self help
Be Your Own Advocate
How to Organize Your Medical History
Optimize your next physician appointment by bringing a clear, complete picture of your medical history.
By Kelly Rehan
A
VISIT TO THE DOCTOR IS LIKE A JOB INTERVIEW: You have a limited amount of time to get your point across and may leave feeling like there were a million other things you should have said.
Although a first-time appointment may last longer, many checkups only last 15 to 30 minutes. To use your time wisely and leave with the best possible treatment plan, it is important to bring a complete medical history and a list of current symptoms. In this way, your medical history becomes your resume, a document that helps you quickly offer a complete picture of your experiences and helps the physician make a wellinformed decision.
“ There’ s no test made exclusively for headache— it’ s all based on history,” says Edmund Messina, MD, Director of the Michigan Headache Clinic, East Lansing, Mich.
While it might take time to build this history on paper, headache specialists recommend patients err on the side of too much detail.
“ My experiences range from patients who present with no information to an engineering professor who created a PowerPoint presentation with colorcoded graphs,” says Wade Cooper, DO, Director of the Headache and Neuropathic Pain Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“ A detailed history is always preferred to ensure an accurate diagnosis and development of an effective treatment plan.”
On the other hand, not all physicians will have time to sift through stacks of old family records. To optimize time with your physician, organize your medical history in a clear, complete manner and bring a printout to your appointment.
DOCUMENT EVERYTHING CLEARLY
When you’ re in pain and have a limited amount of time to articulate your history and current symptoms, it can be overwhelming and you could be easily sidetracked. The key to a successful appointment is to organize your thoughts in advance.
Your medical history should answer a number of key questions( see sidebar) and should also contain any speaking points you want to convey or any questions you want to ask. You should also plan to include:
• A list of all medications used for headache or headache prevention and the doses( a printout from the pharmacy may be helpful), and a list of all vitamin supplements or alternative treatments used
• Copies of any diagnostic records( e. g., magnetic resonance imaging scans, CT scans, neck X-rays, etc.)
• A headache diary that details when you had your headaches in recent months and any known triggers
Want more tips for communicating with your physician? Go to www. headaches. org, click“ Resources” and select“ Tools for sufferers.”
22 HEAD WISE | Volume 2, Issue 4 • 2012