Most of the popular protocol is borrowed from a clinical population and applied to healthy people without comment.

How do you tell the difference between the drug working and just a good week?

Batch and expiry copied from a real box will already be nearly expired. That is the tell.

You have two changes at once here. You cannot attribute anything until one of them moves.

Following this because I am in the same place and have no idea what to ask at the appointment.

You have two changes at once here. You cannot attribute anything until one of them moves.

Same here.