Home pharmacy

A Polish woman does not have a few packs of medicine at home, she has a domowa apteczka (home pharmacy).

Domowa apteczka

The pharmacy industry has a good sales market in Poland. Compared to the Netherlands, people hold a lot more medicaments at home. And when I write a lot I mean a LOT.

Everything neatly categorized. The children department, pain relief, flu medicaments , nose eye and ear drops, cremes, you name it.

I have seen examples of huge baskets (koszyki) packed totally full with pills, powders, sprays and all of that stuff. 

And of course the herbal Polish teas 

against obstipation and nervosity.

A Polish woman wants her family to be healthy, whatever it takes.

People who know me good know that I use a lot of medicine every day, but that 3 month inventory I keep gets nowhere near it. 

My wife will probably disagree, but I noticed there were so many tv commercials praising their medicine here. In the Netherlands this is more linked to flu outbreaks etcetera.

The most hilarious tv ad I have witnessed is the one where someone drinks this magical coughing syrup which goes straight into the lungs.

I would not try that at home...some folks make the joke that it is "Intelligent syrup".
I must admit that I also saw it in the Netherlands when I was younger.

Then, another gem of an advert I saw a fortnight ago. "Magnez dla kobiet" (magnesium for women). It is exactly the same substance as the regular stuff.

I might sound a bit like making fun of it, 

but don't get me wrong. In Poland for instance rutinoscorbin/rutinacol is being used by many people. A natural medicine which prevented me numerous times from getting the flu. It just stopped or became a mild flu. It is not expensive and I am clueless why these pills are not being used in for instance the Netherlands.

I wish you all a healthy 2018.