Visit Planner
Time is always short at Doctor’s appointments, so you can use the Visit Planner to help you prepare for them. This tool will be very useful in gathering all the relevant information beforehand, such as the family history of food allergies, medications, treatments and infections.
How to prepare?
When visiting your doctor make sure you have:
- Family history on medical conditions including allergies
- A description of your child’s food history
- A list of symptoms your child has shown, even if you are not sure whether they are related or not
- A list of all previous infections and diseases
- A list of all medications, vitamins and supplements if any
- A list of questions you want to ask
It can also be very helpful to take along a member of the family or a friend. They can help you to remember something that you may have missed or forgotten or to look after your child while you are speaking to the doctor.Preparing a list of questions will make sure you make the most of the time available. Here are some questions you might want to ask:
- What kinds of tests does my child need?
- What types of treatment are available and which do you recommend?
- Are there any alternative treatments?
- Do I need to see a specialist? What will that cost, and will my health insurance cover this?
- Is my child likely to grow out of his or her allergy?
What to expect?
What you should expect from your doctor if he/she suspects that your child might have an allergy to one or more foods:
- Blood or skin tests that may be performed
- You should be given some information about food allergies, including the type of allergy suspected and the risk of your child having a severe allergic reaction
- Contact details of a dietitian if you are breastfeeding and advised to start an elimination diet
- What type of replacement formula you could use for your formula-fed infant
- Suggestions for milk substitutes for your toddler
When visiting for a follow-up, please make sure:
- To review any issues talked about on the first visit
- Your doctor should clearly set next steps so you can proactively follow up
- All your questions and information that you prepared should be discussed
- Always ask in case of doubts or remaining open questions
Tools to share
Please select what information you would like to be included in your visit planner. After you click submit a new browser window will open and display your personal summary page. You can save this page or download it as a PDF document. It is easy to recreate your summary page - simply use the code shown at the top of your summary page.
Do you want to include information from your symptom checklist and your online diary? Please login first. If you don't have a login you can easily sign up.