[jessaustin]

Things like... hypertension medications, ...are all OTC.

This would be so nice. Every time I switch providers, I have to hear the same tired "Lisinopril is the modern blood pressure medication and it's certainly all that you need!" "No asshole, it doesn't work for me and it makes me cough 17 times a minute, 1440 minutes a day. Just give a water pill, which does work and has worked for years."

[StillBored]

This is actually what irritates me and keeps me away from doctors. Its seems to be 99% seat of the pants guess work, and in my case the doctors seem to have a pretty poor batting average. I get that antibiotics are over-prescribed, but do I really need to have the same test run again for the 3rd time to see if I'm lying about the antibiotic not doing a darn thing?

I get that treatment is frequently trial and error when it comes to medications, but the doctor/patient/pharmacist loop is BS, particularly for minor/frequent issues.

Take for example that I seem to run myself into poison ivy a couple times a year while mountain biking. Do I really need to fight to see a doctor/nurse/whatever just to have the same prescription I've gotten the last couple years straight? Or for that matter, maybe I should experiment more with stronger allergy medications to avoid the nasty withdraw I seem to get from prednisone.

Worse, what irritates me, is like the GP, it seems a lot of the common "safe" prescriptions in the US are over the counter in the rest of the world.. I know this, but got myself quite a surprise last time I was in mexico, because the hotel gift shop had viagra next to the advil!