All of Holland swallows

Pills, powders, drops, oils... In la douce France, it's the most normal thing to take a pinch of oxazepam, a little pill before going to sleep, and some drops of melatonin in your tea, but we Dutch don't talk about aids. I only took a paracetamol for my squinting headache at most, until the hernia came around the corner. Now I'm a mother of a complete pill platoon to keep going. Some lyrica in the morning and evening and a bit of Ibuprofen fizz and glucosamine, because that's supposed to be good for the firmness of the intervertebral discs in your spine. That's what I've been told, you know. An omeprazole to protect everything. And if that doesn't help, we still have paracetamol as a little extra.

At the pharmacy counter, I had to swallow (haha): now I understood why pharmacies also have bags and pouches. I received a bulk of medications, from which I spontaneously experienced side effects even before taking them. Everyone also asks if I sleep well. My goodness, I take so much that I go out cold around 7 PM, move to my bed at 11 PM, and continue to nap until seven in the morning.

Back to what the Netherlands takes, because it's more than we think. Four million fellow citizens take something for high blood pressure, while 1 in 14 actually needs it, research shows. You might as well be well prepared... Or you might as well exercise two hours a week and drink a little less, because that saves a pill a day. Another 1 in 10 people takes something to be able to sleep, which doesn't seem to help but is coincidentally just as addictive as a cigarette. When the ‘r’ is in the month, we rush en masse to the drugstore for more aids. About 42 percent of our sober people are on supplements, especially in winter. Besides the usual vitamins and minerals, there is a need for vitamin D, the so-called sun in a jar. Even when research says that only children, the elderly, and people with darker skin benefit from this. Another case of ‘taking what you can take’.

Now there are lists you can dig up to see what all of Holland takes. Besides the household antibiotics, painkiller Diclofenac is number one. I got that when I broke my tailbone when I was eighteen, you get very spacey on that. Omeprazole is everyone's friend to protect the stomach to take other medications again. Of course, there's the old faithful Ibuprofen for pain, but then the list gets more interesting. Beta-blocker Metoprolol pops up to temper blood pressure and help with heart ailments. Medications to lower cholesterol. The calming Oxazepam. They all appear in the top ten.

The Netherlands apparently quietly takes a lot of medication, just like the French. It's not surprising that terms like polypharmacy and depillification are emerging, because a little pill for this and a powder for that doesn't seem to be so necessary at all. Unless your doctor prescribes it, of course, because we won't complain about prescriptions. But with all the wealth, the misuse of medication is skyrocketing. A pill less apparently can't hurt, because for a large part it doesn't help at all. Something to think about before you start taking. I'm going to call the prescription line again for some Brufen and another stomach protector, bye bye.

Source: De Volkskrant – NRC – Depillification, David van Bodegom