What does tiered medicine look like on the practical level in a nutshell?
- Generally follow the medical consensus. With very few exceptions, if there is a medical consensus on any particular issue, that will be followed.
- Have regular doctor checkups to monitor health. Yearly checkups are usually recommended where bloodwork is done on the patient.
- Use prescription medication to alleviate symptoms and prevent health conditions that are likely due to abnormalities of hormone levels. If I have a runny nose that I need to stop, I will take a prescription medication that the doctor feels is best for my symptoms. Also, after my blood is analyzed, the doctor might recommend supplements or medications due to out-of-range hormone levels.
- Try not to take prescription medication long-term. Make lifestyle changes to solve health conditions. Even though I will take prescription medication to alleviate present symptoms or correct hormone levels, I will always try to change my lifestyle to accommodate and fix these problems so the prescription medication is no longer needed. This includes changing diet, exercise programs, relationships, and stress levels.
- Experiment with safe alternative remedies to symptoms when reasonably priced. Expanding on the last point, this is another way of making lifestyle changes that can solve health problems and eliminate the need for prescription medication or processed supplements.
Here is an example of this process in action. A patient goes to see his doctor for a yearly physical. After his blood is drawn and analyzed in the lab, it is determined that his vitamin D level is low with respect to the average range established by a medical consensus. The doctor prescribes vitamin D supplement pills which the patient begins to take to increase his vitamin D level. The patient changes his schedule to include more time outside to acquire more vitamin D from the sun and tries to expose more skin when he does so. Also, the patient chooses foods for their diet that are higher in vitamin D. Then, the patient might try foraging for mushrooms and drying them out in the sun to absorb vitamin D before either eating them or making teas with them. This would be a good usage of this model of medicine.