Decide what to discuss, and put it first
Make a list of what you want to discuss before the visit. If the list runs past a few items, put them in order and ask about the most important ones first. The National Institute on Aging makes the same point about the end of an appointment: do not hold back the thing that is really on your mind until then.
Your top three questions
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality asks one question directly in its Be More Engaged in Your Healthcare sheet: what are the top three questions you want to be sure to ask during your appointment? Write the three down before the visit, and ask them first.
Your top three questions
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Three blank lines to write on, on paper. This page has no box to type in and stores nothing.
The doctor visit checklist has the same three lines, on a page you can print and fill in by hand.
Write down your symptoms, briefly
The National Institute on Aging lists what a doctor usually asks about a symptom: when it started, what time of day it happens, how long it lasts, how often it occurs, whether it has been getting better or worse, and whether it keeps you from going out or doing your usual activities.
Those are the answers worth having written down before you go. A few words each is enough. The same page suggests asking yourself whether anything you do makes a symptom better or worse, and which daily activities it affects.
Clear and concise
That phrase is the NIA’s own instruction for describing a symptom. A few words per answer is the shape of it: “worse every afternoon since June, stops me doing the stairs.”
Bring every medicine and supplement, with its dose
Both sources say the same thing here, and they mean everything, not only prescriptions. AHRQ lists prescription medicines, non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and dietary or herbal supplements. The National Institute on Aging adds eye drops and laxatives to that list, and says to tell the doctor how often you take each one.
Bring a written list with the dose of each and how often you take it. The NIA notes that some doctors would rather you put the containers themselves in a bag and bring those.
This page does not say what to take, stop or change. Nothing here is a recommendation about any medicine or supplement.
Bring records your doctor does not already have
The NIA says to take your medical records with you if the doctor does not already have them. AHRQ adds knowing your current medical conditions, your past surgeries and your past illnesses before you go. If a record is held by a doctor you no longer see, the NIA says to give the new doctor that doctor’s name and address, so the record can be requested.
A support person can come with you
The NIA says it is sometimes helpful to bring a family member or a close friend. They can remind you what you planned to discuss if you forget, take notes, and help you remember what the doctor said afterwards. Tell them in advance what you want from the visit.
The same page is clear about the limit: the visit is between you and the doctor, and you may want part of it alone. Your companion can wait outside for that part.
Before you leave, write down what happens next
AHRQ puts this in two places: during the visit, find out what to do next and ask for written instructions; after it, call the office to find out any test results and ask what you should do about them, and make any follow-up appointment you need.
It also says to ask questions until you understand the answers, and to say so if you are worried about being able to follow the instructions you are given.
Three things are worth having in writing before you stand up: what happens next, how and when you will get any results, and what the follow-up is.
A one-page sheet to print
The doctor visit checklist is this page as one sheet of paper: the same before, during and before you leave, with blank lines for your three questions, your medicines and their doses, your symptom summary, your records, your support person, and what you are told. It works on its own and needs no app.
If you want this on a phone instead
Tend is our iPhone and iPad journal for living with fibromyalgia. It keeps a daily check-in, medications, labs, visits and questions in one place, and makes a printable letter to bring to an appointment. Tend on the App Store. The sheet above does not need it.
What this page can and cannot tell you
It can tell you what to gather before an appointment and in what order to use it, as two public agencies describe it. That is all it is: an order of operations for a visit.
The three sources are general appointment guidance. None of them is about fibromyalgia, and this page does not claim they are. What makes them worth a page here is that appointment time is short, and all three say the same thing about it: decide in advance, and write it down.
- Not what to ask for. It does not name a test, a scan, a referral, a treatment, a medicine or a supplement to request.
- Not what your symptoms mean. It does not interpret anything you write down, and it does not say whether anything is urgent.
- Not a promise about the visit. It does not say that preparing will change what your doctor says, decides or finds.
- Not a way to choose a doctor. It does not rate, rank or vet anyone.
Sources and corrections
Every factual statement above paraphrases one of these three pages, each checked on September 17, 2026. Citing them does not mean the National Institute on Aging or the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewed or endorsed this page, Tend, or Off Script Foundry, Inc..
- National Institute on Aging, How To Prepare for a Doctor’s Appointment. Content reviewed February 3, 2020.
- National Institute on Aging, What Do I Need to Tell the Doctor? Content reviewed February 3, 2020.
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Be More Engaged in Your Healthcare. Page last reviewed November 2024.
No clinician has reviewed this page. To report a mistake in it, email contact@offscriptfoundry.com, and the editorial policy says what happens next.