I have gotten to the point, that now, everytime that I go to a doctor or have a test, I make sure that as soon as I register, that I request a copy of the test results or dictation right away. I have worked backwards, and have copies of all my medical reports, test results, and physical copies of all my xrays, ct scans, and mri's.

This is indespensible for finding out first, what the doctors are thinking what is going on (sometimes there is interesting information about different causes that they never bother to bring up to you), and it helps establish treatments that you have had, and creates a paper trail when you go on to your next doctor. I have found that even though doctors say they are going to make sure that other doctors know what's going on, the records very rarely make it to the next appointment.

And lastly, you can study the crap out of any of the medical information that is in the reports, and start making educated decisions on your own care.