Paracetamol - can you be trusted?

So you may know by now that I was holidaying in Spain recently. On one of the days I woke up with a blinding headache so when I went out I headed straight for the supermarket to pick up something for the headache.

I normally take paracetamol since I find aspirin just doesn't work for me. I drove over to La Cañada, a big shopping complex near Marbella and about 30 minutes from where I was staying.

Inside this complex there is a huge supermarket and I mean huge. I walked all through it but not a sign of anything for a headache.

Outside the supermarket there are all manner of shops, dozens and dozens of them. I walked along and spotted the customary blue and green cross that in Spain means pharmacia, a chemist or pharmacy as we call it in Ireland.

I went in and after the customary 'hola' from the shop assistant to me and me to him I asked for something for a headache. He bent down behind the counter and reappeared with what could only be described as a bullet-shaped object. It was brass coloured, about an inch long and looked like a bullet. He said that this was all he could sell me for a headache and that it was a kind of personal massager.

Ahem.

I asked him where could I get some paracetamol and he said I'd have to go to a pharmacy for that. Turns out this was a para-pharmacia, I suppose some kind of almost-a-pharmacy concept that we don't really have in Ireland. I suppose natural health stores would be the nearest thing we have to this.

Once we were done with our shopping we all got back in the car and headed back along the A7 towards Estepona where we were staying. About 3 miles before Estepona I saw the blue and green neon sign again ahead on the roadside. I pulled off the road and parked the car.

I entered the pharmacia which was literally in the middle of nowhere. The door made a ding noise as I entered the empty pharmacy. The female pharmacist finally appeared and called out hola to me.

I asked her in spanish if she had paracetamol. She replied 'si' and proceeded to take a Spanish-made product from the shelf. I noticed right beside it a brand I recognised and asked her if I could have that instead.

In the car I took two paracetamol with some water and my headache started to subside almost immediately.

So the question is why in some countries can you buy paracetamol in supermarkets, petrol stations and just about anywhere while in other countries it is extremely difficult to do that. I also know that paracetamol is much more expensive in some countries compared to others.

I have a colleague from Germany who frequently buys a large supply of paracetamol whenever she is in the UK on business because the price of paracetamol is 5 times higher where she lives in Germany.

Then you have this law in Ireland where you can only buy one pack of paracetamol per visit to the supermarket or chemist. They are not allowed by law to sell you two packs.

Paracetamol seems to be viewed differently depending on where you are in the world and seems to cost more in some countries than others.

Why is this?

My tip if you're travelling anywhere on business or for leisure. Bring something for a headache with you. You just never know when you might need it and you just don't know how difficult it might be to get some welcome relief.