This is like the cart wagging the horse

Frustrated by certain medications treating symptoms that exacerbate others, this malaphor was uttered. It’s a conflation of “putting the cart before the horse” (to do things in the wrong order) and “the tail is wagging the dog” (a situation where a small part is controlling the whole of something). Lots of tails and animals here. A shout out to Bruce Ryan for catching this one and sending it in.