What can I do to prepare for a visit to the cardiologist?

Certainly a list of medications and their doses (including over the counter remedies that you use) will be helpful to your doctors, as will be a list of medications that you haven’t tolerated for one reason or another.

Being prepared with all of the answers to the doctor’s questions, you will be able to obtain more of the answers to questions that you might otherwise forget to ask.

Don’t be afraid to write them down and bring them with you. Some of these questions might be:

1. What is the diagnosis, what does it mean?

2. How much will this alter my life?

3. How often does it require follow-up, and by whom?

4. What is the long-term prognosis?

5. Is there anything that I can do to reduce my own symptoms or problems?

6. Will these results be communicated to my primary care physician?

7. What signs or symptoms should I be concerned enough to call about?

8. Are there any reliable sources for me to get more information about this problem?