Color Blindness?

Saw a guy today with chronic back pain; last visit was almost a year ago. Checking the chart, I see that he was given a prescription anti-inflammatory and a pain-killer. I ask if he remembers how they worked. His answer:

The white one helped; the pink one didn't.

Um, ok. They were both generics, so we need to get ahold of the pharmacy where he filled the scripts. I bring the cordless phone into the exam room and make the call. I tell the pharmacist what the two drugs are, and tell him what my patient said. I ask her which drug was which. The answer:

Actually, one was yellow and the other was orange.

*Sigh*

(Full disclosure: The "yellow" was a very pale shade, apparently mistaken for white. The other was a deep shade of reddish-orange -- presumably pink; in the morning; with lousy light in the bathroom; without his glasses. But we shared a huge laugh.)

(The other cool thing was that it was the anti-inflammatory that had helped.)