You Can’t Spray Perfume on Poop

If you’ve ever sat near a chain smoker, you know that the stench on their clothes can make an entire room reek.

Cleaning up after these inconsiderate people is a pain, but it serves as a prime example of how not to approach health problems. See, the chain smoker causes the stinky room. Their odor is a symptom of their presence; it’s an effect of smoking. Lighting a candle, spraying Oust, and misting Febreze are “drugs” we can use to mask this symptom. But if the smoker is still in the room while you attempt to deodorize, it’s a losing battle. The room would still smell, only now it’ll smell like a mixture of cinnamon and cigarettes. That’s even more gross! The smoker has to leave before their nasty funk disappears. That’s when fresh air can circulate into the room.

Symptoms in your body work the same way – they’re merely effects. Every effect has a cause. Using drugs to mask your symptoms is like spraying perfume on poop and expecting it to smell like roses. It fails to address the source of the problem.