Allergy Medicine

modulus · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 8

A while ago I was on a trip to China to visit some friends and to take care of some business. It was during allergy season, and my allergies are really bad. I should have taken my allergy medicine with me :).

So everything went extremely well for a while. I took a taxi from the airport and went straight to my hotel. I didn't really have anything to do until the next day, and I was dead tired. So I decided just to go to sleep.

The next day, when I woke up, I felt like a mess. My nose felt like someone had hit it a few times with a sledge hammer and after awhile my eyes really started watering - like I'd been cutting onions all night :). So I wandered around and eventually found my way to the small pharmacy they conveniently had in the hotel. However, I didn't know how to say allergy! So I struggled with my broken Chinese, to explain my problem to the kind looking lady behind the desk. I think she thought I was some kind of drug addict who was dying of drug overdose at first.

Eventually I got my point across and the lady gave me some Allegra :).

cocodrilo · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 494 Location: Western Japan

While in China or Hong Kong, you should try some of the herbal medicines. If you don't particularly have any pharmaceutical favorites, just head into the nearest herbist's shop and they can fix you up with what you need. It is good to have someone who knows Chinese to write the problem (allergies, and what kind) and the symptoms. Be aware that bringing some of the herbs back into your home country may be prohibited, especially stuff like rhinoceros horn or tiger p*nis(the US & Japan are quite strict)...There are some herbal teas that supposedly work wonders for allergies as well.