Miscellaneous Forum

This is from Travelers' Tales in the June issue of BudgetTravel:

____________________________________________________________________________

June's winner is Bob Ahders of Carmichael, Calif. His prize is a seven-night
trip to Turkey from Foreign Independent Tours.

Driving in the Sahara, our group was hailed by a Tuareg man who was guiding a
camel train. He asked if we had anything for his inflamed leg. I had some Aleve
in my backpack and started rummaging through the many Ziploc bags for it. I had
sunglasses on and took awhile finding the bag of blue pills. I gave him 12, and
our guide told him to take one every six hours. He thanked us and hobbled back
to his camels and his wives.

That night one of our group complained of a backache and asked for an Aleve. No
longer wearing sunglasses, I immediately found the full bag of pain reliever.
But if my bag of Aleve was full, what had I given the man? It was my other
little blue pill?Viagra.

His leg probably didn't improve, but maybe he was all right with that.
____________________________________________________________________________


Does anyone else see the danger in what happened here?

i don't believe this story for a minute

The article was in the magazine and the person appears to be real according to Google:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Bob+Ahders+of+Carmichael%2C+Calif&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS210US210

It would be interesting if the magazine awarded a prize for a fake story. I guess there is no real way for them - or us - to know.

i think it is a shaggy dog travel story

I can't know about this story, but I have seen in the mainstream press stories about US and Nato troops in Afghanistan getting the loyalty of local tribal leaders by supplying Viagra at the right times...beats opium, I guess ;-)...well, at least the tribal leaders knew what they were getting...

Bill

Me too.

But if true, it would be incredibly stupid and irresponsible thing to do, Viagra or not.

Back to the question, for safety reasons, one should not carry medication in anything other than their original labeled containers.

I had a client who put all their medication in one container and when she got stopped by the cops, ended up with a drug charge as well.

That reminds me of an episode of Family Matters where Laura wanted to take diet pills to lose weight. Her best friend warned her about the pills having stimulants, but Laura ignored the warning and hid the pills in a vitamin bottle so her parents wouldn't get suspicious. Then, Steve Urkel found the bottle, took 4 at a time because he thought they were vitamins, and you can probably guess what ended up happening...

Has to be a set up!!?? But maybe not? Typical isn't it rewarding someone for being down right dumb!!!
One of the Lessons taught at the last couple of First Aid courses I have attended is that you do not hand out "pills" of any type unless you are a Dr. This includes what may be classified as everyday normal stuff like headache pills. Of course, there is a way to be seen "not to hand out pills". If the pills are in a marked container (ie original packaging) and are in the first aid kit or cupboard and you tell everyone who may ever require them where they are - they can then dispense them to themselves...absolving the First Aider of being accused of "giving me a pill that reacted with my zebioteck medicine".

1. The man will not get treatment for the infection, or whatever was causing the pain in the first place.

2. Pain killers are dangerous unless used correctly - they can cover serious underlying problems.

3. The magazine thought it was funny. If the man died, is it still funny? Perhaps he had gangrene?

4. All medicines must be accurately labeled - taking the wrong one is life endangering.

5. The magazine should be taken to task for this prize.

It is quite common in Africa for travellers to be approached by suffering locals to give out painkillers, plasters, eye drops etc.

Not carrying tablets in their original containers is plain stupid!

A reply to my letter to Budget Travel:


Thank you for the Letter to the Editor you recently submitted to Budget Travel. We love getting feedback from readers—even if we don’t prefer getting this type of criticism. You weren’t the only reader to express concerns about the winner of True Stories last month, and we have created stricter guidelines for how that winner will be chosen from here on out.

We appreciate your interest in Budget Travel, and keep those great letters coming!

Best wishes,
Sara

--
Sara Morrow
Editorial Associate
Budget Travel
Girlfriend Getaways

Good for you! Glad you took them up on it.

Yes. Well done. note others had similar opinions and told them so...