Questions you could ask
Here are some examples of questions you could ask your GP during an appointment to talk about your treatments and care.
Lifestyle and support
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These are the things that really bother me about my health and treatments. Can we discuss them please and think about what we might do about them?
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I don't feel I'm making progress with my health problems. Is there anything else that might help? Or do I need to see a different specialist service?
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What can I do to stay as independent as possible?
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Where can I get reliable information about help and support?
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How can I involve my family in discussions about my care?
Medicines
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Do I really have to take all these tablets? Can we look at whether I could stop taking any of them?
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I'm not sure what some of my medicines do? Can we talk about what they're for and agree whether I need to carry on with them?
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Can you tell me about preventive medicines? What are they? Am I taking any? If so, are they likely to be helping me? Are there any I could stop? Are there any I should think about starting?
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Are there any other medicines that might help with my problems?
Decisions about treatments
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What information do you have to help me make decisions about treatments?
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Can you explain benefits and risks to me, please? What might they mean for me?
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Can I stop any treatments if I want to?
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Can I try changing medicines and change back again if I want to?
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I'm having some symptoms which I had not expected. For example, I have pain in my joints/muscle cramps/dry eyes/loss of appetite/loss of interest in sex/problems sleeping [or another problem not mentioned here]. Could these be anything to do with my treatments? What can we do about this?
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I know I need some of my medicines to keep me alive. But I feel so tired all the time and I'm sleeping so much in the day. If I cut back on some of my treatments, would this improve how I feel and by how much? Would it shorten my life and if so, by how much?