Making doctor's appointments easier

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I tried to post this before and it wouldn't.

I'm not talking about any personal exams, just glands and things. That is why this isn't in the women's part of the forum. It applies to everyone.

They can cause anything from emotional exhaustion to a completel meltdown afterwards. I am usually calm there.

Anyway does anyone have any advice on making the appointments easier?

I don't suffer from extreme touch anxiety. I don't like people to touch me, but it's only truly bothersome or annoying to me when I'm in public and the touch is undetected before it occurs. To me a doctor's exam is just a bunch of annoying poking and prodding. It doesn't cause the same stress for me.

My wife has similar challenges to what you describe, and therefore uses female doctors exclusively. Perhaps there are even some who specialize in post-traumatic-stress exams?

Even though your aversion isn't PTSD-related, you may benefit from the same techniques employed by those types of doctors. If the challenges do happen to be rooted in a traumatic event, I'd recommend instead that you address the underlying cause rather than work-around the symptom.

If I go to the doc with anything remotely non simple, I write down what I want to say and hand it to doc when I go in.

Getting home is usually an emotional wipe out, but having established control of basic patient/doctor comms, things are a bit easier.

and if you use the write down method, which I myself have used and sometimes still use,

keep it brief bullet points, really just phrases.

And doctors tend to have patience for a maximum of three things, unless maybe if you have a real complicated case

And I would also be interested if people have had success by making appointments online.

Changing to another doctor isn't an option (insurrance, tried the others and while one is ok, the others I don't like.) but looking into PTSD techniques might be good. I don't have my problems from anything that has happened.

I just can't handle any touch in certain tests. And these tests are not as invasive as some. But they do send me into meltdowns. Need to find a way to not have the meltdowns and to figure out what to do if I end up needing any tests I can't emotionally handle.

So often I would choose physical pain over the emotional depression the tests can cause.

I don't show my doctor my list that I write but I do type it and memorize it and it is the last thing I read before seeing him.

Thanks.

Changing to another doctor isn't an option (insurrance, tried the others and while one is ok, the others I don't like.) but looking into PTSD techniques might be good. I don't have my problems from anything that has happened.

I just can't handle any touch in certain tests. And these tests are not as invasive as some. But they do send me into meltdowns. Need to find a way to not have the meltdowns and to figure out what to do if I end up needing any tests I can't emotionally handle.

So often I would choose physical pain over the emotional depression the tests can cause.

I don't show my doctor my list that I write but I do type it and memorize it and it is the last thing I read before seeing him.

Thanks.