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Healthy Inspiration : Clinic Visit

This healthy inspiration is your guide to getting the best health care possible. The first key ingredient is your health care professional. If you are embarrassed to talk with a man about intimate details insist on a woman for your primary care professional. If you are uncomfortable talking with a woman, request a male. No matter what your health care situation, you are still in control. Even if you go to a free clinic, if you don't trust the person in charge of your medical care, you need to request someone else.

The biggest key to great care is trust. You must know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your medical care is in the hands of a knowledgeable and caring individual who will always have your best interest at heart.

The next key to this healthy inspiration is communication. Once you trust the knowledge of your care giver you need to be totally honest with them about your symptoms, worries, and doubts.

The internet is a great tool for information, but remember that anyone can put information there without checking it's accuracy. You can also find information on any symptom, and although you are an intelligent woman you are not qualified to diagnose yourself based on whatever information you find. Healthy inspiration: check your information and symptoms with your health care professional.

Make an appointment and let the scheduler know you want time to talk to your physician, then come prepared. It can be a little intimidating in that cold little room hearing hushed voices through the walls and out in the corridor. You can easily forget some of the items you want to talk about.
Healthy Inspiration:
1. Make a copy of the internet page you were looking at.
2. Make a list of your symptoms with dates of when they began. Do they seem to have a pattern? Do you have them constantly, or do they come and go?
3. Write down your questions. All of them. None of them is trivial or "dumb"
4. Don't let your health care professional leave the room if you don't understand. You must understand what they believe is happening in your body and any plans for testing or treatment. Include your family history if the symptoms are familiar to you.
5. Ask for the information in written form, whether it is a brochure of information, or written by the health professional themselves. It is so easy to understand what is said in the clinic and then forget all the information by the time you get outside the door.
6. Bring someone with you that you trust to listen and takes notes if you want. All this concerns your health and your future. You have the right to understand and have an advocate if you need one.

Once a plan of testing is determined don't stop there.

1. What is each test for?
2. What is "normal" for that test?
3. If the value comes back too low, what will that say?
4. If the value comes back too high, what will that tell you?
5. Trust that if your health care professional would rather wait and go over the results with you, that is in your best interest. Then don't leave without an appointment.
6. Some tests take a couple of weeks to come back. Is there anything you need to do in the meantime?

Perhaps you will receive a prescription for medication.
1. Ask for both the manufacturers name for the drug and the generic name.
2. Remind your health care professional of all medications you are taking, including herbs, vitamins, and natural remedies. (bring a list with you of each drug, the current dosage, and how often you are taking it. Also include how well you think the drug is helping you.
3. Talk to the pharmacist when you pick up your medication. Show the pharmacist your list of medications, vitamins, and herbs for a double check of possible interaction problems.
4. Make sure you get written information about each medication and ask for the pharmacist to explain how to take the medication, when to take it, with what, and any major side effects that are commonly experienced.
5. Make sure you understand what a bad reaction would look and feel like. Follow the pharmacist's instructions about stopping the medication and when to call your health care professional.
6. Find out how soon you should notice an improvement and when to call your health care professional is you don't.

The final piece of healthy inspiration: Be faithful to the plan you agreed to in the clinic. Don't stop part of it after a couple of days if you haven't noticed any difference in your symptoms. Make sure you are doing EVERYTHING you agreed to. Don't stop any of it before talking with your primary care professional. This includes exercise, change of diet, and decrease in number of cigarettes you smoke.

You are an intelligent woman who deserves to live a healthy and happy life. You have the power to make that your reality.

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