November 9, 2024
Patient Tips: Healthcare Provider Appointments for Long COVID

List Your Healthcare Providers

  • Prepare a list of your current and past healthcare providers and your current and past medical conditions, especially if you are seeing a new healthcare provider.

Write Down Your History

  • Prepare a brief history that summarizes your experience with COVID-19 and post-COVID conditions. For example, write down a list of the symptoms you think started after your COVID-19 infection, and include this information:
    • The date your original COVID-19 illness started and/or you got a positive COVID-19 test, if known
    • When your Long COVID symptoms started
    • A list of prior treatments and diagnostic tests related to your Long COVID symptoms (blood work, x-rays, etc.)
    • What makes your symptoms worse
    • How the symptoms affect your activities, including challenges that affect daily living, working, attending school, etc.
    • How often symptoms occur
    • How you have been feeling
    • A description of some of your best and worst days

Select your most important issues (sometimes referred to as “chief complaints”) and write them down.

List Your Medications

  • Prepare a list of medications and supplements you are taking, including dose and frequency. Most healthcare providers will ask you to provide this information at each appointment. Bringing your list or the medication containers with you will help keep track.

Talk with a Family Member or Friend

  • Consider discussing your appointment with a trusted family member or friend immediately before and after you see your healthcare provider. This person can help you take notes and remember what was discussed at the appointment while it’s still fresh in your mind. If your healthcare provider’s office policy allows it, consider bringing them to your appointment with you.

What to Expect

The provider you meet with could be a doctor, nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or other type of healthcare professional. It may take more than one appointment to evaluate potential Long COVID symptoms and determine a helpful diagnosis to better manage and treat your symptoms. Your provider may ask questions about your medical history, current symptoms, and quality of life. Depending on your symptoms, they may run or order tests to determine a diagnosis and plan for treatment.

Healthcare providers are still learning about Long COVID. CDC continues to work to determine how common these long-term effects are, who is most likely to get them, how long the symptoms typically last, and whether symptoms eventually go away.

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