One of my favorite things about working with a naturopathic or functional medicine doctor is how much time we spend asking questions.
Not just:
“What brings you in today?”
But:
How are you sleeping? How is your digestion? Your energy? Your mood? Your skin? Your hormones? Your headaches? Your joints? When did this start? What makes it better? What makes it worse? And what else has been going on in your life?
During my training in naturopathic medical school, our initial visits were often about an hour long. We learned to take a detailed medical history and work through the body systematically—not simply focusing on the symptom that brought someone through the door.
That approach has always stuck with me.
Because in naturopathic medicine, we are taught to listen before we label. To look for patterns. To understand the person behind the symptom. And, perhaps most importantly, to ask why.
Then, during my functional medicine training, I was introduced to a tool that took this idea one step further: the Medical Symptoms Questionnaire (MSQ).
Your symptoms don't exist in isolation
The MSQ is a structured way of looking at your symptoms as a whole person rather than as isolated complaints.
It asks you to consider both how frequently you experience a symptom and how significantly it affects you. Your responses are then organized into different areas of the body, creating a score that can help highlight where you may be experiencing the greatest burden of symptoms.
And this is where I find it particularly useful.
The questionnaire moves through areas including:
Head — headaches, dizziness, faintness, insomnia
Eyes, ears & nose — itchy or watery eyes, sinus symptoms, sneezing, ringing in the ears and hearing changes
Mouth & throat — cough, throat clearing, sore throat, hoarseness and other symptoms
Skin — acne, rashes, dry skin, hair loss, flushing and sweating
Heart & lungs — palpitations, chest symptoms, shortness of breath, asthma and other respiratory concerns
Digestive tract — nausea, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, reflux and abdominal discomfort
Muscles & joints — joint pain, stiffness, muscle discomfort and weakness
Energy & weight — fatigue, food cravings, weight changes, fluid retention and restlessness
Mind & emotions — memory, concentration, mood, anxiety, irritability and other changes
Other — urinary, immune and other symptoms
When you see all of these areas together, something interesting can happen:
The pieces start to tell a story.
The timeline matters
When you come in for an appointment, we don't just look at your total score.
We let you tell the story and allow the MSQ to weave the pieces together.
What came first?
What developed later?
What changed around the same time?
What got better?
What got worse?
And perhaps most importantly: what seems to influence what?
Because sometimes the symptom we assume is the cause is actually downstream.
For example, is your digestion keeping you awake at night?
Or is poor sleep making your digestion worse?
Those are two very different stories—and they may lead us to ask very different questions.
The body is interconnected. The timeline helps us see those connections.
This is one of the things I love most about naturopathic and functional medicine: we aren't only asking “What symptom do you have?”
We're asking:
“How did you get here?”
Bring it with you
And here's my favorite part:
You don't have to see a naturopathic or functional medicine doctor to benefit from this.
Bring your completed MSQ to your next appointment with any practitioner.
It can help you tell your story.
Sometimes, sitting across from a doctor and being asked, “So, tell me what's been going on,” can make it surprisingly difficult to know where to begin.
The questionnaire gives you a place to start.
It may remind you of symptoms you've forgotten to mention. It may help you recognize that something you've considered “normal” has actually been happening for years. And it can give both you and your practitioner a clearer picture of what's happening across your body—not just within the one system that happens to be bothering you the most today.
And you can track your progress, too
Another reason I love the MSQ is that it gives us a way to measure change over time.
Are your digestive symptoms improving?
Is your energy better?
Are your headaches less frequent?
Are you sleeping more soundly?
Is the overall burden of symptoms changing?
The score isn't a diagnosis, and it doesn't replace a medical history, examination, laboratory testing or clinical judgment.
Instead, think of it as a snapshot.
And when you take another snapshot later, you can begin to see how the picture has changed.
That, to me, is one of the most useful things we can do in medicine: pay attention to the patterns, listen to the body, and use that information to guide the next question.
Want to see your own symptom pattern?
I've made the Medical Symptoms Questionnaire available as a free resource.
Take a few quiet minutes to work through each section. Don't overthink your answers. Just notice.
What is your body asking you to pay attention to?
Enter your email below and I'll send the questionnaire directly to your inbox.
And if you bring it to your next appointment, bring the story with it, too.
Because your symptoms are not just a list.
They're information. They're patterns. And together, they can help tell the story of your health.
[GET THE MEDICAL SYMPTOMS QUESTIONNAIRE →]
The Medical Symptoms Questionnaire is an educational and symptom-tracking tool. It is not intended to diagnose or treat a medical condition. If you have concerning or persistent symptoms, please discuss them with a qualified healthcare professional.