The root of the problem

The Root of the Problem is a journey into the heart of medicine, undertaken from a critical, humane, and reflective perspective. Iker Sevilla Rubio—a medical student and type 1 diabetes patient—writes from the dual vantage point of someone who both suffers and studies, someone who undergoes treatment while simultaneously questioning it. His voice does not seek to tear down what medicine has built, but rather to expand upon it—to restore the depth that is sometimes lost amidst protocols and algorithms. This book challenges the limits of a medical system obsessed with silencing symptoms without daring to examine their origins. What roles do environment, diet, stress, personal connections, and even one’s sense of purpose play in the onset of disease? And what happens when we reduce a patient to a number, forgetting the story their body is silently screaming? Drawing on common conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and depression, this essay proposes a paradigm shift: moving from a medicine that masks pain to one that understands it; from a science that rushes to answer to one that dares to ask questions deliberately; and from a fragmented model to an integrative human vision.