How to prepare for a POTS doctor appointment
Prepare for a POTS or dysautonomia appointment by bringing three things: a one-page summary of what you have tracked since the last visit, a current list of medications and supplements, and your two or three most important questions written down. Everything else is supporting material you offer only if asked.
What to bring
Assume the appointment is shorter than you would like and that nobody will read a long document during it. Prepare accordingly.
- A one-page summary of the period since your last visit, on paper as well as on your phone.
- Your medication and supplement list, current as of that morning.
- Any home measurements your clinician asked you to collect, exactly as recorded.
- Your questions, ordered so the most important one is first.
- Recent letters, results, or test reports from other clinicians, if this one may not have them.
- Someone with you, if you can, to take notes while you talk.
Build a one-page summary
The summary should answer, in under a minute of reading, what has happened since the last visit and what has changed. Keep it factual and let the clinician draw the conclusions.
| Section | What to include | Keep it to |
|---|---|---|
| Period covered | Dates since the last visit and how many days you logged | One line |
| Main symptoms | The two or three that occurred most often, and how often | Two or three lines |
| Direction of change | Better, worse, or unchanged overall, and since when | One line |
| Home measurements | The readings you were asked to take, unedited | A short table |
| Notable days | Worst days and what surrounded them | Two or three lines |
| What changed | New medication, dose change, illness, travel, heat | A short list |
| Function | What you can and cannot do now compared with before | Two lines |
| Questions | Your top questions, numbered | Three at most |
If you track in an app, export the report rather than retyping it. Upright generates this kind of summary as a PDF on your phone from your standing tests, intake, symptoms, and medications.
How to describe symptoms so they land
Specific beats dramatic. Frequency, duration, and what the symptom stops you doing carry more clinical information than intensity adjectives do.
Compare "I get dizzy all the time" with "lightheaded within a minute or two of standing, most mornings, enough that I hold onto something; it eased over the last fortnight". The second gives timing, trigger, severity in functional terms, and a trend. Do the same for the others: when it started, how often, how long it lasts, what brings it on, what makes it settle, and what you have stopped doing because of it.
Mention what has improved as well. A clinician judging whether a change is working needs both directions, and only reporting the bad days makes the picture harder to read, not more urgent.
Get the medication list right
List everything you take, including over-the-counter products, supplements, and anything prescribed by another clinician. Write the name, the form, when you take it, and how long you have been on it — copied from the labels rather than from memory.
Flag adherence honestly. If you have been missing doses, say so and say why: a treatment that looks ineffective and one that is not being taken need very different responses, and only you can tell them apart. Note anything you started or stopped since the last visit, and any side effect you suspect, without deciding in advance whether it is related.
Questions worth asking
Pick two or three and write them down; the rest can wait for a follow-up or a message. Useful ones tend to be about direction rather than reassurance.
- What are we trying to change first, and how will we know if it is working?
- How long should we give this before deciding?
- What should I be tracking between now and the next visit?
- What would count as a reason to contact you sooner?
- Is anything on my list worth reviewing or stopping?
After the appointment
Write down what was decided before you leave the building — the plan, what to watch for, and when to come back. Memory of a short, stressful conversation is unreliable, and the note is what your tracking should be aimed at for the next period.
If something was not covered, put it at the top of the list for next time rather than trying to add it by message. Then start the next summary on the same day: the period you are about to log is the one your clinician will ask about.
See also how to keep a POTS symptom diary and POTS triggers and flares: what to log.
Track it in Upright
Upright keeps your symptom log, standing tests, intake, and medications in one private, local-first app and exports a doctor-ready PDF. Learn more about Upright.