Before your first appointment
When you schedule your initial office visit you will be sent a New Patient Packet which includes health history forms and other information that we need to start treatment. You will also be asked to gather together any lab work and medical reports that you have in your possession along with any medications, herbs and nutritional supplements that you are currently taking so that you can bring these in with you to your first appointment. If you don’t have copies of medical records, don’t worry, we can always obtain them later or order new tests during your first visit.
Your first visit
Initial visits last about one and a half hours.
During the visit your doctor will:
- Take an initial health history and inventory of your current symptoms
- Review any past medical and lab reports that you are able to bring
- Review prescription medications and any nutritional supplements that you are currently taking
- Perform physical exams as necessary
- Discuss their impressions with you and recommend additional lab work if necessary
- Provide initial lifestyle and treatment recommendations and discuss their rationale
- Answer any questions you may have
Our goals for the first office visit are:
- To get to know you and to begin to understand your health challenges
- To begin to identify the underlying causes of your health challenges
- To learn about your health goals and what you hope to get out of treatment
- To create a partnership with you in achieving the health you really want
Follow up visits
Follow up visits generally last between 30 and 60 minutes depending on the severity and complexity of your case, and are most often scheduled 3 to 4 weeks apart at the beginning of treatment. During follow up visits your doctor will assess progress since your last appointment, address any new symptoms that may emerge, perform physical exams when indicated, help you address any difficulties you may be having in carrying out the treatment plan and adjust or change therapies as needed to keep you moving towards optimum health.
The larger view
As patients progress through their full course of treatment they tend to pass through a series of phases, beginning with improvements in the specific symptoms they came to see us for, then improvements in more general health parameters such as energy, sleep, overall wellbeing and enjoyment of life. Over time, patients gain greater confidence and independence in improving and managing their own health.