Describe Medical Symptoms to

Your Doctor
 You know your own body and mind

When it comes to describing medical symptoms – from sharp chest pains to sudden
mood swings – as the patient, you’re the go-to member for the entire health care team.
Unlike signs picked up on physical exams or laboratory results, symptoms are what
you experience firsthand and concern you enough to seek health care in the first place. And
now, with the growing presence of telemedicine, your role in conveying symptoms during
virtual office visits is more important than ever.
By explaining symptoms clearly, you help your doctor make the right diagnosis and
develop the best treatment plan. So when it comes to describing symptoms, don’t be shy – dive
right in and go into detail. These tips can make it easier.
Speak in your own words
You don't need a medical degree to
hold a conversation with a doctor. Skip the
jargon and use your own words, speaking in Use analogies
normal language with everyday terms.
Presenting a symptom with a
Patients needn’t try to sound like strong analogy can be a good way to go.
physicians, says Dr. Michael Klinkman, a
professor of family medicine at the “When patients say something
University of Michigan Health System. “They like, ‘I’m having this headache, and it feels
just need to sound like people," he says. "‘My like a hammer going off and beating on the
stomach hurts, and it’s really bad and I’m one side of my skull,’ I remember that
worried about it.’ Now, that’s a place to start description vividly,” Klinkman says. “In one
from." sentence, it tells me that it’s unilateral – on
one side of the head – and it’s a throbbing,
pounding headache; it might wind up being
a cluster headache, just because of that
description.”
Draw attention to key symptoms
Let your doctor know how much
a particular symptom matters to you. For
instance, if you're rapidly losing weight
without trying to and anxious about what
this could mean, say so. Talk in terms of function
Drill down on broad symptoms, like
Attention-grabbing phrases
fatigue, whenever you can. Terms like fatigue "can
include: “I’m worried about this” or, “This
often be challenging for doctors since the list of
is concerning to me,” Klinkman says. possible causes can be very long," Ravindra says.
“After you’ve said the two or three things "It’s often helpful for patients to talk more in
that are really most important, then you terms of function." For example, she says:
might want to ask your doctor something
like, ‘Does that make sense to you?’ or get
him to engage back with you.” A patient who feels fatigued used to be
able to walk around the block, but now gets too
winded. That description may lead the doctor to
look into an underlying heart or lung issue.
In contrast, another patient who feels
fatigued has been taking naps frequently and has
headaches in the morning. That may lead the
doctor to look into a sleep disorder, like sleep
apnea.
 Give context
Let your doctor know about circumstances related to your symptoms. "One of the first things we
are taught in medical school is how to take a 'history' from a patient," Ravindra says. "This is an interview
technique to gain as much knowledge as possible about a specific concern and is important for both primary
care physicians and specialists."
Having knee pain, for example? Here's basic information to offer:

• Location. Is it the right or left knee? In the front or back of the knee?
• Onset. When did the pain start? Was it constant or intermittent, gradual or sudden? Did it start after
exercise or a fall? How long ago?
• Duration. Does the symptom resolve or is it ongoing? If it does resolve, how long does the symptom
last before resolving?
• Character. What’s the pain like? Is it dull, sharp, burning or do you feel other sensations?
• Radiation. Does the pain spread anywhere else, like to your ankle or hip?
• Associations. Is there anything else associated with the pain like swelling or redness?
• Aggravating/alleviating factors. Does anything make it better or worse? Does it get worse with going
up or down stairs, for instance? Does ice help?
• Severity. How severe is the pain on a scale of 1 to 10?
 Keep a log or journal

For vague symptoms, such as dizziness or nausea, Ravindra sometimes asks her
patients to keep a symptom journal after meeting with them. "This can help keep track of when
a particular symptom arises and the surrounding circumstances, which can help patients
become more in tune with what is happening with their bodies," she says. "For example, does
nausea always occur after eating a large meal or on Sunday nights before a big work meeting?"
Someone with a condition like fibromyalgia, for example, could go onto the ACPA
site to maintain an interactive pain log. While the log includes the standard pain scale, it goes
much further, allowing patients to concisely self-assess measures such as stress, exercise,
sleep, fear of the pain, mood and isolation. Patients can then share these logs with their health
team, which can help shed light on trends and pinpoint triggers.
 Help doctors connect the dots
When you give health care providers a good rundown of your symptoms, it can help them
make important connections, Klinkman says.
“When we hear something like ‘I’m having these abdominal pains, and they come on when
I’m stressed, and they bother me every day with no specific pattern,’ we can see pretty quickly that it
doesn’t sound like the common medical causes for abdominal pain. It doesn’t sound like an ulcer or
gallbladder disease,” or other causes, Klinkman says. “But it may be that somebody’s expressing
their anxiety or distress through more somatic or body-focused symptoms.”
Also, be aware that your provider will often ask follow up or clarifying questions.
Sometimes these may seem personal – such as ‘could you be pregnant?’ or ‘do you use any
substances?’ – and seem odd or irrelevant to you. But these questions aren't meant to be judgmental.
Rather, they’re the provider’s way of trying to narrow down what could be causing your symptoms.
Throughout the whole interaction, remember that your symptom description represents
crucial data. "As advanced as our testing is now, most diagnoses still occur in the exam room after
talking to and examining a patient," Ravindra says. "Patient’s descriptions often hold the key to
accurate diagnosis."
Fill in your family history
Cancer, heart disease,
mental health conditions and many other
diagnoses may have a genetic component that can
affect your risk. Fill out the family history item on
the office's intake form but also speak up during
the visit discussion. Tips for describing your medical symptoms

Narrate symptoms clearly and completely to help

"Patients sometimes overlook how doctors pinpoint your medical issues:
important relevant facts from the past may be,"
Ravindra says. "For example, if a 40-year-old • Speak in your own words.
patient sees me for chest pain, I may be more
• Be precise.
concerned for a heart condition and send them for
urgent testing if their mother or father had a heart • Use analogies.
attack in their 40s." • Have basic medical tools at home.

Your input is valuable. "With the rapid • Prep for your visit.
expansion of telemedicine since the start of the • Draw attention to key symptoms.
COVID-19 pandemic, we rely even more on • Talk in terms of function.
patients' descriptions of symptoms since the
• Give context.
ability to examine patients virtually is very
limited," she says. • Keep a log or journal.
• Fill in your family history.
• Help doctors connect the dots.
Source :
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ce/slideshows/how-to-describe-medical-symptoms