They're investigating the use of a drug that they don't understand to treat a condition that they don't understand...
You'd probably be shocked to figure out how often this happens - and it used to happen a lot more in no small part because we didn't have the tools we have today: MRIs and better microscopes and other tech has really helped our understanding of the body. We are still figuring out how exactly the body works, after all, to the point that we occasionally discover a new body part. Of course we are going to do things we don't understand. Yet.
This isn't limited to medicine, either.
Maybe they want something to prescribe. For a lot of diseases, that's better than nothing. For example, I have MS. They know more than they used to about MS, but most of my life they've not known enough. I have medicine that isn't a cure, but I'll take it. Modern medicines mean that modern folks with MS have a much better quality of life than folks that didn't have medications. I'm more likely to have mobility and things like that. I'll take it.
My ex was schizophrenic. Medicine gave them a life. They still couldn't work, but they weren't suffering as much either. Again, not a cure, but help.
Imperfect cures or medicines that treat the symptoms are so much better than no help at all. This is where a lot of medicine starts - treating a symptom, and by doing so learning a bit more about the disease or affliction.
My ex was schizoaffective. They thought BP1 for a while, but then she started hallucinating while baseline. Anyway, I've seen her take all the meds. Some work sometimes. Then they don't. Most of the time we'd be dealing with symptoms of the meds, which are not easy. When she was completely manic even the highest dose of some meds would not work for her. Actually a side effect of one of the meds had the same symptoms as schizophrenia, so in that case what was even the point?
Neuroleptic-induced deficit syndrome (NIDS) is a psychopathological syndrome that develops in some patients who take high doses of an antipsychotic for an extended time... characterized by the same symptoms that constitute the negative symptoms of schizophrenia
You're right, a lot of times it seems like they just wanted to give her a pill and strap her down to a bed. Good sleep was far more important to regulating her wellbeing, but that was very difficult with the side effect of akathisia, which is common of antipsychotics. So it became a matter of upping the dose until it would make her pass out after hours of writhing pain. A daily occurrence.
So I could see why taking the meds were difficult.
If you told me I could take a pill to cure my autism but it would have the same symptoms as an antipsychotic, no thank you I wouldn't do it.
You'd probably be shocked to figure out how often this happens - and it used to happen a lot more in no small part because we didn't have the tools we have today: MRIs and better microscopes and other tech has really helped our understanding of the body. We are still figuring out how exactly the body works, after all, to the point that we occasionally discover a new body part. Of course we are going to do things we don't understand. Yet.
This isn't limited to medicine, either.
Maybe they want something to prescribe. For a lot of diseases, that's better than nothing. For example, I have MS. They know more than they used to about MS, but most of my life they've not known enough. I have medicine that isn't a cure, but I'll take it. Modern medicines mean that modern folks with MS have a much better quality of life than folks that didn't have medications. I'm more likely to have mobility and things like that. I'll take it.
My ex was schizophrenic. Medicine gave them a life. They still couldn't work, but they weren't suffering as much either. Again, not a cure, but help.
Imperfect cures or medicines that treat the symptoms are so much better than no help at all. This is where a lot of medicine starts - treating a symptom, and by doing so learning a bit more about the disease or affliction.