“Alternative medicine” is a label that describes quite an array of practices and products. Many of my patients have tried therapies or products that I know little about or sound positively weird.

When it comes to your health and wellness, you can’t find a better three words. I’m reminded of the truth of these words every time I have a patient who does so much better than I thought they would, or who got better under my care after struggling for years to find some path to recovery.

Much has been made in the past two decades or so of the need for “evidence-based medicine.” An article in the British Medical Journal entitled “Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials” made the case that common sense and clinical experience ought not be overruled by overzealous application of the evidence-based paradigm.

Nasdrudin, the 600 year-old holy fool, was once seen on his hands and knees at night on the street, looking for something in the full moonlight in front of his neighbor’s house. When questioned by his neighbors, Nasrudin explained that he had lost his key. Everyone got down on their hands and searched with him.