5. Make yourself a partner in the decision-making process.

Ultimately, your doctor is the one who underwent four years of undergraduate school, four years of medical school, and a residency that lasted somewhere between three and eight years - and that education, combined with the experiences learned on the job, are going to make him or her the expert on the subject of how to handle your care. Still, you can work with your doctor on devising a strategy to eliminate or confirm some of the potential diagnoses. You can help keep track of symptoms, logging onsets or triggers, and pay particular attention to specific symptoms that may be less obvious than the ones for which you sought out medical attention. By partnering with your doctor, you can arrive at a working diagnosis far more efficiently.

6. Apply tests rationally.

As you go through the tests to eliminate or confirm various diagnoses, don’t be afraid to ask questions and research the benefit of each test yourself. If you are asked to undergo expensive or invasive tests, you should ask for clarification until you have an understanding of how a particular test will help narrow down your differential diagnosis, as well knowing the risks associated with each procedure. Find out if there are alternatives, and ask what the benefits of each are.

7. Use common sense.

You should never leave a doctor’s office with a diagnosis that doesn’t make sense to you. Instead of assuming that the doctor must be right, consider the diagnosis you’ve been given (or lack thereof), and familiarize yourself enough with that disorder to either feel comfortable with your diagnosis or to seek out a second opinion. If the picture doesn’t add up for you, go back to the drawing board. You know your body better than anyone else - and you need to paint a clear, complete picture for an expert to come to a conclusion about what’s ailing you.