Cough medicine FAIL

I called Mr E Man at work yesterday and asked if he could possibly pick me up some cough medicine on the way home. Being the best husband EVAH, he brought me “the most expensive stuff in the store – this must be good stuff”, plus some juice and some chocolate. He then went out to a friend’s house to watch the UFC.

After taking three doses, my cough wasn’t getting any better at all. I finally read the label and realised that he’d inadvertently brought me the homeopathic stuff.

I called him again and asked him to make a second attempt. So he got the taxi driver to stop at the 7-11 on the way home, and triumphantly came into the house bearing:

Benylin for children.

So I took twice the recommended dose and went to bed. It was either that or put a capful of the homeopathic stuff in the bath, fill it up, and then drink a cup of the magically fortifed potion.

As soon as I’m better, I’m gonna kick his ass teach him how to read labels. And figure out the answer to his question about an anti-placebo effect.

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010
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17 Responses to Cough medicine FAIL

  1. Mrs. CH says:

    Ah – at least he tried, right? Do you have proper cough syrup now?

  2. Amanda@Lady Scientist says:

    I know it’s horrible for me to laugh, but… that’s pretty funny. Dr. Man once did almost the same thing. I asked him to buy beer on the way home and he bought non-alcoholic beer. I still shudder at the memory 😉

  3. Cath@VWXYNot? says:

    Mrs CH, I do not. The kids’ stuff is actually not bad!Amanda, yeah, if we didn’t laugh, we’d only cry! Although I don’t think Mr E Man would ever buy non-alcoholic beer!

  4. ScienceGirl says:

    Sorry if I can’t help but laugh here 🙂 I hope you cough is better by now.

  5. ScientistMother says:

    that is too funny! glad the children’s stuff worked for you….a bit scary for what that means for the kids!

  6. Dr. J says:

    Cath – if it doesn’t work let me recommend the Earls solution – 2 double raspberry crush martinis (or whichever strong martini takes your fancy). That was the only thing that would fix a chronic sore throat for me once!Amanda – lol!!! non-alcoholic beer, there is nothing about those words together that looks right. like de-caff coffee, I just don’t see the point.

  7. Ricardipus says:

    You know, if homeopathy worked, you wouldn’t have to even open the bottle. Just drink a glass of lake/ocean/river/tap water – it should contain the memory of molecules of every medication ever used.There, cold sorted. 😉

  8. PhizzleDizzle says:

    Oh Cath, that is a funny story….thanks for sharing and hope you feel better soon!!!!!

  9. Cath@VWXYNot? says:

    SG, getting there slowly… I’m completely wiped out though (coughing too much to sleep properly) so I’m taking a day off. Man, daytime TV sucks :(SM, well, I am taking double the recommended dose for the oldest age category!DrJ, my Mum recommended brandy. (Responsible parenting WIN!). We don’t have any, but she thought whisky might work. Maybe tonight…Ricardipus, that was an awesome Futures story in Nature once. I got into a “debate” with my in-laws about alternative “medicine” over Easter… on reflection maybe I shouldn’t have taken my copy of “Bad Science” with me, but hey, it’s what I’m reading right now!Phizzle, thanks!

  10. Thomas Joseph says:

    Heh. Fortunately my wife is a retired Paramedic, so when I call to ask her to bring home some of the good stuff, she really brings home some of the good stuff. I’ve found that TheraFlu works pretty darn well. I’m not sure if it exactly helps with the cough, but it knocks me out within a half hour so if I’m coughing, I’m not noticing.Hope you get to feeling better soon.

  11. microbiologist xx says:

    I don’t know why, but I am surprised it was the most expensive. I guess if it were cheap, people might think it won’t work. ;)Feel better soon.

  12. Mad Hatter says:

    Doh! You do know that you have to get revenge the next time he asks you to pick him up something, right? 🙂

  13. Massimo (formerly known as Okham) says:

    Jeez… the man walked into the store and asked for the goddamn best cough medicine that money can buy… “Name your price, chemist — my wife needs it !”. What else is he supposed to do ? Men don’t have time to read labels, we are all about the big picture…Women… you just can’t be pleased, can you…

  14. Cath@VWXYNot? says:

    Thomas, it’s the coughing that’s bothering me the most… I might try TheraFlu next time though.MXX, you get a better placebo effect with more expensive stuff. No, really, it’s true. But only if you believe it works, of course.MH, yeah, the alcohol-free beer sounds like a good option, although it may lead to divorce if there’s any hockey on.Massimo, I’m ridiculously easy to please… most of the time! I would like to add that Mr E Man was also asked (separately) to get a better brush for the cats (they’re moulting). He came back with one with cardboard-backed packaging, at least 75% of which consists of a picture of a dog. Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I only woke up once last night so I’m going to attempt to go to work today…

  15. Lisbeth says:

    Mr. E Man is hilarious. One thing is that he doesn’t READ labels all that thoroughly but ignoring the picture of a dog??! Hope you’re feeling much better today.

  16. DuWayne Brayton says:

    I have quite the opposite problem, in that I am obsessive about reading labels. So rather than getting the wrong stuff, I would have spent at least half an hour in that aisle and by the time I came home, I would have bought three or four things at the least.

  17. Cath@VWXYNot? says:

    Lisbeth, yeah, we had a good laugh over that one! It works OK if you’re really really gentle with it…DuWayne, there is definitely too much choice. I went to get some more suitable stuff yesterday, and ended up just asking the pharmacist what he recommended. Now I have some proper (i.e. foul-tasting) medicine.

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