Preparing for your first GLP-1 consultation

Bring the details your prescriber needs

Make an up-to-date list of medicines, supplements and allergies. Include anything supplied privately or bought online. Note any past weight-management medicine, the highest dose you reached, when you stopped, what helped and which side effects bothered you. If your records have gaps, say so. Do not guess.

Relevant history includes diabetes, digestive disease, pancreatitis, gallbladder problems, kidney disease, eye disease, eating disorders and planned surgery. Discuss pregnancy plans and contraception where they apply. Treat this list as examples of what a prescriber may ask about. You are not expected to screen yourself.

Describe the change you want

"I want to walk to the shops in comfort" tells a clinician more than a target weight alone. Other goals include better glucose control, fewer weight-related symptoms or support for a longer-term health plan. Describe what you have tried before without labelling each attempt a success or a failure.

Tell the clinician what might make treatment hard. Shift work, caring duties, a fear of needles, trouble swallowing, a tight food budget and worry about ongoing cost all count. A plan has to fit ordinary life. These details affect whether a tablet or an injection suits you better, and how much support you need.

Questions for the first month and after

Then look further ahead. Ask how reviews work, whether you need any tests, how dose decisions are made and what the longer-term plan involves. A provider should explain its maintenance and stopping process now, even though the final decision will depend on your response.

Get a written plan you can find again

A written summary should name the prescriber responsible, the medicine, the dose, the review date and how to make contact. Keep the patient information leaflet. If the prescription differs from what you discussed, sort it out before you take anything. A dispensing label does not settle a contradictory instruction.

If the service declines to prescribe, ask for the clinical reason and what support suits you instead. A responsible assessment sometimes ends without medicine. A request for ID or records is part of setting up safe care. You want a considered decision with clear next steps. A quick sale leaving big questions open helps nobody.

Write a one-page appointment note

A one-page note holds three things: your current medicines and relevant history, the changes you hope for and your most pressing questions. Put your biggest concern first so it gets discussed even when time runs short.

If you struggle to remember instructions under pressure, ask to take notes or bring someone with you. Before you leave, check how the service will send the written plan and whether your usual GP will get the relevant information.