Bottoms up!

At this point I'll try anything to get rid of my cold.  My mom sent me Theraflu from the states - it's almost gone and didn't help.  So after having a coughing fit 4 times today (the kind where you can't talk and your eyes water) I decided to stop in the pharmacy.  The pharmacist spoke zero english.  He's tried to give my roommate cough syrup before so I thought he'd just sell me that and send me on my way.  Well he must not have been the same guy because he was trying to give me amoxicillin and antibiotics.  Maybe I'm not being realistic but I don't think I'm THAT sick.  Everyone has a cold I just thought some cough syrup would at least make me cough a bit less. 

I pointed to a couple boxes that looked like cough syrup and bought one.   Some of the box is in English.   The syrup is as thick as honey.

INGREDIENTS:   Snake's bile, bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae, folium erobotryae, rhizoma typhonli flageliformis, radix platycodi, mentholum, assistant material:  sucrose, mel.

YUM!  Right?!  Snake's bile!

ACTION AND INDICATIONS:  Moisturize and relieve cough, remove sputum and alleviate asthma.  It is indicated for the treatment of cough, sputum, dyspnea and feeling of oppression over the chest which caused by wind-heat evil.

Gotta love the Chinese translations.  Bottoms up!

Verdict:  It's like CHEWING cough syrup / snake's bile.  So far,  not helping.  I heard today that Chinese medicines work they just take longer than western medicines.  Maybe that means if I started taking this last week I would be better by now.   I will continue to chew the snake's bile until my cough is gone OR the bottle is gone - whichever comes first.