Physicians are taught that diagnosis precedes treatment: you have to identify and understand a problem before you prescribe medications or initiate procedures. Many symptoms can have multiple underlying causes. Is an abdominal pain related to an ulcer, might it reflect an inflammatory bowel condition, or might it be an early sign of appendicitis? Location matters. Type of pain matters. Timing of the pain matters. Before you initiate treatment, you gather information: a history and physical, blood tests, imaging studies. Only after thorough evaluation do you intervene. That is because treatments themselves carry risks. Physicians know that their job is to "above all else, do no harm." If you don't understand a problem, don't begin surgery; don't prescribe a medication with side effects.