What is it about antibiotics that you're not allowed to purchase them withou!


Question: I don't know about everyone else ... but I can tell when I have an infection and when I don't so I'm not going to be swallowing them like candy.

Right now I'm suffering from a sinus infection. It's Saturday and my Doctor's office is closed. I know the only thing that's going to clear it up is an antibiotic regimen but because we can't purchase them without a prescription I have to suffer until I can see my Doctor.


Answers: I don't know about everyone else ... but I can tell when I have an infection and when I don't so I'm not going to be swallowing them like candy.

Right now I'm suffering from a sinus infection. It's Saturday and my Doctor's office is closed. I know the only thing that's going to clear it up is an antibiotic regimen but because we can't purchase them without a prescription I have to suffer until I can see my Doctor.

If they were available without prescription then people would buy them for stuff that doesn't require them, colds etc The effectiveness of them can be reduced due to strains of infection building up a resistance through over use of a certain type.

I know that you won't swallow them like candy but stores think that some people will. If you were able to by antibiotics at a store, just think of how many drug users would be after that. To prevent this the doctor has to write a prescription.

Hope you feel better soon! :)

If antibiotics were available for anyone to buy over the counter whenever they wanted, they would use them for illnesses that probably didn't require antibiotics (a lot of people confuse viral infections for bacterial infections and antibiotics do NOTHING for viruses) or won't use them like they are supposed to (won't take them for long enough). If people take antibiotics just for a few days or otherwise improperly, bacterial infections that aren't completely killed off by the drug will develop resistance to those drugs.
We are already seeing things like strep and staph, even TB, becoming antibiotic resistant because people won't take their antibiotics correctly even when they have them on a prescription basis... Even with limits on them we are seeing that people can't be responsible with them and finding out that the consequences are the development of super-bugs that the medical community can't fight with standard medications or any kind of medication at all. There are a few antibiotics that hospitals reserve only for emergency use in the hopes that no disease will form a resistance to it, but even then we are still facing diseases that beat those drugs on occasion too. What will we do when a strep throat outbreak hits a school that cannot be beaten by known antibiotics? It will be like it was pre-WWI and people will just die from simple infections and things like sore throats!
So, it would be insane to offer antibiotics more freely than we allow them now. If anything, there needs to be tighter restrictions placed on them.

Use a humidifier, stock up on tissues and robitussin and if you have to only go to your family doctor, wait until Monday. You don't HAVE to wait until Monday though, why not go to a Primacare?

Sorry for the rant, I just am sensitive to the issue since I have had family members get hit by drug resistant infections and nearly die before...

Most sinus infections are viral in origin and antibiotics won't help you. If it is so severe, go to one of the pharmacy clinics. Antibiotics will never be OTC because of risk. We already have issues with antibiotic resistance. Doctors still prescribe them for diseases which are probably viral in origin. Don't give an antibiotic for a cough, recommend an antihistamine and a decongestant.





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