Medical history - be prepared.

As I noted in my previous blog, the information that doctors collect on your health status is highly structured. They want details on the current complaint, previous conditions and illnesses, all the medications you take and took in the past especially from the last few years and if you are allergic to any of them. They will want your family history. They will also ask a lot of questions on all your "systems" which means your heart, lungs, intestinal tract, joint complaints, skin problems, psychiatric problems and so on.

Below are lists of questions that you can try to answer with as much detail as you can. Of course there are questions that are not relevant to your problem. Just go to the next one.
This is not an exhaustive list of questions because the actual questions will depend on what you have but this is a good start.

Current complaint - In your own words: What is the problem, when did it start, does it hurt, where, when. Is it stabbing pain or pressure or burning. Worse with moving or better if you move. Better lying down, sitting up or standing/walking. What do you do to make it go away and does that help. Have you tried any medicines, how much and how long and have they worked.  If you have shortness of breath tell them how bad. Only if you do strenuous exercise or also when you are just sitting in your chair. Can you walk without getting breathless. Have you had vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding somewhere. Does anybody in your immediate environment have a similar problem.

If they suspect an infectious problem: Do you have a fever or chills? Are you coughing, are you coughing up stuff, are you vomiting, having diarrhea. Is anyone else sick? Have you traveled? Where, when (all locations). Did you get vaccinations before you left or have you taken any pills to prevent getting infected?

Have you seen another doctor about this problem? Did you have any tests? What were they and what were the results? Did they prescribe medications? What did they prescribe? Did you take it? Are you still taking it or any other drugs for this problem?

What medications do you take? Since when? For what problems? Have they been effective? Have you had side effects? Which side effects? Did you stop the medications because of side effects? Has someone told you what the side effects were or do you have some information on it?

Do you have any allergies. Do you take any over the counter medications, supplements, drugs (marijuana, other, including illegal, drugs). Be honest they won't call the cops but they can't help you if you don't tell them everything.

Do you smoke/drink? Have you done so in the past? How much, since when, has it ever impaired your functioning or interfered with your job? Have you ever tried to stop?

Do you/have you had problems with your weight? Been on any diets? Did they work? Do you exercise regularly? How often, what type, since when?

They'll want to know everything that happened in the past. I have copied a couple of medical history forms from the web because those give good detailed lists. You can find these everywhere and you'll recognize them from your doctor's office. These are very similar from one office to another because the information the doctors are looking for is always the same as I wrote in my previous blog. Filling these out at home with the help of others is going to save time during your visit with the doctor and you will therefore have more time to discuss what is your current complaint.

These are not mine and since they are on the web I assume that they can be used freely.

In addition to the information that these forms collect, make sure you write details on your family. That means: Parents and their siblings, your siblings, your children, your grandparents. Your spouse's medical history and current problems would only be relevant if he/she had a contagious infection. They want to know especially about heart disease, lung disease, stomach and bowel diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer (where, what type, severity when diagnosed and outcome - treatments, survival).

I hope this blog is helpful to you and I would love to see some comments and suggestions on how to improve these.