If you or someone that you love has just recently been given a medical diagnosis, you may find yourself feeling extremely overwhelmed. And while this is normal, there are things that you can do to help you better understand what’s going on and help you plan for the future, including educating yourself. However, since you or your loved one likely aren’t doctors yourselves, you might not know exactly how to get started.

To help you with this, here are three tips for educating yourself on a medical diagnosis. 

Learn Both About The Diagnosis And Advocating For Care

When getting a medical diagnosis, especially one that’s going to require a lot of care or a big change to your lifestyle, not only do you need to learn about what’s happening to your body or your mind, but you also need to learn how to be a patient advocate for yourself or your loved one. 

Navigating your way through doctor appointments and insurance problems can be a huge undertaking. So if you want to be able to speak intelligently with your care team and with other people managing your medical life, you’ll need to learn some tips and tricks on both the medical and the administrative side of things. 

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask Questions Of Your Care Team

Whenever you meet with your care team, you have the chance to talk to them about your specific medical diagnosis and how you should proceed. However, if you don’t take advantage of this time, it can be hard to get back in contact with them to get your questions answered in the timeframe that you want.

Knowing this, whenever you have a question that you need to speak with your doctor about, make sure you write this down and take it with you to your appointments. This way, you won’t have to try to rack your brain for what you wanted to ask them and take the risk of not remembering and getting the information that you need. 

Reach Out To Those In A Similar Boat

While it’s great to be able to speak with your care team about what’s going on with you specifically, being able to talk to others who are going through the same thing can also be illuminating.

To find these people, consider reaching out to support groups or online forums for people going through what you’re going through, be it a cancer diagnosis or having a parent move into an assisted living facility. The perspective and advice of people who’ve been there and are going through this same thing now can really give you some great ideas and insights.

If you’re needing to educate yourself on a recent medical diagnosis, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how to get started.