I can tell you for sure more people feel concerned rather than excited to visit the doctor. Some patients get anxious if not terrified of medical offices. All that being said, there are simple tips which can help you approach your doctor with confidence; no liquid courage required.
Just like how we can be vulnerable during intimacy, discussing sensitive items with the doctor, to no one’s surprise, makes for a lot of apprehension and worry. In the exam room, there are a zillion things you don’t want to hear from the doctor that can stress you out. To name a few big ones, you might be worried about what you’ll be diagnosed with, if you need to be pricked with a needle, or if you need to go through a challenging treatment plan. For many patients, hearing bad medical news or having an awful experience at the clinic tilts their opinion of healthcare professionals drastically. From my own experience seeing physicians and also helping patients at my clinic, I believe the worst thing patients can feel is the doctor criticizing them for having a bad medical situation in the first place. Although I’m glad this doesn’t happen at my own workplace, other providers who victimize patients create unreal anxiety. Unfortunately, some doctors like that do exist. However, let me say one thing before you curl into a ball or stick your head in the sand: just like in entrepreneurship and other parts of life, it’s a bigger risk to do nothing about discussing your health for the sake of dignity rather than be a little open about your well-being. As a little kid growing up with asthma, I used to keep my mouth shut when my doctor would ask me if I had that issue because I felt that if I didn’t reveal my weakness or worries about my weakness, I could make myself feel better. As a result I didn’t comply with the care I needed back then and things were much harder than necessary. I’ve learned it’s actually better to manage your fears rather than manhandle them. That’s why, right now, we’ll cover straightforward tips on mitigating worries from seeing the doctor. I’ll also link helpful resources from Mt. Sinai’s and the Nemours’ children’s health systems that give a little more detail on ways for patients to deal with medical anxiety. You’ll find these links, among others, on my post at rushinagalla.substack.com.
If nothing else, you should know that you’re not the only person on planet earth who fears the doctor. Just because you see other people on Instagram or Snapchat living their seemingly perfect lives doesn’t mean they’re unafraid of needles or tough medical news. Everyone deals with their own struggle behind the scenes. A clear sign of medical anxiety no matter what your background is happens when you’re constantly rescheduling appointments better than procrastinating your regular work. Before even going to the clinic, acknowledging out loud that you are worried about the medical visit is the first step to self-compassion in having a better experience with a doctor. Voice to another family member or yourself that you’re having this nervousness. Just like how you should have your visit goals in mind before reaching the clinic as we talked about in previous episodes, you can briefly rehearse the sensitive topics you’re planning to cover. You could also hand your doctor some pre-written notes to go over so you don’t need to bring up sensitive issues from scratch.
Taking either of these steps keeps you from holding all the emotions and history so tight that you forget how to talk with another human being let alone your doctor. Here’s another thing to consider from the professional’s side of the exam table: good physicians are trained to discuss hard and uncomfortable matters besides solving health issues, while having more incentives to help you rather than judge you. If you close yourself up like a clam, the doctor would find it hard to get the additional bits of medical and social detail he or she needs to make the best treatment plan. Imagine your doctor totally missing something important like a smoking habit, rapid change in weight, or a new medication you take because you were too worried to say anything.
Vocalizing your worries ahead of time lets you summon a little bravery in the exam room to open up the conversation more. The next couple tools we have to deal with medical anxiety, funny enough, come from how we navigate our children’s healthcare experiences. Adolescents have their fair share of emotional and physical changes making them nervous at the clinic, but medical anxiety tips for teens and young ones can also make sense for adults. Along those lines, a nice way handle medical office fear is to bring a trusted friend or family member with you to the visit for moral support. It also doesn’t hurt to ask the medical office ahead of time if you should expect any tests or procedures at the visit. If you know what’s coming and have someone by your side, your medical care, among other parts of your life, changes for the better. All of that should be no surprise, but nervousness has a way of making us forget what we need to remember. Building trust with your doctors is critical for anyone but when you’re young, that is a golden opportunity to be open with medical professionals, which then sets you up for better care in the future. The bottom line here is expressing that you want to take charge of your care while admitting your nervousness. That is music to the doctor’s ears because the conversation then gets personalized for addressing your needs and worries. Even though it’s better to do these things when you have your first medical visit experiences as a little human, it’s never too late for owning up to your healthcare as a bigger human.
Now you should be well-armed to handle anxieties at the clinic that are within your control. On another note, you might be walking out of the office feeling good about your treatment plan so far, but then you notice that your medications have a limited supply and the instructions are written in that classic doctor and pharmacy gibberish, pushing your stress levels back up again. For the next topic, we’ll unpack how to deal with the confusing world of prescription refills. Stay tuned and subscribe to Friendly Neighborhood Patient for more American healthcare know-how. I’ll catch you at the next episode.
