An OTC drug may not of cured them or it could f been something more serious... As the first poster learned, most AMerican DRs are parasitic criminals.
Oh trust me I know. I can't count the times that a Dr has prescribed an antibiotic to a friend or family member for a VIRUS. To me no HC reform bill is complete without banning kickbacks to Dr.'s for prescriptions they write. Oh and lets not forget how many people they bilk for an unnecessary "follow-up" appointments for the Dr. to just tell them they are ok. I only go to a Dr. if I am seriously sick (never) or I need stitches or physically injured. In January I injured my left shoulder and it didn't seem to be getting better a couple of weeks later. So I went to a Dr. and was prescribed Naproxen-Sodium (aka: Aleve) and several weeks of physical therapy. I went to the PT one time to learn what the exercises were and then did them at home and never went back. There is no need to go to PT to do exercises you can do at home for free. I do have very good insurance and I use it as needed, but I do not take advantage of it. If people stopped abusing it, insurance wouldn't be so expensive.
You are asking people to diagnose and medicate themselves. Do you know anything about the practice of medicine? When and when not to seek a medical help?
It doesn't take a genius to realize that you don't need a Dr. every time you sneeze. MOST of the time someone who is "sick" and goes to the Dr. only gets told "you just have that virus that's been going around" and they get a prescription for an antibiotic that won't do anything to help anyway. So all that person did was waste insurance money to pad the Dr.'s pockets and drive everyone's costs higher.
You are a moron and part of what is wrong with the US! My kid was sick for 3 days before we took him to the doctor. When we took him he had 105 temperature. We were using OTC medicine and the pharmacist said that we should bring the child to a doctor. He past whatever he had onto my wife as well and we figured since we were going then she should be seen as well because she couldn't get a perscription without paying to see the doctor. They both just laid on a couch for a week because they were sick. Yes, they probably would have recovered without seeing the doctor but it would have taken a couple weeks longer. The *any*cillin helped them recover a hell of alot quicker. Why take the chance we are not in the stone age anymore. BTW - 90% of the time the doctor doesn't know exactly what is the problem so they make a judgement call from the symptoms how to treat it. Of that 90%, 10% of the time they made the wrong decision and the perscription doesn't help. The point I was trying to make which you so obviously missed is the normal visit to just get a perscription shouldn't be so expensive. In theory there should be a free clinic or a minimal charge where someone can go initially to get the medicine they need. You should treat illness as soon as possible to stop it from spreading. I bet you are one of those idiots that go to work / visit public places and sneeze and pass on germs to everyone when you are sick and should have stayed at home. You probably also send your child to school or daycare when he is sick as well. BTW - When you get swine flu this winter I guess you are not going to go to the doctor because you can beat it without medicine.
you should ask a european if it works instead of speculate so much. (a Belgian like me, for instance)