Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 403, Understanding Drug Labels.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 403.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpodcom.
Download a learning guide for this episode that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is called Understanding Drug Labels.
It's a dialogue between Bernie and Gloria about some typical vocabulary that you will find if you are looking at medication that is, drugs.
This can be very important, especially if you are in an English-speaking country and need to take some drugs that you buy.
So let's get started.
Oh, I'm in so much pain.
Where is the medication we got from the pharmacy?
It's right here, but we need to read the label first.
Okay, these are the active ingredients and they seem okay.
This warning says that we need to watch out for any allergic reactions.
It also says to ask your doctor before using it if you have heart problems.
I don't.
Can you just give me the medication?
I'm checking to make sure the seal under the cap isn't broken, just to be on the safe side.
I also need to read the dosage information so you'll know how much to take.
It says, adults 12 years or older, two tablets every four hours.
Do not exceed 12 tablets in 24 hours.
That's fine.
That's fine.
Where is the prescription medication from my doctor?
Here it is.
This one has several warnings.
It says that it may cause drowsiness or dizziness.
It also says this drug may impair your ability to drive.
I don't plan to drive today or any day soon.
Now, will you please give me my medication?
I will, as soon as I get this childproof cap off.
I may be dead by then.
We're talking in this episode about drug labels.
A label is a small piece of paper.
Usually that is put on the medicine bottle, the container where the medicine is kept.
The label has writing on it that gives you the name of the product, in this case the drug.
You can also have labels on cans, things that have food inside of them and so forth.
Label is a general term for a little piece of paper that tells you what is inside something.
Bernie begins by saying, oh, I'm in so much pain.
I'm in a lot of pain.
Where is the medication we got from the pharmacy, he asks.
Medication is just another word for medicine or drugs.
It's a liquid or a pill that you would perhaps swallow or put into your body to make you feel better.
A pharmacy is a store that sells medicine and other drugs.
We sometimes call it a drugstore.
The two terms pharmacy and drugstore in the US are used interchangeably, meaning you can use one for the other.
It doesn't matter.
Some people call a pharmacy only that part of the store or only a store that sells drugs that you need a prescription for.
A prescription is basically permission from a doctor that says you can take this drug.
Gloria says it's right here, but we need to read the label first.
Okay, she says, these are the active ingredients and they seem okay.
The active ingredients are the things that you put into drugs, a drug that actually makes you healthier, that makes you better.
Drugs sometimes have other ingredients that are used, but the active ingredients are the most important ones.
An ingredient is what you use to make something else, usually something you eat.
So you can talk about the ingredients of a salad. which would be lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
Gloria says this warning says that we need to watch out for any allergic reactions.
A warning is a statement describing some danger, something bad that might happen.
It's letting you know that there might be a problem. and yet you need to be careful.
To watch out for something means to make sure something doesn't happen, usually something dangerous.
To make sure that it doesn't happen or to be looking for this bad thing.
For example...
Watch out for the cars on the street, you might say to a child crossing the street.
Watch out for means look for something, in this case something that could be dangerous.
The allergic reactions are things that the body does when it is exposed to certain kinds of chemicals or other things.
It's a bad thing that happens to the body.
Some people have allergic reactions to, for example, the drug penicillin.
Their body doesn't like the drug, and so they will have this reaction.
Maybe their skin will turn red, or they'll have difficulty breathing.
These are allergic reactions.
Allergic comes from the word allergy A-L-L-E-R-G-Y, which are things that bother you, often causing you to sneeze or to have difficulty breathing, for example.
The dialogue continues by Gloria saying The label also says to ask your doctor before using it if you have heart problems.
Some medicines you can't use because you have other medical conditions.
So this would be an example of that.
Bernie says i don't.
I don't have any heart problems.
Can you just give me the medication?
Bernie remember, is feeling pain, so he wants the drug right away.
Gloria however, says I'm checking to make sure the seal under the cap isn't broken, just to be on the safe side.
In medicine sold in the United States, there's almost always a seal on the top of the bottle.
This is a small piece of plastic that is put on the bottle so that nothing can be put in or nothing can be taken out.
This is for safety reasons, so no one tries to hurt you by putting something in your medication that you don't know about.
That is bad for you.
This unfortunately has happened in the past.
The cap is the top of the bottle.
It's also sometimes called a lid, depending on how it's put on the bottle.
But a cap is usually something that you turn to take off, and then you can get inside of the bottle.
Both seal and cap have a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
So Gloria says she's checking the seal under the cap to make sure it isn't broken, meaning that someone hasn't taken the seal off, that someone hasn't put something bad into the bottle.
She says she wants to be on the safe side.
The expression to be on the safe side means that you are trying to make sure something bad doesn't happen.
Even though it might not be necessary to do this, you want to be safe.
You want to be extra cautious, extra safe.
Gloria says I also need to read the dosage information so you'll know how much to take.
The dosage, D-O-S-A-G-E, is how much medicine you should take and how often.
It may be one pill in the morning and one pill in the afternoon.
That would be the dosage.
The dosage says adults 12 or older, two tablets, two pills every four hours.
Do not exceed 12 tablets in 24 hours.
To exceed, E-X-C-E-E-D, means to do or to take more of something than you should.
So if it says do not exceed 12 tablets in 24 hours, that means that you should not take more than 12 pills in one day.
Bernie says, that's fine, that's fine.
Where is the prescription medication from my doctor?
A prescription we already know is special medicine.
The doctor gives you that you need the doctor's permission for in order to buy.
Gloria says, here it is.
She says, this one has several warnings.
It says that it may cause drowsiness or dizziness.
Sometimes certain pills, certain medications cause you to be drowsy, D-R-O-W-S-Y.
That's just another word for sleepy, feeling very tired.
Dizziness is a feeling that everything in the room is moving around you, usually in circles, when in fact nothing is moving.
Dizziness can cause you to fall down.
So some drugs may cause dizziness and you have to be careful.
Gloria says that the label on this bottle says this drug may impair your ability to drive.
To impair I-M-P-A-I-R means to make something worse or to make something not work as well as it normally does.
If you say her vision is impaired...
We mean she doesn't see as well as she should.
So the drug may impair your ability to drive.
It may make you unable to drive as well as you should.
Bernie says, Gloria says, I will, I will give it to you as soon as I get this childproof cap off.
Something that is childproof.
One word is a container that is designed to be difficult for a young child to open.
This is especially important for drugs.
We don't want young children going into your room and opening up a pill bottle and hurting themselves by taking this drug.
So most drugs have a child-proof top.
The joke is that the child-proof top is often very difficult even for an adult to get off.
And so some people complain about that.
Gloria is having difficulty getting the childproof cap off.
Bernie says, I may be dead by then.
Meaning, by the time you have the cap off, it will be too late.
I'll be dead.
Because, of course, Bernie has been waiting all this time to get the pain medication.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Oh, I'm in so much pain.
Where's the medication we got from the pharmacy?
It's right here, but we need to read the label first.
Okay, these are the active ingredients and they seem okay.
This warning says that we need to watch out for any allergic reactions.
It also says to ask your doctor before using it if you have heart problems.
I don't.
Can you just give me the medication?
I'm checking to make sure the seal under the cap isn't broken, just to be on the safe side.
I also need to read the dosage information so you'll know how much to take.
It says adults 12 years or older, two tablets every four hours.
Do not exceed 12 tablets in 24 hours.
That's fine.
That's fine.
Where's the prescription medication from my doctor?
Here it is.
This one has several warnings.
It says it may cause drowsiness or dizziness.
It also says this drug may impair your ability to drive.
I don't plan to drive today or any day soon.
Now will you please give me my medication?
I may be dead by then.
We hope our script today did not make you drowsy or dizzy.
It was written by Dr. Lucy Say, who always reads the labels first.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
