You can tell a lot about a man by what he keeps in his top right desk drawer. In my case, you can also tell a lot by what sits in front of the second computer on my desk.
So yesterday, I decided that I needed to go through the two places that I store pharmaceuticals and see what I had.
What I had was a lot of empty bottles.
When you own your own business, you can't really afford sick days. So I have made it a point to have a pretty significant supply of over-the-counter remedies for most of the common maladies that could strike - especially those that would happen during the work day. I am all about prevention, too... I get a flu shot every year, and I am really good about washing my hands and other hygiene issues during the cold season. I think I avoid a lot of colds and other bugs that way.
Number one on the list: Advil Liquigels. I had at least three empty Costco-sized bottles. Admittedly, I don't throw those out, so that was probably half a year's supply represented by those empties. But still, that's a lot of headaches that were snuffed out by the liquid ibuprofen.
I also have a large bottle of Calcium-Magnesium-Zinc supplements - great for after workouts, and the zinc is great for cold prevention. I also have Zicam and zinc lozenges. That is the 1-2-3 punch I use when I get that first hint of a cold. My partner won't touch the Zicam, though. She doesn't see much point of jamming something that is already so much like snot back up your nose. I am convinced that I have stopped colds dead in their tracks with the zinc attack.
I have a few other things, too... Cough and congestion things... and for those days when a cup of coffee just isn't enough, guarana. My advisor in grad school got me started on those. Of course, she was also a regular consumer of "Happy Camper", and when things got really tough, Paxil. I don't have any of those.
But the real eye-opener was the Advil. I wonder if it is the stress of work or my Internet activities that lead me to take so much.
We'll never know.