Home Remedies

One of the things I find difficult about living in Holland is that all the cold and flu remedies are on a shelf behind the counter!

You have to describe your ailment and then wait for the 'assistente' to produce the remedy that he or she feels will do the trick. No browsing of the cold medicines!

Luckily we haven't any special specific cold remedies ourselves, although when the husband was in the US he brought back some cough suppressant (for a dry cough) that has been invaluable.

The things we miss the most are kid's medicines. In South Africa you can get a thing called Stopayne syrup which is like a wonder drug for sick kids - it puts them to sleep (not permanently ;) In the UK there is Medised which has a mild antihistamine in it and also helps. There's Piriton syrup, also an antihistamine and Ponstan which is a great anti-inflammatory.

This is our list for when anyone comes our way, or if we go to Greece or the UK we stock up. A tip for expats going on holiday - your usual cold/cough/headache remedies cost a LOT less in Greece.

Ash - Good to know about Greece... haven't been there yet but it's on the list :) We have the same problem here with having to ask for everything at the counter. I miss Shopper's Drug Mart :( I'm so stocking up when we go home in July :)

I am stocking up medicines everytime I go home. I too have to ask there what exactly I want, no browsing through the shelves. But it is not bothering me, cause I know exactly what I want. :)
A tip for all of you guys, suffering cold - try to use simple Vitamin C. It helps me immenselly and they have it really everywhere. If I start to feel sick, I just go and have 1 or two pills (500 mg/1 pill). I do that for two or three days and voilá - problem fixed. ;)

Get well!

eM - Thanks for stopping by :) You are so right on the vitamin C. I always used to use it but now unfortunately I'm not allowed because of a medication I take. Actually just about all cold remedies are off limits now. So I tough it out (and whine a bit) :) Thank goodness the cold is over now :)

I could have sent you some Neo-Citran! We always stock up when we're on vacation. Mr M just loves that stuff. I know there is a German equivalent now but I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. But yeah, all the good druges are held hostage behind the counter. I tried to get something like Sudafed once, showing them the empty package I had from Canada, and they freaked out, telling me that it was an illegal substance.

Christina - Sudafed? Illegal substance? wow, who knew? :) Wonder what the Germans would have to say about Coedine...

I was going to reccommend Hot Coldrex, which is an add-to-hot-water lemony powder of paracetamol and vitamin C, but as you can't have any vit.C that won't work :-)

There's also Citrosan, but since we swear by Hot Coldrex I've never tried that.

Lady Grey tea with a dollop of honey also works well.

Beterschap!