Conventional medicine is the mainstream healthcare system practiced by most medical doctors and other healthcare professionals. The primary focus of conventional medicine is to address the symptoms of a disease or condition using pharmaceutical drugs, surgeries, and other medical interventions.

Conventional medicine excels in acute and life-threatening situations where immediate intervention is necessary. Surgeries, trauma care, and emergency treatments are prime examples. For example, if you break your arm or require heart surgery, you need conventional medicine for treatment.

Conventional medicine typically views the body as a collection of organs and systems, separated by medical specialties. Unfortunately, for the chronic, complex patient with multiple symptoms, this often results in visits to numerous specialists, orthopedic, gastroenterologist, psychiatrist, neurologist, etc. and multiple drugs to “manage” each symptom.

Conventional medicine evolved during a time when acute, infectious diseases were the leading causes of death. Most other problems that brought people to the doctor were also acute, like appendicitis or a gall bladder attack.

Treatment in these cases was relatively simple: the patient developed pneumonia, went to see the doctor, received an antibiotic (once they were invented), and either got well or died. One problem, one doctor, one treatment.

Today things aren’t quite so simple. The average patient sees the doctor not for an acute problem, but for a chronic one (or in many cases, more than one chronic issue). Chronic diseases are difficult to manage, expensive to treat, require more than one doctor, and typically last a lifetime. They don’t lend themselves to the “one problem, one doctor, one treatment” approach of the past.

Unfortunately, the application of the conventional medical paradigm to the modern problem of chronic disease has led to a system that emphasizes suppressing symptoms with drugs (and sometimes surgery), rather than addressing the underlying cause of the problem.

For example, if you go to the doctor and find out you have high cholesterol and/or high blood pressure, you’ll be given a drug to lower them—and expected to take that drug for the rest of your life. There is rarely any serious investigation into why your cholesterol or blood pressure is high in the first place. Most visits end in a prescription.

In their defense the conventional medical system makes finding and fixing underlying causes extremely difficult. The average patient visit with a primary care provider (PCP) lasts about 10 to 12 minutes. If a patient has multiple chronic conditions, is taking several medications, and presents with new symptoms, it is nearly impossible to provide quality care during that 10-minute visit. So instead of a lengthy interview trying to pinpoint what may be causing the symptom, recommending a new drug is often the answer.

When it Comes to Treating Chronic Illnesses the Conventional Medical Approach is at a Distinct Disadvantage. Here’s why:

1. Symptom-Based Diagnosis

   • The system revolves around identifying a disease label (like IBS, high blood pressure, or anxiety) rather than the underlying mechanism that caused it.

   • Example: You may receive medication for high blood pressure without exploring whether inflammation, excess weight, poor sleep, stress, or micronutrient deficiencies are to blame.

2. Isolated Specialties

   • Conventional care divides the body into compartments: endocrinology for hormones, gastroenterology for gut issues, psychiatry for mood.

   • But the human body doesn’t work in silos. The gut affects the brain. Hormones influence mood. The immune system impacts energy.

3. Limited Time and Testing

   • Insurance-driven systems typically allow 10–15 minutes per visit. There’s no time for deep exploration of lifestyle, nutrition, or stress patterns.

   • Testing focuses on what’s “medically necessary,” not what’s functionally informative—so early dysfunction often goes unnoticed.

Functional Medicine

Functional medicine focuses on finding the root cause(s) of illnesses using a personalized, patient-centered, approach. It’s not about giving someone a “label” or naming a disease (group of common symptoms), but determining how well or how poorly the person’s different systems (immune, musculoskeletal, nervous, metabolic, hormonal, gastrointestinal, etc.) are functioning.

 Lab tests using "normal" (reference) ranges are often flawed because they are based on statistical averages—usually the middle 95% of a sampled population—rather than what is optimal for health. These ranges often include unhealthy individuals, causing wide, non-specific thresholds that can miss early disease, ignore individual health contexts, and misinterpret normal fluctuations as abnormal

Traditional lab tests are designed to detect disease, not dysfunction. They often measure results against population averages, which means you can fall within the normal range but still feel unwell.

For example:

• Thyroid levels are technically normal but not optimal for your body’s needs

• Blood sugar appears stable even though are early signs of insulin resistance

• Cholesterol test looks fine, but inflammation or oxidative stress still damaging arteries

Functional medicine recognizes that health exists on a spectrum. Instead of waiting until lab results cross into the abnormal range, we address small imbalances early to help prevent chronic illness later. We want our patients to have optimal ranges.

What functional lab tests measure

Functional testing looks beyond disease detection. Instead of just identifying what’s wrong, these tests aim to reveal why something isn’t working properly. They focus on patterns and interactions across multiple systems, like your hormones, gut health, metabolism, and immune response.

If you have a chronic illness I encourage to think about treating underlying causes and not just suppressing symptoms. There are several free resources for various chronic conditions on my websites www.yourfibrodoctor.com and www.superhealthyhuman.com including the “Health Conditions” Tab on these sites: https://yourfibrodoctor.com/dr-rodger-murphree-can-help-you-with-fibromyalgia-and-these-other-health-conditions/

If you’re struggling with a chronic health condition and looking for help consider scheduling a new patient video consult. You can learn more about new patient consults at www. fibroconsults.com 

Questions? Call the clinic 205-879-2383