In our case, that's what the doctor prescribes for my wife's chronic sinus infections whenever she asks one about them, and I've been stocking it as a goto first antibiotic for veterinary use since i started caring for my animals 30yr ago.

In anyone else's case, there's no great barrier to educating yourself about what you put in your body and why, and taking responsibility for your own health. Doctors are consultants, not priests.

Oh man you couldn't be more spot on. There's no magic in what doctors do and how doctors prescribe a medication. There are two advantages that a doctor can have over an educated layman: 1) Experience: the number of cases they have seen and thus can make an educated inference to what is going on. 2) Their knowledge of anatomy (all they studied during their 4-6 years education).

Having been living with a chronic condition for more than 20 years, having gone to more than 10 specialists in 3 different countries and countless of studies I've seen the limitation of Medical Doctors (they are human beens at the end). There comes a time when you get to see that you understand your body better than any doctor could.

There is some wisdom in that (while "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebra" is a good maxim, sometimes it's horses and zebra), but IMHO once you're diagnosed with something chronic and treatable, minimize the red-tape to keep it treated.

>There is some wisdom in that

It's pretty convenient for the doctors as well. $150 to write some shit on a pad and sign it. Good work if you can get it.

Amoxicillin isn't available without a prescription because using the wrong antibiotic on a disease can make the patient worse.

When the disease is something that requires frequent reapplication of antibiotics, it's important to confirm periodically that they're working (and that the problem isn't a different bacteria that's amoxicillin-resistant).

It seems to be this is more for the benefit of the healthcare system financially rather than the patient or the health of the population as a whole.

I think that's really where one needs to look to square the circle. The drugs available prescription-free have lower risk of injury or disruption when abused. Antibiotics are not in that category, which is why they require doctor oversight and a prescription. Take too much, and you can damage your digestive tract. Take too little, or the wrong kind, and you can worsen the infection by killing the bacteria that the immune system can control, leaving their food supply for the ones the immune system is struggling against.

They could require less doctor oversight perhaps, but probably not zero.