Drugs in France

    As each passing week goes by, I find it more and more difficult to find a topic for my blog entry. It doesn't help that I'm pretty now done traveling (and the most exciting place I've recently traveled to was within Alsace, and just for a Christmas Market). However, I finally realized that there is an observation I can make due to my experiences in the past week: being sick in America vs. being sick in France.

    Having spent most of the last week sounding and feeling like I was on my deathbed, I can easily say that I prefer to be sick in America. In America, we prescribe antibiotics like candy. And if you don't want to go that route, you can have a friend drive over to the closest supermarket or CVS and buy you whatever drug goodies you desire--ibuprofen, tylenol, mucinex, etc.

    France is not exactly like this. Even before the trip, we were told to load up on any possible medications we might need while we were here. But nearing our last couple of weeks, most of medication I originally brought with me is gone. Instead, I'm left coveting the small mixture of what I have left, what people have given me, and maybe a couple of my roommate's ibuprofen (sorry Maria! There's still plenty left, I promise).

     France (and Europe to a greater extent) in general seems to be much more suspicious of drugs to cure illnesses than we are. In order to get any medication, instead of popping by a grocery store, you have to go to a pharmacy (which, in my experience, is not as strong as American medication.) And even there, they might not give you what you need unless you have a prescription from a doctor.  This is fine until you feel too terrible to get out of bed.  From what I've heard, natural remedies are what they seem to prefer, and are much more careful with their dose when they do buy from a pharmacy. 

     Their view on medication versus ours seems to mimic our cultures in many ways. While the French are clearly not opposed to the globalized society (just look at their larger than life shopping malls), they still like their small village, hand-made, family owned culture. Wine from the local winery will always beat out wine you can buy at a store. Us, on the other hand, are much less opposed to embracing something produced in a factory in China, which might be why swallowing plenty of ibuprofen in one day isn't that big of a deal to us. So I do see why the French make their medications a little less accessible.

     While I've come to prefer French culture over American culture in several areas, I'm afraid this is not one of them. When I'm sick, I want my drugs easily accessible. Sorry, France. America won this round.