What Doctors Know But Don't Talk About
- Dr. Joshua Beaudry
- Dec 16, 2025
- 3 min read
Medical doctors—MDs and DOs—are good people. They are highly trained, intelligent, and essential. Their expertise shines in acute care: trauma, infections, emergency medicine, surgery, and pharmaceuticals. When your life is on the line, they are exactly who you want.
But where the system begins to fall short is in chronic disease.
Most medical doctors receive little to no training in the areas that drive long-term health:
Less than 20 hours in nutrition and functional medicine
Minimal education on stress regulation and sleep
Very limited understanding of inflammation
Almost no training in neuroplasticity or lifestyle-based change
This isn’t a personal failure—it’s a system limitation.
Why the Medical System Works the Way It Does
Healthcare reimbursement is built around a specific model:
Diagnose → Prescribe → Intervene
Doctors are reimbursed for diagnosing conditions, prescribing medications, and performing procedures. They are not reimbursed for:
Nutrition counseling
Stress management
Nervous system regulation
Brain training
Lifestyle change support
Because of this structure, care becomes symptom-focused and acute-oriented, not root-cause driven.
An Example: Headaches
If someone comes in with chronic headaches, the medical process often looks like this:
Order imaging (such as an MRI)
Rule out major lesions or pathology
Prescribe medication
If nothing abnormal appears on imaging, the scan is considered “normal.”
But from a functional and neurological perspective, that headache may be coming from:
Chronic stress
Blood sugar dysregulation
Hormonal imbalance
Digestive dysfunction
Inflammation
Poor blood flow
Nervous system overload
The symptom isn’t random. It’s a signal.
Symptoms Are Not the Problem—They Are the Signal
This is a critical shift in understanding health:
Pain is protection
Anxiety is defense
Symptoms are communication
Your body is not broken. It is trying to keep you alive and functioning.
When we silence symptoms without addressing the cause, the body is forced to compensate elsewhere—and the issue often worsens over time.
Acid Reflux: A Perfect Example
Acid reflux is commonly believed to be caused by too much stomach acid. In reality, it is most often caused by too little stomach acid.
Here’s what happens:
Low stomach acid prevents proper protein digestion
Food ferments instead of breaking down
Pressure builds and acid escapes upward
When acid-reducing medications are used:
The stomach becomes too alkaline
Harmful bacteria overgrowth
Gut function deteriorates
This can lead to:
Poor neurotransmitter production
Impaired detoxification
Anxiety and depression
Leaky gut
Autoimmune conditions
All of this can begin with treating a symptom instead of addressing the root cause.
The Missing Link: The Brain
The brain controls:
Hormones
The immune system
Pain perception
Gut function
Stress responses
Healing capacity
Yet the brain is often left out of chronic care conversations.
The most important questions to ask are:
What is the root cause?
What is my body trying to protect me from?
How can I improve my nervous system function?
Most doctors understand this reality—but they often don’t have the tools, time, or reimbursement structure to address it.
Your Body Is Always Doing the Right Thing
Your body is not attacking itself. It is not malfunctioning randomly. It is adapting and protecting—every single time.
When you support the nervous system and address root causes, the body no longer needs to express symptoms as loudly.
The Takeaway
The medical system is excellent at keeping you alive. But true health requires understanding why symptoms exist in the first place.
Healing begins when you stop asking, “How do I get rid of this symptom?” and start asking, “What is my body asking for?”
That shift—toward root cause, nervous system regulation, and whole-person care—is how disease is prevented and health is restored.
Life Springs Family Chiropractic – Denver, CO
Call/Text: (303) 770-0605
Website: lifespringsfamilychiropractic.com
