That being said I disagree with prescription pads. I should buy antibiotics for my kid without waiting four, five hours to be seen and processed
Disagree. Antibiotics should not be taken lightly, especially by kids. Doctors have been far too liberal in prescribing them even when unnecessary and this has caused people to think antibiotics are to be taken like vitamins.
This antibiotic abuse causes issues that are out of scope to discuss here.
But when a girl with a history of UTI is screaming in pain they come back with "Id rather wait for the cultures to come back"
No. Bugger off and give me the meds. I know my kid. I know what she has. And the culture confirms it three days layer every time.
And yet the Dr gives them out in exactly the same circumstances as I would if I could. Perhaps more liberally, since Im far more concerned about the consequences to my kids of destroying their gut flora.
Making all antibiotics available over the counter would not improve the situation.
Yes, in your case the culture came back positive. But, you're not psychic, you didn't really know that, and you're biased by the fact it's your own child.
Ive had some Drs push antibiotics after they literally just said a persistent cough is probably viral.
Ive had my daughter with blood curdling screams told her urine came out negative and her urine would have to be cultured. They can culture it all they want but I didn't leave without the antibiotic. Guess how the cultures come out? Plural because it happened more than once and the quick test at the Dr. has a high false + rate. Btw, untreated UTIs cause scarring.
Btw, Dr. dont pearl clutch when it comes to their loved one. My colleague, who's married to a physician, got started on antibiotics for Lyme disease before the cultures came back positive. Just in case.
"But, you're not psychic, you didn't really know that,"
No, Im not. I just happen to have a neural network on the top of my head with hundred of millions (billions?) of years of evolution to spot trends.
We literally give industrial quantities of antibiotics to animals. So antibiotic preservation is not an honest reason to lock them up
Tylenol and Advil can very quickly mess up your kid's liver and kidneys if you misdose. Yet, they're over the counter. So safety does not appear to be an honest reason either.
Ironically, statistically considering the forum, most ppl who are against me on this thread believe in drug liberalization including opiates; the one class for drugs I would keep behind the pharmacist's counter.
Btw, antibiotics are available over the counter in Europe. The ones Id use and feel comfortable using
What are you talking about?
> Over-the-counter (OTC) sales of antibiotics is forbidden by law in all countries, but it is allowed for some specific formulations (creams in Norway and Denmark or eye drops in the UK)
https://www.escmid.org/escmid_publications/escmid_elibrary/m...
We desperately need to stop doing that too, but at least it optimizes for bacteria that infects animals rather than humans.
I don't think you (and most other people) are anywhere near scared enough of returning to a world without antibiotics.
But then there is horizontal gene transfer.
The world has a lot to be scared of. Ive had an easy life, save for one or two experiences that have dwindled what truly frightens me a lot:
- Dying after my kids (unless my kids have a tremendous disability. Then my fear is reversed)
- Facing God, if He exists. If He doesn't, the nothingness of space.
Pain was on the list, but a bone marrow biopsy knocked it off. A world without modern antibiotics doesn't scare me. Much anyway.