"Hey, we are married. My codeine is your codeine"

My wife had a dry hacking cough last night and couldn't fall asleep. Finally, I woke up and suggested that she take a codeine-containing pain reliever. It it is well established that narcotics are excellent cough suppressants. She took the pill and immediately fell asleep.

In the morning she felt woozy, which I thought a little strange since she has taken the same formulation before, at such times as wisdom tooth extraction and so forth. It seems she took a lot of useless cold remedy stuff earlier last night--before taking the pill I gave her. So I asked, "why didn't you just ask me for one of my left-over pain pills"? "Oh, they were yours and I didn't want to make you have to look for them..."

Aspirin works very well for me at pain relief, but I am happy to accept the offer of a prescription from a doctor when ever I have surgery or injure myself, which is about once every three years. The dozen pills are enough to control nighttime hacking coughs for the two of us and they usually expire (and are thrown-out) before we use them all. This means that we average less than two nights of coughing per person, per year.

Note: The above is fiction--for entertainment purposes only. Added: Turns out she had leftover painkillers from her recent dental work--she didn't need to borrow mine after all!