One thing that has helped me is prior to appointments, do as much research over a BROAD area online (frankly Google is one of the lowest scorers IMO, places like DuckDuckGo way better, but that’s an aside) and then boil my questions down to a list and go in armed with this. My doctors (especially my gastro who is a major doctor!) have repeatedly mentioned how helpful this is to them. So say you are considering Forteo, Evenity or Tymlos or would rather be on those than Prolia, etc. gather as many side effect you can, boil them down to simple list, go through first the pros and cons of each, then ask specifically what about this side effect, what about that side effect. I habe to do the same with my other specialists because one of my autoimmune diseases is,particularly rare. So every single supplement or drug that is going to go in has to be closely vetted. I have found, since I have specialists across the spectrum, it’s incumbent on me to make sure they are all sharing records with each other and that I am super well prepared when I go in. Especially with supplements because while one specialist might normally think X is Ok, the other one will point out it is absolutely not for my specific health conditions. Also, things change! When I was first diagnosed with one AI condition they thought a specific supplement was good based on a number of studies, now years later they are telling patients do not take X.
I know you know most of this already, but just want to share what I have been doing and what my specialists have appreciated and IMO has improved my appointments.
Also on side effects, and what each of us can take that’s so hard to sort out. As an AI patient with 3 conditions I think autoimmune patients in general are a bit more tolerant of a range of body ups and downs, often because meds work up and down, and because flares come and go. I know I have had meds and supplements be difficult and some intolerable but then I look at the options specifically for me and always weigh pros and cons and try to work through options. An example is when I was first Dx with RA many of the meds are contraindicated so had a small pool to start. Tried one and had terrible tinnitus so doc said STOP because that could be irreversible. So that’s heavy duty side effect. OTOH Tymlos has been great for me. Does it make me feel like I just drank an espresso for the first hour? Yes, but it’s TAME compared to what I live with daily! Anyway just some random thoughts. Sorry for the long winded response.
Good luck