Take five of these and call me in the morning!

This week has been an adventure in Chinese medicine!

It started with a four day migraine. Since I'm out of Excedrin I suffered for as long as I could before breaking down and begging for something, anything that would make me feel better. Armed with a post-it note full of migraine symptoms written in Chinese, I marched down to the pharmacy with high hopes. I returned with a box full of pills and a box full of tiny glass bottles of fragrant brown liquid. The instructions were to take five pills three times a day and one bottle twice a day.

Ten pills and one bottle of brown stuff into the game I still had a headache. Fifteen pills and two bottles of brown stuff later, I threw up. I'm not pointing a finger by any means, but I know my body and I know that the herbal meds were partly to blame.

To make matters more interesting, it just so happens that the day I decided to bear arms against my migraine I also started to show symptoms of having caught my second cold. One of my students, the kind soul that she is, brought me loads of Chinese medicine to help me get better. One remedy looks like instant coffee and smells like um... green and roots, and bark, and dirt. I can't do it, I just can't.

I'd love to tell you all the reasons why, but my western cold medicine has just kicked in and I'm happily off to bed!