My experience is that physicians are ruled by statistical frequency. They start with the most common thing and rule out their top ten before they even consider the rare explanation. This creates a lot of lengthy process for the patient with a rare problem who may get burned out before the doctor can get to the end of his or her process. Keep in mind that July is around the corner which, in a hospital-based practice, means a bunch of clueless folks will suddenly appear that don't know what they are doing. So expect things to operate even more inefficiently next month than usual. I think Ed makes a good point of getting the doctor to view your role as a historian differently. I get different treatment when I mention that I was a medical student. The new patient visit also isn't typically the most efficient. Only with the experience of you being reliable over several interactions will the doctor begin to trust your reporting. Finally, in most visits the doctor does about three things anyway. In your case that may be to rule out three obvious things in the first visit.