Before you go: how to prepare for a doctor’s appointment

Part 1 of 3: Be Heard with Dr. Charis Chambers

Top things to know:

• According to OB/GYN Dr. Charis Chambers, the biggest mistake she sees is people arriving at their appointment relying only on their memory

• Doctors base many of their decisions on the story you share: your cycle history, your symptoms, and when they started

• Appointments are often short, so organized information helps your doctor get to the right questions faster and helps you leave feeling heard

• Clue’s Doctor’s Report puts your history on paper, with a summary of your cycle history and symptom patterns from your last six completed cycles

Why does preparing for your doctor's appointment matter?

Preparing for your appointment helps you share the details that matter most, even when time is short.

By the time you’re in a doctor’s office, the appointment is usually "step 10, not step one," says Dr. Chambers. 

You may have spent months wondering whether what you’re experiencing is "normal," or even worth getting checked. So, making the appointment is a big deal, and you should be proud of that.

Your doctor wants to help you. But so much of what they decide comes from your story, and the appointment time is often short. Relying on memory alone makes it easy to forget the details that matter most.

What should you bring to your appointment?

Bring a clear record of your cycle and symptoms. Dr. Chambers calls getting your history down on paper the first step of self-advocacy. That way, you don’t have to describe your pain from memory or remember your bleeding by "what outfit you were wearing."

Organized information helps your doctor ask the right questions sooner, so you can leave feeling heard.

It also helps to bring a list of any medications you take and the questions you want to ask.

What’s in Clue’s Doctor’s Report?

The Doctor’s Report is a PDF summary of your last six completed cycles. It includes:

• Your cycle and period history

• Your cycle statistics

• A graph of your tracking data

• Optional details you choose to add, such as your age, health conditions, medications, and birth control

The graph is a heatmap that shows when symptoms and other experiences tend to happen in your cycle. The numbers show how often you tracked each one on each cycle day, across six cycles. Your period always appears at the top, followed by everything else from most to least tracked.

Some data isn’t included in the graph, such as anything tracked fewer than three times, daily notes, temperature, and weight.

Walk in with data, not doubt

Create your Doctor’s Report in the Clue app. Clue Plus members get it at no extra cost, and anyone else can get it with a one-time purchase. The Doctor’s Report is currently only available when your Clue app is set to English.

Up next → In the room: what to say if your doctor says your pain is "normal."