How do I talk to my doctor? - Wolf & Brown Law Offices

By Michael J. Brown, Esq. †

In my last blog I wrote about the need to regularly see your family doctor. I would like to concentrate on how to get the most out of your family doctor visit. I have already mentioned that I hold family doctors in high esteem. They keep us healthy, and they get us to the appropriate people when we need more specialized care.

Despite what these doctors do for us, many folks, when visiting the family doctor, “freeze up”. They may have a list of topics in the mind about what they want to talk to their doctor about but then act like a “deer in the headlights” the moment that the doc comes into the examination room in the white lab coat. Indeed, the doctors call this “white coat syndrome” where a patient’s blood pressure will shoot sky-high when the doc walks into the room.

It might be better to think about the family doctor as a highly trained scientist. Which, if you think about it, they are highly trained scientists. They are scientists who happen to specialize in treating people. While family doctors would not be in the business if they did not care about their patients, they are in their hearts and souls’ scientists. They love to study and analyze problems and get to the bottom of things.

The best way to help your doc get to the bottom of whatever particular problem you are having, is to give them as much information as possible. For example, let’s assume you developed a pain in your stomach, and you called your doctor to review this. It may be helpful to your doctor for you to have some notes available for them that you have jotted down over the last couple of days as to when this pain happens. Are there particular foods that you have been eating that makes the pain better or worse? Does the pain get worse at night or when you are lying down or walking? Is there anything that makes the pain better?

If you come in armed with this information before the doctor asks these very obvious questions, you will have a better conversation than when you are trying to think about all the events over the last week or 10 days that caused you to come in. You may even be writing these things down as they happen which is going to be a great help to your doctor. This will assist him/her in coming up with a “differential diagnosis”. This is simply “doctorese” or saying or what could be causing the problem and that will dictate the treatment you receive. Now-A-Days, you don’t even have to put a pen to paper. Simply use the notebook on your smartphone.

Now is the time that you can get your doctor to show off. He/she may, for example, say they want you to have an ultrasound done, or a colonoscopy, endoscopy, or simply, an x-ray. Generally, the doctor will go from the simplest test to the more complex test while they go through the diagnostic regimen. Now you can begin to ask your doctor what they hope to find from the ultrasound. At what point does your doctor wish to have you see a gastroenterologist for that stomach problem to rule out other potential problems.

Often times the solution to whatever ails you is the simplest one. The more the patient understands the thought process of the family doctor and the more detailed information you can provide, the sooner you and the doctor come to a solution of the medical issue.

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As a partner at Wolf & Brown Law Offices, Attorney Michael J. Brown was passionate about providing his clients with expert representation and fighting for the benefits they deserve. Before Mr. Brown passed away in 2025, after a 30+ year career in disability law, he offered his valuable perspective on engaging with the Social Security Administration and navigating the often adversarial benefits claims process. Much of Mr. Brown’s advice can be applied to veterans facing similar challenges with the VA.