Tips for Talking to Your Doctor

Being able to talk freely with your doctor will not only make you feel better, it will also help your doctor to help you.

Try some of the following tips for getting along better with your doctor:

• Stay positive.
• Keep track of your condition.
• Bring a list of your current medications to your appointment.
• Learn about your condition and ask questions.
• Ask about your treatment.
• Tell your doctor how you feel.
• Ask for help if you need it.
• Learn the terms.

Stay positive. If you go to your doctor’s office with a bad attitude, you’ll probably leave feeling as if you have no control over your medical treatment. You may even think of your doctor as the enemy. However, if you go to your doctor visits ready to share and learn about your disease or disability, you’ll probably feel as if you and your doctor are working toward the same goal—to make you as healthy as possible.

Keep track of your condition. Your doctor visits will go more smoothly if you write down the patterns of your disease or disability as they happen in a journal. That way, you’ll be able to answer the doctor’s questions about your symptoms, reactions to medications, side effects, and other issues. You don’t have to write down all the details—just enough to help you remember how you were feeling and when. When you’re at the doctor’s office, you can look back at your journal anytime your doctor asks a question.

Bring a list of your current medications to your appointment. You’ll save your doctor the time of having to look through your chart and give her or him a few more minutes to talk with you about your treatment. Learn about different medications at the Physician’s Desk Reference’s Getting Well Network.

From Young People and Chronic Illness: True Stories, Help, and Hope by Kelly Huegel.
©1998 Free Spirit Publishing, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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