Working With Your Doctors

Good treatment depends on making sure that all of your doctors know about all of your health problems. Everyone you see for health care needs to know how you are being treated for each health problem you have.

Think of your doctors as your team. Tell each doctor that you expect him or her to talk with the other doctors about your care.

Learn more about:

• How to work with more than one doctor.
• How to make the most of your doctor visit. This includes forms you can use to prepare for your doctor visit.
• How to work closely with your doctor.
• How to get a second opinion.
• How to keep medical costs down.

Taking Care of Yourself

You can do a lot to help yourself. One of the most important things is to get support. This can be your partner, a family member, a close friend, or a group of people in the same situation you're in. These people can do a lot to make you feel better physically and emotionally.

You can also help yourself through lifestyle changes. Something as simple as eating healthy foods and staying active can help your overall health a lot.

Here are some ways to help yourself.

• Get support.
• Watch out for depression and anxiety.
• Eat right.
• Be active.
• Relieve and avoid stress.
• Deal with pain, if you have health problems that cause long-term pain.
• Get regular checkups(What is a PDF document?) from your doctor.

Another way you can help yourself is to keep a personal health record. This is a place where you keep all the information about your health, such as your medicines, past health problems, and allergies. This information can help your doctors. And it's valuable if you change doctors, move, get sick when you're away from home, or end up in an emergency room. If any of these things happen and you have your records, you may get treatment more quickly and your treatment will be safer.