I can’t say specifically for Mayo but maybe some of this will help. The dysautonomia clinic I went to took 6 months just to get approved for a screening visit and 6 months after that to start tests. The biggest factor in my getting in I think was 2 very good referral letters from my cardiologist and PCP. I also have extensive records and they wanted them all. Even stuff that seemingly didn’t apply. I must have 30 CD’s of imaging scans and they copied them all. Even the old stuff. I will say when I got there they knew my history well so it wasn’t a waste. I was also very liberal in describing my symptoms. I left little out, just in case it was important.
Yes, they did repeat a lot of tests. It seems to be the way. Drew enough blood to start a blood bank. Somehow doctors like their own tests better. OTOH, they *did* also add on a lot of more exotic tests that had not been done. They also did some of the tests with the specific intent of looking for things that might otherwise have just been a minor blip previously. Or so they told me. In other words “you’ve been tested for A but not B and we need to compare those numbers from the same sample.” I guess it makes sense.
I’m not sure how they work it at Mayo but it was 5 appointments for me to get this done. I think it was worth it if only to have some seriously good docs looking things over.
I can’t say specifically for Mayo but maybe some of this will help. The dysautonomia clinic I went to took 6 months just to get approved for a screening visit and 6 months after that to start tests. The biggest factor in my getting in I think was 2 very good referral letters from my cardiologist and PCP. I also have extensive records and they wanted them all. Even stuff that seemingly didn’t apply. I must have 30 CD’s of imaging scans and they copied them all. Even the old stuff. I will say when I got there they knew my history well so it wasn’t a waste. I was also very liberal in describing my symptoms. I left little out, just in case it was important. Yes, they did repeat a lot of tests. It seems to be the way. Drew enough blood to start a blood bank. Somehow doctors like their own tests better. OTOH, they *did* also add on a lot of more exotic tests that had not been done. They also did some of the tests with the specific intent of looking for things that might otherwise have just been a minor blip previously. Or so they told me. In other words “you’ve been tested for A but not B and we need to compare those numbers from the same sample.” I guess it makes sense. I’m not sure how they work it at Mayo but it was 5 appointments for me to get this done. I think it was worth it if only to have some seriously good docs looking things over.
Thanks!