Patients should consult a physician before pursuing any treatment plan, but they should not surrender all decisionmaking authority. The decisions ultimately remain the patient's, and preparation is necessary to make them intelligently. People with AIDS should use doctors, friends, and other people with AIDS or ARC as resources, but should retain and exercise the right to make choices about their own health. The benefits and possible negative side effects are largely known with respect to medically supervised therapies, but not with respect to alternative therapies. Patients should investigate all therapies to understand why they may or may not be appropriate. Clinicians should encourage patients to ask questions. Patients should also be made aware that in some cases no therapy at all may be an option. The nature of programs involving investigational drugs should also be explained. Patients deciding to take part in drug studies must also be reminded that they have the right to withdraw at any time. Alternative therapies -- interventions that are not part of the Western medical tradition -- include acupuncture, yoga, visualization, megavitamins, light therapy, swallowing crushed gem stones, and many other therapies. Patients considering alternative therapies should distinguish those that may work from those that probably will not. Guidelines for evaluating alternative therapies.