Europeans: I'm taking a pill, if it keeps hurting I'm going to the doctor.

Americans: I'm keeping taking this until I pay the house. It is still hurting, I can refinance the house to see a doctor.

Europeans be like: "I'm just gonna take a half tablet, don't want to get dependent on this stuff"

Meanwhile, Americans:

"Lol Americans are so funny, they can't go to a doctor without going homeless, look at these coping mechanisms they use, hilarious"

Americans just tell you it's a slight headache. In reality their back is so screwed up it's going to require surgery but they can't afford that and complaining about actual pain is strictly forbidden in American men.

So we take ~~200~~ ~~400~~ ~~800~~ 1600 Motrin, with some bourbon, and ignore it as best as we can.

Fun fact for Europeans: we call paracetamol acetaminophen

I'm kinda in this meme. I went through one of those big bottles roughly every 1-2 months for 20 years. Sometimes 12 pills in one day, with 4-8 acetaminophen on top (they do giant double packs of those too). Chronic migraines, but every doctor I asked for help just told me to lose weight so it went untreated and got worse and worse. Our health care suuuucks.

I did lose the weight. It didn't magically fix my migraines, or affect them at all. Insurance dicked me around for another year and a half while my neurologist tried to help every way she could, but we finally got it down to only one migraine a week. I'm truly glad for that, but I still think about the years of unnecessary suffering, and how much better it might be now if I'd been treated sooner.

Americans be like

Hi. American here with atypical trigeminal neuralgia.

I don't even bother with analgesics for anything at this point. You hit 10 on the pain scale enough times and anything below 6 you mostly shrug off.

Unless I stub my toe. That shit hurts like a motherfucker.

It's always amusing how you can read Dutch with some difficulty by combining German and English.

My girlfriend always makes fun that in Germany chamomile tea is the go to painkiller and only if that doesn't help the pills come out. It was one of her strongest culture-shocks she didn't anticipate before coming to Europe

Is this a serious thing? It seems so normal here in the states.

If those bottles are sold as a pair and each has 500 pills, 1000 pills is more than a hospital grade package in my country.

Don't know about Ibuprofen, but Paracetamol overdose is horrible, agonizing death.

I agree with the sentiment but are 200mg common where you live? Here in Germany I always get 400mg packs.

Is it common for ibuprofen to not really help? With physical pain it does nothing for me. It kind of helps with head aches sometimes. I use it maybe a couple times a year, so it's not tolerance.

I had a tooth surgically removed a few years back, took 90 min, and I got strong paracetamol and even a small pack of morphine.

I never used the morphine, I keep it sealed at home if I need it.

Two 500mg tablets of acetaminophen please, thank you

-A Certified American

I guess I'm Americaning wrong. As far as painkillers go, 've only taken one ibuprofen in the last year. I even had a severe gut pain event where they prescribed me some oxy but I never took anything.