Being Proactive When New Symptoms Occur
A funny thing happened to me over the holidays: I had an increase in symptoms from one of my chronic conditions.
Time and experience has taught me two things:
Clearly, balancing these two, often opposing, rules is tricky, and not something that gets much easier with practice. Having loved ones around you who can act as your 'sanity-check' and help you decide where the line between these two is can be of great help. Also helpful is a confident, trusting relationship with your doctor. Or, perhaps even more importantly, your doctor's office staff.
I've spoken before about the importance of developing good relationships with your doctor's staff; they are the gatekeepers of his/her schedule, time, and procedure book. These relationships take time and effort to cultivate, but a good start is being respectful, being open, and communicating clearly. Having an email address or direct phone number for the primary office admin or assistant is key.
For example, I spent several weeks debating whether I had just eaten something funny, causing a temporary uptick in symptoms, or if something else was going on. After multiple weeks of feeling pretty crappy (despite trying all my usual 'reset' tricks and finding no relief), I emailed my specialist's secretary directly. I told her exactly what was going on, including clinical details that would ordinarily be disclosed in an appointment (for example, details of the symptoms, time, duration, causes, sensations), explained how it paralleled past experience, what the treatment and results had been last time around, and asked for assistance in navigating the doctor's system to help me get in as soon as possible. In this way, I can circumvent the frustrating and lengthy process of going in for multiple appointments to verify symptoms or discuss generalities, and get right to the meat: scheduling a procedure.
The theory is that this will mean I get in for treatment much more quickly than I would otherwise, simply because I skip the steps of waiting months for each appointment. At least, that's the theory! We'll see when I can actually get in ;)
Time and experience has taught me two things:
1. Not every symptom increase is a sign of something worse, and it's always wise to stay calm and monitor yourself, objectively, for a while before reading anything into it.
2. Ignoring new or worsening symptoms in the hopes they are just 'temporary' is a slippery slope, and being proactive about nipping issues in the bud (when possible) is an important part of self-care.
Clearly, balancing these two, often opposing, rules is tricky, and not something that gets much easier with practice. Having loved ones around you who can act as your 'sanity-check' and help you decide where the line between these two is can be of great help. Also helpful is a confident, trusting relationship with your doctor. Or, perhaps even more importantly, your doctor's office staff.
I've spoken before about the importance of developing good relationships with your doctor's staff; they are the gatekeepers of his/her schedule, time, and procedure book. These relationships take time and effort to cultivate, but a good start is being respectful, being open, and communicating clearly. Having an email address or direct phone number for the primary office admin or assistant is key.
For example, I spent several weeks debating whether I had just eaten something funny, causing a temporary uptick in symptoms, or if something else was going on. After multiple weeks of feeling pretty crappy (despite trying all my usual 'reset' tricks and finding no relief), I emailed my specialist's secretary directly. I told her exactly what was going on, including clinical details that would ordinarily be disclosed in an appointment (for example, details of the symptoms, time, duration, causes, sensations), explained how it paralleled past experience, what the treatment and results had been last time around, and asked for assistance in navigating the doctor's system to help me get in as soon as possible. In this way, I can circumvent the frustrating and lengthy process of going in for multiple appointments to verify symptoms or discuss generalities, and get right to the meat: scheduling a procedure.
The theory is that this will mean I get in for treatment much more quickly than I would otherwise, simply because I skip the steps of waiting months for each appointment. At least, that's the theory! We'll see when I can actually get in ;)
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