Its funny, I had some persistent low grade back pain. Specialist gave me medication not to reduce inflammation but just to mask it. Didnt’t realize until got it filled.
It’s the medical equivalent of putting black tape over the “check engine” light.
This is pretty much what modern medicine does 80% of the time. I think that evidence based medicine, however useful the idea was originally, has become a major vector for this. Here’s how it works: choose a symptom of a disorder you want to treat. Find a drug target that you think will reduce the symptom. Apply the drug. Does it reduce the symptom by a statistically significant amount? If so, great! You have “evidence” that the drug “treats” the disorder. Does it cure anything? No, but that’s not the question you asked.
It’s the medical equivalent of putting black tape over the “check engine” light.