Dec 19, 2024 Salon
Guests:
K-san, S-san
Discussion Content:
I had to cancel the salon two weeks ago because I couldn’t get any sleep due to muscle pain, and so we talked about that.
I twisted my back somehow, and although I didn’t feel any pain at the time, that night various muscles began to feel sore. After that, I tried regular cold medicine tablets, which have a painkilling effect, and then some muscle pain tape, and then finally some regular muscle painkillers.
However, somehow, I developed a terrible rash on my lower back where I had placed the muscle pain tape, but I couldn’t be sure if that was the cause or if it was an allergic reaction to a combination of medicines, so I stopped taking the painkillers.
One week later, after hoping it would all go away by itself, I went to the doctors, and he said the rash was 90% likely to be caused by the muscle tape, and that I could start taking the painkillers again. I also had four X-rays taken which showed that there were no bone-related problems.
Anyway, this led to some useful English words regarding health:
Pain comes in 3 general types – dull pain, sharp pain, and burning pain.
A burning sensation is usually caused by “inflammation” – which you can see is related to the word “flame”.
Medicines which stop a feeling of pain are called “painkillers”.
You can say “Muscle pain tape” or “muscle pain patch” to explain the tape (しっぷ).
S said his wife recently fell down from a bunk-bed ladder, landing on her hips, which caused a compression fracture, so she is also now taking painkillers for about 3-months. S said that he now has to do all the washing and cleaning at home, to which I jokingly said that maybe his wife will pretend it takes longer than 3-months for her to heal.
S mentioned that he saw my wife when he went to the “Kuroneko Yamato” package delivery sales office where she works. K said that she also often uses Kuroneko to send things to her husband, who is working away from home in Nagoya, so she will look out for my wife.
This led to a brief talk about having packages delivered to your house, and how to avoid “porch-pirates” – thieves who steal other people’s packages from outside their house.
Useful phrases:
muscle pain
dull pain/sharp pain/ burning pain
inflammation
at the time
painkiller
bunk-bed
x-ray
go back to normal
porch
porch-pirate