E, you're going to need some medicine.
Take your medicine. Dunh-dunh-dunh. Hi. James from engVid. Today's lesson is going to be on getting
medicine, going to the pharmacy, and who you should see
to get these things. Okay, look, you're learning
English, and if you're really lucky, you're going to get to travel to different
places, English-speaking places, and when you go there, it's not always going to be
perfect. I'm hoping most of the time you have a great time, meet interesting people, but
you might get sick or feel bad, and when you do, you're going to need someone to help you. And
what I'd like to do is help you with today's lesson, and where we're going to talk about
how we ack-... Not acknowledge, but we tell someone what's wrong with us, and how
they help us get better. Are you ready? Let's go to the board. So, first: "symptoms". It's a nice,
long word. What are your symptoms? "Symptoms" are the things that you
feel when you don't feel well. If you say: "My back hurts",
or "My head hurts", or "My stomach
doesn't feel good", what we are saying is
these are your symptoms. When you have a cold, you have a runny nose, your
nose is runny-right?-sometimes-[coughs]-you cough, sometimes you have this -
well, that would be a fever. If that's the symptoms, I'd say you have a flu; not a cold.
All right? Okay. So when you see a doctor, and that's who you
go to, you go to a doctor, they'll ask you: "What are your symptoms?" And you say: "Doctor,
my arm hurts and my back hurts." He'll go: "Okay. You know what? I think you have blah,
blah, blah, and you need some medicine." So once you tell them the symptoms, if the doctor
feels this is something you won't get better in, you know, two or three days, like: "You're
tired, get some sleep, or eat some food", the doctor will tell you
to get some medicine. Now, in North America, which is Canada, United
States, and Mexico - they have great... Well, we won't say Mexico, because English speaking,
Canada, United States, Great Britain, Australia, you cannot get medicine just because you want
it. You actually have to go to a special place, and you have to get what's called a prescription. A
prescription actually... The word is "prescription", but we say "perscription". The prescription
is the doctor saying what medicine you need. Remember we said medicine? And he
signs or she will sign it, and say: "Please give this
person that medicine." In this case, I said "he" because Mr.
E, if you didn't know it, he's a doctor. He is
a doctor, bona fide. Anyway, Mr. E will sign a piece
of paper and give it to you. You will then go to a place called "the pharmacy".
The pharmacy is where we actually get medicine. Sometimes they actually make some of the medicines,
or put them together there for you. Another word for "pharmacy" is "drug store". A lot
of times, Canadians and Americans will go: "I'm going to the drug
store to get something", because they don't just sell medicine and
drugs-and "drugs" is another word for "medicine" -they sell other things
you might need, you know, tooth paste, floss for your teeth, and we
have a video on that if you really want to go check-okay?-on how to take care of yourself.
But you go to the drug store or the pharmacy to get your medicine. When you go there and you hand it, you're going
to hand the piece of paper to the person called "the pharmacist". The pharmacist is the
doctor that deals with giving out medicines. They will ask you for your prescription. When
you hand them the prescription, they will-here we have number 5-fill your prescription. "Fill
it", think of a bath tub, or yeah, a glass of water - it's empty, but as you put the water
in, it fills up. Filling the prescription means putting the medicine inside
of the bottle for you to take. The pharmacist will
fill your prescription. Sometimes, though, the pharmacist will say: "Hey, don't
worry about this, it's an 'over-the-counter' drug." "Over-the-counter" drug means the doctor
doesn't need to give you a prescription; the pharmacist can just make it
for you or give it to you. There is some medications that they don't want
to leave on the shelves for people to just take, but it's not necessary for a
doctor to give it to you, so they'll let you know if it's
an over-the-counter drug or not. Something to know about medicines: Some medicines
will make you sleepy, and some will not. In this case, what we say is
"drowsy" or "non-drowsy". Okay? Medicines that make you
sleepy-[yawns]-or drowsy make you... Yeah. Make you fall asleep. And the
non-drowsy ones wake you up and make you speak really, really, really quickly.
Okay? You're thinking: "Okay, what does it matter?" Well, it
does matter if you're driving a car or if you're going to work. They will usually recommend
that if you have a medicine that will make you... That will make you drowsy, they will say: "You know what? Don't
drive a car, and maybe don't go to work. It will be dangerous for you." And sometimes the drowsy ones are
good, because they will make you sleep so you can relax, get a good night sleep,
and be better the next day. Okay? So you can ask your pharmacist: "Is this
medicine drowsy or non-drowsy, or will this medicine
make me drowsy?" and they will be happy to
answer your questions. So we've filled your prescription. Maybe it was
an over-the-counter drug, maybe it wasn't. You found out whether it
was drowsy or non-drowsy. In North America, I can
say Canada specifically, in the United States I believe as well, and
in Britain, Britain's a little different, they have an insurance plan that the country
uses, but in Canada, we ask if you have an insurance plan. And if you say: "What do you mean, insurance
plan?" Well, what this means is there's a company that you've paid money
to that if you have to buy medicine or see a doctor, it makes it very cheap
or you don't pay any money at all. In Canada, we have a medical system that's
paid for; we don't pay for our doctors, but we still need an insurance plan
if we want to get cheap medicine. An example might be this:
If I need something for my head, and the medicine or the drugs
cost $100, if I have an insurance plan, I don't pay. I show my card, I don't pay. If I
forget my card, I must pay. So this is something you should think about when you leave your
country. Make sure you have medical insurance. Okay? Because things get really expensive
if you don't have it, and it's something to look into before you go. Now, here's something we want to talk about the
medicines themselves, because after you've told the pharmacist if you have an insurance
plan, you pay or it's for "free". Okay? You don't have to pay, and you're free to go.
And you can take the medicine to help you with your symptoms. But let's talk about the medicine itself.
Okay? You're going to get a bottle like this, and there will be things in it. You call this
medicine. Another word for here, we say are "drugs", "medicine", but the things
themselves are "pills". We'll say: "Did you take your pill? How
many pills do you have to take?" You don't say to anybody: "How
many drugs do you have to take?" That's a little crazy. But "pills"
are the individual things that you take, so: "I have
to take two pills." Now, this will be put on the "label", and
that's that little piece of paper thing, here. Right? That's the label. So on the
label will be the instructions: "Take two pills with water. Take two pills
in the morning. Take one pill here." And will also list the side effects: "Will make you
tired, will make you need to go to the washroom." So you should read for side effects, read for how many
pills you should take, and you'll find all of that information on the label. But if you really want to know where you have
to go, go to the pharmacy, because you'll never get the medicine without going there. So
if you ever feel ill and you're in a foreign country that speaks English, locate a doctor,
tell them your symptoms. Okay? The doctor, if you need medicine, will tell you what medicine
you need. Another word for medicine is "drug". Right? "Drug" is the name of the medicine.
He'll write a prescription for you. You can take that to the pharmacy. There, they will
f-... They will fill your drug. Some of these drugs are over-the-counter, which means, as I
said, the pharmacist doesn't need a prescription; he can just say: "Oh, just take this.
It's good for you." Others, you need
the prescription. They'll let you know if it's drowsy or non-drowsy,
which is important if you need to work, or if you are driving your car, you should know
what will happen to you. Right? Because you may be very tired because of the drug. Before
you pay, they... They'll usually ask if you have an insurance plan, that's because that
saves you money. Okay? And I also recommend you get an insurance plan when you go to any
country. All right? You never know what will happen. Finally, look at the drug itself. It
will tell you how many pills. Another word for "pills" are
"dosage": What dosage? How many you should take, when you should
take it, and possible side effects. Cool? Well, listen, taking your medicine makes you
better, and that's why I feel like engVid is like medicine. You come here, we give you
the medicine, your symptoms are you don't speak English, when you're
done-[snaps]-you do. Okay? So after this lesson, I know... And actually we're not going to go there yet.
We're going to give you a short quiz to make sure you understand
everything I just said. So you ready? Let's go. [Snaps] Okay. Let's look at some things you should
know, just some general things that are good to understand before you go to a pharmacy.
Okay? Then I have a short quiz to give to you to see if you really
understood what I said. You ready? Let's go. Okay, things you should know.
Number one: In Canada and United
States, a pharmacy is also known as a drug store. Two words, so
they'll say "drug store" or "pharmacy". Usually because at the drug store, it's not just medicine.
They sell other things; baby products, cleaning products, a bunch of stuff. Number two: When you
need help, you will say: "Can you help me with...?" or
"Can you help me find...?" If you say: "Can you help me with getting
this medicine?" people will understand. Or if you say: "Can you help me find
the pharmacist for this medicine?" Or: "Can you help me with
looking for something?" They might say to you when
you walk into the pharmacy: "Can I help you with something?"
So notice how these are the same? Both of you are looking for something;
you're looking for help, they're looking for a way to help you. So if they say: "Can I
help you with something?" you don't say: "No, I'm not
lifting any boxes, I'm okay." They're saying: "Can I help you with
your medicine or anything you need?" A lot of times on your medicine, it will
say: "Take with". Read this very carefully. If you remember the label I talked about, it
might say: "Take with food. Take with water." or "Don't take with taking alcohol." Carefully read
that. So read this: "Take with" or "Don't take with". Okay? And finally: "pain" equals "ache".
Okay? You can say: "I have back pain." or "I have a backache." When you say "back
pain", it will be two words; when you say "backache", it will be one. When you say:
"I have head pain." it will be two words; when you have a "headache", it
will be one word. Okay? Cool. Now let's do our short quiz to see if you're ready
for the real thing. "I went to see Doctor E and
said, 'I was feeling bad.' He asked me what my
__________ were." Now, what would be the first thing a doctor
would ask you before they give you medicine? That's right. "What are your symptoms? Tell
me what's wrong with you. I can't give you medicine if
I don't know what's wrong." "I told him I had a
serious head__________." Well, yeah, you're not a funny person, that's why
you're serious, you have a serious head. Right? Yeah, we could say "head pain", you're
right. "Head pain" is a good answer, but "head pain" is two words,
and this looks like one. "Headache", head pain, serious
head pain is a headache. Okay? Next: "He wrote me a __________". That's right, "prescription". "He wrote me a prescription." Remember
I said we say "perscription" here? We do, right? "I need
a perscription for", but he wrote me a prescription; the
spelling is p-r-e. Keep that in mind, okay? And finally: "He wrote me a prescription and sent
me to the __________ __________." Hmm. Where would he send you
if you have a prescription, you have symptoms, and you don't feel well?
Where would you go with your prescription? No, not to jail. To the "drug store". He sent
you to the drug store. Cool. You did pretty well, but I'm thinking you need
a better test, and when you go to engVid, which is www w, only three, eng as in English, vid
as in video.com (www.engvid.com), you can go do the rest of this test
and just see just how good you are. Now, I'd like to say thank you once
again for watching our videos, and I want you to subscribe. All right?
So what you got to do is look around, and there's a button there
and it'll say "Subscribe", because that will get you my latest video,
so you won't have to look for me. Not like the doctor, get a prescription. All you'll have to do is subscribe,
and the next time a video comes out -[snaps]- it'll be sent right to you.
Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, you have a good
day, and we'll talk soon.
