.  I think a bottle of 20 is about $11.  For me, though, that's a small price to pay to avoid the 3-4 sinus infections per year I used to get when I was younger.  That, and I friggin hate the taste of Robitussin.

[D--]

Heh ... I love the taste of Robitussin.

Yeah, I still get a bitchload of sinus infections. However, antibiotics are over-the-counter in China, so I can just buy erythromycin instead of guaifenesin.

[EienNiHen]

Heh ... I love the taste of Robitussin.

Ugh, I can't stand the stuff.  The worst part is, there's some soda company that uses the exact same flavoring for their "olde time" cherry soda (I think it's called Stewart's or something), so I can't stand it either.  

That's cool that they sell antibiotics over the counter in China, though.  Are they really expensive?

[D--]

8 yuan (one dollar) for 48 pills.

[EienNiHen]

Damn, that's cheap.  It just reminds me of how overpriced medicine is here in the US.  Ugh.  :/

[Tintenfisch]

Too much damn medicine over here if you ask me.

[EienNiHen]

Too much damn medicine over here if you ask me.

That actually reminds me of something that happened yesterday at work.  I had to look up a bunch of information on different prescription drugs (contraindications, interactions, etc.), and holy shit but some of the side effects were fucked up.  Rashes, hallucinations, fainting, and mucus in the stool.  It made me never want to take another prescription drug again.  

[Tintenfisch]

Though you may get rashes, diarreah, hallucinations, upset stomach, foamy diarreah, vomitting, dizziness and loss of vision, you'll finally be able to ride a bike and no longer suffer from seasonal alergies.

The worst commercial I ever saw for medicine was for Zoloft. It said right in the TV ad

"though the cause of depression is unknown, it's believed to be due to a chemical imbalence.  And Zoloft works to correct that imbalence".  Repeat that to yourself until it finally settles in.

It's really sickening how This land it steering towards medicine so easily.

[Nightcrawler]

I take it somebody doesn't really like medicine?

[Tintenfisch]

The problem I have is that people are readily to willing to take medicine.  It's stuff that overtime changes your body chemistry for the worse.  I'll name a couple examples.

Depression:  I'm sure all of us are familiar with prozac (in the sense that we know it exsits).  People take it and expect themselves to feel better. Yes they may but it'll eventually wear off.  rather than take Prozac (or some other name brand) why not find out what exactly is causing the depression.  Perhaps a feeling of lolelyness or a feeling a failure.  perhaps they need to talk to someone about something.

Heartburn: I think it's safe to say most people hate heartburn.  There's stuff out there like Peptobismal and Zanatac and such.  Rather than taking this pill to help with that.  Why not find out if it's something you're eating that's causing the heartburn.  Changing your diet may help.