A consultation is short. Whatever you did not think to mention does not get discussed, and whatever you did not think to ask does not get answered — which makes the half hour before the appointment the highest-value part of the whole thing.
General information about making use of a medical appointment. It is not medical advice and does not substitute for anything your doctor tells you. Follow your clinic's own instructions for any test.
Write it down, because you will forget
Everyone intends to mention the thing and then does not, because a consultation room is a poor place to remember. A note on your phone solves it entirely.
Fasting and hydration, which get confused
If bloods are being taken, ask in advance whether fasting is required and for how long. Turning up unprepared usually means a second trip.
Water is a separate question from food, and the two get merged. Plain water is generally permitted during a fast and is often actively helpful, because it makes a vein easier to find — but coffee, juice and anything with sugar in it are not water. Ask the clinic rather than assuming.
On the day
- Say the most important thing first. Consultations run out of time from the end, not the beginning.
- Be accurate about alcohol, smoking and how much you actually move. An underestimate produces advice for a person who does not exist.
- Ask what a result means, not just whether it is normal. "Slightly high" and "needs action" are different statements.
- Write down what you are told, or ask for it in writing. Most of a consultation is forgotten by the car park.
- Ask what to do if something changes before the next visit, which is the question people most often leave without.
Afterwards, which is where it usually stops
Results get filed and forgotten. The value of an annual check is largely in the comparison with last year's, which only works if you can find last year's.
Keep them in one place — a folder or a photograph in a labelled album. That is the entire system, and it makes the next appointment considerably more useful. The same principle applied to your own everyday observations is in reading your own hydration: everyday signals.
What not to bring
An article, including this one, as a basis for arguing with a diagnosis. Bringing a question is useful; bringing a conclusion is not.
That extends to anything you have read about a product. If you have been told a supplement or a water treatment will help with a condition, that is a claim to check rather than to act on — reading health claims without being fooled — and a doctor is a better place to check it than a seller.
Nothing sold on this site, or on any wellness site, substitutes for a consultation you have been putting off. That consultation is the highest-value item in the whole category, and it is the one least often described as wellness — wellness on a budget.
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