Dr.RaviCardio said:

It is worth asking what the claim would look like if it were false.

I read this differently from Dr.RaviCardio, on substance rather than tone. This treats a plausible mechanism as a demonstrated one. Plausible is where you start looking, not where you stop.

Correct me if the detail matters more than I have assumed.

Adding the numbers, since they settle part of this. Say what you would expect to see if you were wrong, before you look. It is a small discipline and it changes what you notice.

amsterdam_pete said:

This treats a plausible mechanism as a demonstrated one.

There is a second half to this that has not been said yet. There is a difference between no evidence and evidence of no effect, and this subject is one where the two get swapped freely in both directions.

One thing that is still open after CarlaRPh_TPA’s answer:

Did your prescriber agree with that reading, and if not what was their objection?

Reporting back.

Late follow-up. I did not do what was suggested, I did something adjacent, and it worked; posting the difference in case it matters to somebody.