<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>beautifulsoul</b></i>
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>I believe it's You help me (patients giving doctor info. symptoms etc.), I help you (doctor analyze's, researches, treats symptoms etc.) sort of thing. I think it's pretty important to want to help yourself before you expect anyone else to help you. Self confidence and faith is a big issue in my opinion. I know, that may be especially hard for teenagers with CF. </end quote><br><br>You make a good point. I think there's a good bit of "white coat syndrome" where people feel intimidated and clam up for fear of saying something that sounds dumb. And every once in awhile you might, but believe me, the docs have heard worse. <br><br>The physical exam and labs are only about 25% of the diagnosis, the majority of the diagnosis comes from what you, the patient, tells the health care professional. We then come up with what's called a differential diagnosis, meaning: Here's a list of things that could be wrong based on what you told us. Then an exam is done as well as diagnostic tests to try and rule out those conditions. If one or more remains that cannot be ruled out, it's treated. If one never mentions anything, then there's no differential diagnosis and you have to hope something shows in routine labs or exams. <br>