Getting Carded...

is something I am totally used to.  I don't think too much about sharing all of my personal information (address, birth date, weight, etc.) with strangers because I have been trained to do so for basically my entire life.   That's also because they only give it a quick glance or a long serious glance.  They don't document the information.

But I've been getting weirded out about getting carded at the drug store for Mucinex D, which I learned in April I should be taking fairly regularly to stave off the usual annual or biannual sinus infection(s) that I suffer from.  When I purchase Mucinex D, I have to preemptively think about it and go to the pharmacy while it is open because, as I'm sure you all know, it is behind the counter there.  Not only do they check your prescription, but they record all of your information and it takes longer than actually picking up a prescription.   

Yesterday, I started getting a little paranoid while the guy was taking forever to record my information, and I wondered if he was looking me up in some kind of national  pseudoephedrine database.  I was worried that maybe I haven't tracked how much of it I've purchased and that maybe I'm on some kind of watch list.  And then, I got all worried because I LOSE STUFF ALL THE TIME!  Like, all the time.  Can I not replace a packet of Mucinex D when I'm desperately in need?  Is it possible to at least get a prescription if it comes to that? 

As I started asking questions yesterday about what they were noting and why, the pharmacist told me I need to be sure that I don't surpass the limit for purchasing this stuff.  Well, what the heck is the limit?!  I've been doing my research to find out...and according to the info that I looked up on CMEA, it looks like the limit is 9 grams in a year, which at 60 mg a pill means I can basically purchase 150 pills in a year.  Is my math correct here (not a rhetorical question)? 

That means that I better only have allergies for half of the year because if I have to take more, I can't.  I got a little more paranoid as someone comically (but semi-seriously) mentioned a neighborhood as being meth-ridden in Santa Cruz...I don't want to raise any flags due to an increase in allergy purchases and a move to Santa Cruz, ya know.   

Anyway, I'm not sure how in the world I'm going to keep track of my purchases, but I figure I better find a way since I don't buy them all at a single location.  The last thing I need is to get arrested for something like that.  And let's be honest, I've had some extremely weird things happen to me that makes this possibility not seem like such a ridiculously farfetched idea.  And another thing I've learned is that when the government and I are in an argument, I usually tend to lose after prolonged impotent fist shaking.