It goes without saying that the internet must be to blame again: the drug Elotrans has been sold out for months. It actually helps against diarrhea, but on Tiktok the over-the-counter powder in the white packets is praised as an anti-hangover remedy. A sachet in front of the bed should make you forget the booze the next day. And right now, at Oktoberfest, there are many experiences that need to be forgotten. Can diarrhea help here? But you would have to get it first – it’s worth a try.
First stop of the purchase initiation: Schützenapotheke between the main station and Stachus. The oldest pharmacy in Munich. People have been cared for here since 1398. “Excuse me, do you have Elotrans with you?” “No, not for months,” replies the Schützen pharmacist. “Because of those loonies on Tiktok, people aren’t getting diarrhea anymore.” Oh, someone must be mad.
“Yes, because it’s so stupid. People see something on the internet and copy it.” That’s probably true. But does it at least help?
“Ten bouillon cubes and a bottle of Maggi. That’s fine too.”
Well, says the Schützen pharmacist, Elotrans can actually help with hangovers. When you drink alcohol, the body is deprived of fluids and electrolytes the day after. Elotrans supplies them. But also any other electrolyte mixture that can be bought in pharmacies or drugstores. “Go to the supermarket and buy ten bouillon cubes and a bottle of Maggi. That’s fine too,” says the Schützen pharmacist.
Okay I got it. But we want the original, the internet hype. The search therefore continues at Marienplatz. Eleven in the morning, the carillon is playing, the tourists are happy, many are wearing traditional costumes or what they think are traditional costumes. But also in the rose pharmacy right next door: no Elotrans. “Not available since May. There because of Instagram.” The rose pharmacist says she tries to explain to people that any other electrolyte mix will work just as well. Oral therapist for example. “But everyone only ever wants one thing.”
There are thousands of videos about the drug on Instagram and Tiktok. Users make memes, the “Tagesschau” an explanatory video. But Stada is also heavily involved in the hype. The German pharmaceutical company is the manufacturer of the coveted powder. There’s a verified account on Instagram that posts Elotrans memes, like this one: “When you find out Elotrans is actually for diarrhea.” And then a monkey that looks amazed because it is clear that many people are misusing the means. The current consequence is delivery difficulties, as the company itself admits.
The search continues in Munich. Maybe the Adler pharmacy in Dultstrasse still has something. “Mei, I used to drink that at Oktoberfest,” says the Adler pharmacist enthusiastically. But there hasn’t been a delivery since May. Her colleague also apparently has experience: “It was only because of Elotrans that I put it in the eight o’clock lectures when I was studying medicine.”
Then he says the disclaimer, the trigger warning. What all pharmacists say about the active ingredient: there is no such thing as an anti-hangover drug. Nothing protects you from drinking too much. Except: drink less. Electrolytes might ease the hangover in some situations, yes. It is still not recommended: “The hangover has its purpose. The body tells us: That was too much yesterday, don’t do it again.”
Bahnhofsapotheke Puchheim, 23 kilometers from here
Nevertheless, of course only out of self-interest: Can you get Elotrans anywhere in Munich during the Wiesn? “No chance,” says the eagle pharmacist. But he does have one tip: the Puchheim train station pharmacy, 23 kilometers from here. A colleague of his works there. They still had the stuff in stock the other day. So off to the S 4. Get out of the city. The blocks of flats next to the main route are slowly turning into meadows. And in Puchheim at the train station, to the right of the platform, coming from Munich, that’s where she should be. The last Elotrans source in Munich.
The door rings when you go in. “Hello, do you have Elotrans?” “Why? Diarrhea or Wiesn?” “Meadows.” The train station pharmacist nods: “We still have something here.” Insanity. Puchheim, the end of the journey. Why here? They happened to have had the right nose, he says, back then at the Munich Spring Festival, when Elotrans was sold out almost everywhere. They simply “ordered a lot” from the wholesaler.
Ordered a lot and then squandered everything – that sums up the whole problem with the Oktoberfest hangover.