Of course, you would have been welcome to post a thoughtful, neutral reply questioning whether medication is needed for that, and explaining why. In such a comment, it might be natural to mention that where you live, attitudes toward this are very different, etc. Although these topics are divisive and intense, there's no intrinsic reason why they need to become flamewars.
Re your second question, I don't think it's a problem for people to share their experiences and viewpoints, especially on issues that touch nearly everyone, and I don't think doing that really counts as "medical advice". There's no implicit claim to authority in an internet forum comment; on the contrary, readers all know to add an implicit "This is just an internet comment" disclaimer.
HN is basically an internet watercooler, a place for conversation, finding common ground, and so on. We trust readers to be smart enough to make up their own minds.