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Chronic illness: track symptoms and prepare for appointments
Practical guides for people living with a long-term condition: what to track, what to ask and how to prepare for appointments. For information only, not medical advice.
- How to prepare for a doctor appointment when you have multiple symptomsChoose your top three concerns, write a short dated timeline of each, and ask for the next steps in writing.
- How to keep a medical history summary for multiple specialistsKeep a one-page summary with your diagnoses, medicines, allergies, key tests, main symptoms and current questions, and update it before each appointment.
- 10 questions to ask your doctor about a chronic illnessThe most useful questions cover what is known about your symptoms, what has been ruled out, what happens next, and who to contact between appointments.
- Chronic illness symptom diary: a free template to bring to your doctorThe simplest way to make symptoms hard to dismiss is one minute a day: score each symptom from 0 to 10, add one line about what happened, and fill in a short summary the night before an appointment.