The aches, the sneezing, the sore throat, the exhaustion — the flu season is here and you want to be prepared! In Beijing, you can buy over-the-counter (OTC) medicines such as headache and stomach remedies as well as common personal care items from international clinics or pharmacies. Compared to international clinics, pharmacies are easier to find at almost every corner, so are more convenient to buy medicines in an urgent situation. Though finding a pharmacy may be easy, finding English-speaking staff in pharmacies is not, and when you walk into a pharmacy you might not see any brands you know. Here are some basic symptoms, names of cold medicines, and sentences you might need to use when talking to the pharmacist.

READ MORE: Mandarin Monday: Words and Phrases for Visiting a Chinese Hospital

READ MORE: How to Buy Generic Medicines From Chinese Pharmacies

Symptoms

Runny nose 流鼻涕 liúbítì
Scratchy throat 喉咙痒 sǎngziyǎng
Sore throat 喉咙疼 sǎngziténg
Sneeze  打喷嚏 dǎpēngtì
Cough 咳嗽 késòu
Headache 头疼 tóuténg
Tiredness 疲倦 píjuàn
Body aches 身体酸疼 shēntǐ suānténg
Yellow or green mucus 黄色或绿色鼻涕 huángsè huò lǜsè bítì
Fever 发烧 fāshāo

Cold Medicines

Fortunately there are the generic names of drugs in English on most Chinese medicine boxes, but the directions and precautions might be all in Chinese. Make sure to ask the pharmacist about the instructions before you purchase the medicine.

Tylenol 泰诺 tàinuò
Tylenol Extra Strength 加强型泰诺 jiāqiángxíng tàinuò
Sudafed 速达菲 sùdáfēi
Anti-histamine medicine 抗组织胺药物 kàngzǔzhī ān yàowù
Aleve 萘普生 nàipǔshēng
Nasal decongestant 鼻喷剂 bípēngjì
DayQuil and NyQuil 白加黑 báijiāhēi

Sentences

I feel  _______.
Wǒ gǎnjué 我­感觉 _______。

I have a headache.
Wǒ tóuténg. 我头疼。

I want to buy   _______.
Wǒ xiáng mǎi _______. 我想买 _______。

How many pills should I take per day?
Měitiān xūyào chī duōshǎo kē yào? 每天需要吃多少颗药？

Photo: ixabay.com, pexels.com

Going to see a doctor in China is a complicated procedure for many of us, even for me, as a local. And the language barrier can make it even more difficult. There are various types of hospitals in China; foreign-run hospitals are generally the most expensive option for healthcare, while the public hospitals and clinics are commonly chosen so international patients can pay similar prices for treatment as locals. You will need to choose a hospital depending on your own situation. Here are some words and phrases you might need to make your public hospital visit more efficient (and i hope you will never need to use them!)

Get Registration

Hospital 医院 yīyuàn

Doctor 医生/大夫 yīshēng/dàifū

Nurse 护士 hùshì

Register 挂号 guàhào

Call the number 叫号 jiàohào

Can you tell me where I register?
Qǐng wèn zài nǎ lǐ guà hào?  请问在哪里挂号？

Which department should I go to?
Wǒ  yīnggāi  qù  nǎyígè  bùmén? 我应该去哪一个部门？

How much does registration cost?
Guàhào xūyào duōshǎo qián? 挂号需要多少钱？

How to Describe Your Symptoms

Fever 发烧 fāshāo

Sore throat 嗓子疼sǎngziténg

Runny nose 流鼻涕 liúbítì

Sneeze 打喷嚏 Dǎpēngti

Cough 咳嗽 késou

Stomach ache 肚子疼 dùziténg

Diarrhea 拉肚子 lādùzi

Headache 头疼 tóuténg

I feel  _______.
Wǒ gǎnjué 我­感觉 _______。

I have a headache.
Wǒ tóuténg. 我头疼。

I have a stomachache.
Wǒ dùziténg. 我肚子疼。

Get Examined

What condition do I have?
Wǒ shēntǐ yǒu shénme wèntí mā？我身体有什么问题吗？ 

What can I do to get better?
Wǒ xūyào zěnme cáinéng huīfù？ 我需要怎么才能恢复？

Will I need to change my diet?
Yǐnshí xūyào zhùyì shénme？ 饮食需要注意什么？

Photo: Pixabay.com

On April 26, reporters at CQ News released an abstract reminding parents that May and June are the most contagious months for Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (HFM).

Though the focus of the article was for infants, schoolchildren are also capable of contracting the disease during this season, which the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the P. R. of China (NHFPC) said lasts through July and is most contagious for children under 5. Though HFM is considered a manageable nuisance in the West, the childhood infection is taken seriously in Beijing and throughout China.

In Beijing’s southern Daxing District, for example, the education bureau has stated that if two students in one classroom contract the disease at the same time, the classroom must be cancelled for two weeks. In addition, if three homeroom classes contract the disease (meaning six students total), then the whole school must shutdown for two weeks to keep the infection from spreading to others.

Steven S., a teacher at a preschool in Daxing, said that his school was even more aggressive, with the classroom shutting down if only one student has the disease. “Teachers of that class then need to come in every day after the class shuts down to thoroughly disinfect everything.”

Sasha Gigliesi, principal and co-founder of Mammolina Children’s Home – Model Montessori Kindergarten, commented, “It’s not just HFM that schools get to shut down. For example, during the recent outbreak of the Norwalk virus, Chinese schools were also required to shut down if an outbreak occurs.”

Prevention
The HFM infection can be prevented primarily by proper hand-washing techniques before eating, after using the bathroom, and when coming in to contact with bodily fluid. Disinfection of heavily-trafficked areas and avoiding sharing food utensils is incredibly important.

Gigliesi pointed out that relevant health departments in each district are informed by the city in how to carry out the work of disease prevention. The city plays a delegation role while the districts handle out the grunt of the work in information dissemination, protocol implementation, and accountability.  “Chinese schools are constantly being informed by the relevant health departments, while foreign schools aren’t. The reason for this doesn’t have anything to do with health and hygiene, but because […] Chinese schools licenses are issued by the district, while foreign school licenses are issued by the city.” This leads to a confusing assumption that district health departments do not have jurisdiction within foreign schools. “In the past, some foreign schools told the district health inspection team not to even enter their doors, which happened even when SARS was going on.”

“Along with the usual symptoms of HFM, serious cases could go in to a coma, and encephaledema,” Gigliesi mentioned from the policy handed down by NHFPC. She also said the policy requires that schools “need to have a HFM Prevention Plan, where it’s stated what we do at school, including morning inspection of children’s mouth and hands, morning log of children’s conditions and absences, disinfecting procedures, informing the parents of the disease and prevention, follow up on children who have had it and when they can return back to school, and so forth.”

The US FDA has not approved any vaccination for HFD, interestingly as the virus that causes HFM in the US is not the same virus that causes it in China. “Although EV71-associated disease has been seen in the United States, the virus is not the major cause of HFMD there. However, EV71 can also cause central nervous system disease and illnesses such as aseptic meningitis” (source). China FDA, on the other hand, has approved vaccine EV71 for the prevention of HFM.

Cases of Mycoplasma pneumonia, commonly known as walking pneumonia, doubled among Beijing children last year, according to a news report by Lung Disease News.

This type of pneumonia is a mild lung infection caused by bacteria called Mycoplasma. Over 50 percent of the children admitted to hospital due to pneumonia tested positive for the bacteria, and it’s speculated that the number of cases will continue to increase in 2016 and beyond. Data was collected by investigators from the Capital Institute of Pediatrics here in Beijing and the findings published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology in February this year, in the hopes that the study might create awareness and help in slowing this epidemic down.

“Positive diagnoses for M. pneumoniae from May to December 2015 in children nearly doubled, from 30 to 57 percent, according to Hongmei Sun, M.D., who works as a pediatrician and director of the Department of Bacteriology at the Capital Institute,” the news report said.

Doctors, parents, and educators are warned to be on the lookout for this illness, as it spreads easily through crowded areas such as schools via contact with an infected person. The symptoms might include fever, fatigue, headaches, sore throats, loss of appetite, chest pain, and a bothersome and long-lasting cough (this is the most common). For children under five, fever might be absent but they can suffer from vomiting and diarrhea. The good news is that it can be treated with antibiotics and normal daily activities can resume.

The epidemic is the seventh of its kind in Beijing since the Institute began monitoring the pathogen in 1977.

Photo: nhs.uk

There is some bizarre correlation in my life with illness and holidays. As a kid, I can remember countless times I came down with a cold on a Friday afternoon – just in time for the weekend. Why not on a Monday morning or Tuesday so I could miss school for a few days? No such luck. If I had bronchitis, odds were it was spring break or the winter holiday. Even though I can’t remember when I had chicken pox, I’ll bet it was during the middle of summer vacation. I even had a broken arm the year we went to Disneyland, not that I let that stop me from having fun.

These days, odds are my illnesses track right along with whatever nastiness my kids bring home. It’s easy to blame it on school, which is no doubt where my daughter picks up most of her colds, but the boys are only two years old and not yet in any institutionalized education platform. I like to think they are reaping the benefits of early homeschooling. At any rate, on Christmas Eve or thereabouts, Bryson got a cold and by Christmas day he had shared it with Ryder. That’s brotherly love.

Somehow the ladies in the family have managed to dodge this cold, but I was not so fortunate. I’m merely old enough to know how to cope with the symptoms better than the average two-year-old.

Sitting on the sofa with a sick boy clinging to my chest, his head miraculously resting comfortably on my boney shoulder, I was struck by how sacrificial parenting can be. We give up our time, money, comfort, time, space, sanity, and more time as we try to nurture our little ones all the way into adulthood and beyond. It is a living sacrifice that we make for the next generation despite the risk that that generation may one day remind us that they didn’t ask to be born. Nevertheless, it is a risk I’m willing to take. Even if it does make me sick on Christmas.

Photo: spigoo

Now that our twin boys are nearly 1.5 years old, I keep foolishly thinking that nothing can possibly top the hardships we have already endured on our journey parenting twins. What could be harder than dealing with two babies and a 6-year-old with food poisoning in the middle of the night (see relevant flashback here)? I should never have asked that.

At the end of the official Chinese New Year Holiday, Savvy (my lovely wife) left for a week-long business conference at a beach resort in Santa Monica, California. That alone did not cause panic. However, I heard warning bells in my head when the doctor diagnosed me with acute bronchitis the day before she left. Armed with an assortment of medications from the pharmacy, I wondered how I would survive the nights alone with the kids. Since two of the medications caused drowsiness, I didn’t even know if I would wake up in the event of a problem. Then, just to make things interesting, Ryder got sick the day Mama left.

And so it came to pass that on the second night of Savvy’s absence, a feverish Ryder woke up screaming and awakened his twin brother. Faced with two crying babies, I myself considered crying. Somehow I managed to shake the fog from my head and get them both into the playpen propped up on pillows with two bottles of warm milk, hoping in vain that at least one of them would fall back to sleep. No luck.

I scooped them both up in my arms and took them to bed with me, trying to sooth them. If I picked up one, the other started screaming for Baba. At my wits end, I debated which child should be placed back in his crib to cry it out when I noticed Bryson had given up on me and finally fallen asleep, despite Ryder’s occasional fever-induced outbursts.

I made a soft spot on the floor for the crying Ryder and quickly spirited Bryson to the nursery where the crying would not disturb him. I then faced an exasperated baby who could not understand why I had let him go. His exhausted little face seemed to say, “How dare you!” Two hours after he woke up, Ryder finally fell back asleep and the home was quiet.

As I collapsed into bed, I prayed to God that I never experienced that again. Then I realized the odds were against me as I still had several more nights alone with the kids. No matter, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

Photo courtesy of RLhyde (Flickr)

Welcome to Physics 101. Let’s get started with today’s lesson on vomit.

As I pointed out in my Beijing Baba Column in the November issue of beijingkids, we have been blessed with three children who, despite occasionally being inflicted with food poisoning, rarely vomit. Relative to the statistical child norm, at least. Whether this is due to their strong digestive genes (their Mama’s, not mine), their hygiene habits (doubtful), or simply the luck of the baby draw, I cannot say for certain.

What I can tell you is that their general lack of “pukeyness” tends to build up a bit of parental complacency on our part, since we are rarely prepared when vomit strikes in our home. And sometimes it strikes a mighty blow.

The other night, one of our three lovely children awoke with a general tummy complaint. To protect this child’s privacy, we will just call her the oldest. She often has stomach woes wholly unrelated to the digestive reversal process (DRP), so this was not necessarily troubling. However, after a minute she cried out: “Oh, not that pain!”

A split second before she issued this scream, I began to move her towards the bathroom in some primeval act of impending DRP doom. Alas, we were one step away from clearing our rug (the nice hand-woven one) when vomit came a calling. Out of self-preservation of her clean feet she came to a standstill two steps from the bathroom and let go of what appeared to be more than two meals’ worth of stomach content.

Meanwhile, safely in the bathroom and within reach of the trashcan, my beloved wife proceeded to stare in shock and awe at the scene until I calmly roused her from her inertia by yelling, “Get the can!” But by then it was essentially over, except for the hour-long cleanup. But please, allow me to explain why.

As you might recall from surfing sites like wiki.answers.com, vomit travels at 62 feet per second (about 18 meters per second, but doesn’t 62 sound more impressive?). That leaves little time to react mid-stream. If you add that to the accelerating force of gravity at the child’s height, factoring in the volume of the stomach’s contents, you get Newton’s little-spoken equation: V+G+ic/F=DM.

This, of course, is where V = vomit, G = gravity, ic = icky contents (Newton’s words), and F represents the floor or other surface materials. All of which yields the answer DM = disgusting mess.

Well, that’s all we have time for today. Next week, we will study how children attain ear-piercing decibels whilst screaming.

Class dismissed.

Photo courtesy of eriwst (Flickr)

For weeks now, I’ve been averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Why the twins insist on waking every few hours to gorge on milk is a mystery to me, and though I am tempted by suggestions of medicating them to sleep with baby cold medicine, I cannot help but feel that would be wrong. So, I wake, make bottles (after they have been breast fed), feed, burp, change, and lull one or another kid back to sleep two (sometimes three) times a night. Good times.

None of this would matter save for one tiny detail – I don’t function well on less than 7 hours of sleep a night. Go ahead parents, laugh at the notion, but I’m just being frank here. I don’t expect it, but my body does. Come to think of it, my brain probably does too. Nonetheless, I will not be seeing sleep like that for quiet a while longer.

Thus sleep deprived, this week it did come to pass that my body’s defenses, weakened by fatigue, did give way to a stomach-born illness and a fever crept over me. With a tinge of guilt, for our ayi was also in the hospital this week for something entirely unrelated, I did excuse myself from daytime baba duties and blissfully crawled into bed for the longest uninterrupted sleep I’ve had in weeks, all the while ignoring any thoughts of food.

After two days of living in fever-induced, food-deprived haze, I awoke feeling rested, hungry, and ready for baby duty. This made me realize that getting sick is a great way to catch up on my sleep. It also made me realize that I should volunteer in some capacity in the sick child clinic at the hospital. Heck, I could just spend more time in my daughter’s kindergarten for that matter. Easier still, I’ll simply never wash my hands again.

Photo by VARF

If you have a second, check out this really great video from an interesting website called Give Me a Second. The purpose of this site is to educate women about the importance of getting a second opinion, when it comes to seeking treatment for the below medical conditions: