We all know the feeling- you walk into your doctors office with so many things you want to talk about but you end up answer the questions, filling out forms, getting tour height and weight checked, and leaving feeling like you did not get what you need. 

I did this for a decade. I never asked my doctor or GYNO about my heavy periods. I never told them about the cramps that would put me on the floor. I never shared with them the information I was tracking in my apps. Why not? I was scared, confused, and some months my symptoms went away and I believed I was magically healed! So don't make the mistakes I did. Use these methods as a way to have a REAL conversation about your reproductive health with your GYNO.

1. Come prepared. Take notes on your cycle, and not just your period. Do you get extreme PMS the week before? Depression and suicidal thoughts around your period? Those symptoms can and should be tracked in apps like apple health, or your favorite cycle tracking app!

2. Do your research. Web MD can be scary, but if you are having symptoms- you should look at the symptoms not as a way to diagnose yourself, but as a way to have a list of things you can talk to your doctor about. The more knowledge you have, the more respect doctor tends to treat you with (sad but true).

3. Ask for a pelvic scan. I just had my first done and I do not even remember how I thought of it- but right as I was telling my doctor my symptoms I asked her to put in an order for a scan. We found a cyst, which is medium, and now I can move forward. All of the times I have gone to the doctor I have never been offered one. Advocating for my own health was the only way.