I absolutely love seeing clients at their follow-up appointments. We get to come back to the things they wanted to discuss at the beginning and ask a very simple question: how have things been?
Sometimes people have lots to tell me. Sometimes they need a little reminder of what was bothering them when we first met. That’s why I like to write things down.
You don’t need a complicated tracking app or a spreadsheet. A few useful notes can be enough to give the conversation a clearer starting point.
Make your notes specific
“Feeling tired” is useful to know. But “I felt tired after lunch on three days this week” gives you something more definite to talk about.
You could make a note of what you noticed, roughly when it happened and whether it affected what you were doing. The aim isn’t to monitor every minute of your day. It’s to save you having to reconstruct the last few weeks from memory.
Choose the things that matter most to you. If your main concern is sleep, you might note when you went to bed, whether you woke during the night and how you felt the next day.
Include the everyday details
A change in routine is worth mentioning too. Perhaps you’ve been travelling, working different hours or having a particularly stressful week.
Those details don’t automatically explain a symptom, but they give the conversation context. So do changes to medicines or supplements, which you should discuss with the relevant healthcare professional.
Try to record what happened rather than deciding straight away why it happened. “I felt bloated after lunch” is an observation. “That ingredient is definitely the cause” is a conclusion that may need proper assessment.
Food notes aren’t a diagnosis
If digestive symptoms are part of the picture, a food and symptom diary may help a healthcare professional assess patterns. The NHS includes this among the approaches used when looking into possible food intolerance. It also advises against cutting foods out without advice from a GP or dietitian. NHS: food intolerance.
A diary gives you information to discuss. It doesn’t prove an intolerance, and a single uncomfortable afternoon isn’t a reason to remove a whole food group.
Tell me about the things that haven’t changed
A follow-up isn’t an exam, and you haven’t failed if you’re still struggling.
If something hasn’t helped, was hard to manage or didn’t fit into everyday life, say so. That’s just as important as talking about something that feels better.
Similarly, feeling better after making several changes doesn’t tell us which change caused it. I want us to keep the conversation encouraging and realistic.
Bring your questions
Before your next visit, look back at your notes and pick out the questions you’d most like to discuss. What is clearer now? What are you still unsure about?
And don’t wait for a routine follow-up if symptoms are worsening or you’re concerned. Speak to your GP about symptoms that need medical assessment.
Bring the honest version of how things have been. That’s the version we can have a useful conversation about.
If you’d like to know more about me, you can read about my background and experience.