#311: Family Care: Tracing Down Your Family’s Medical History
by jeremy |Family Care: Tracing Down Your Family’s Medical History
Medical history is an important, although often overlooked, component of a family tree. Understanding your genetic predisposition to disease can aid physicians tremendously in diagnosing and treating illness. In addition, individuals who know their health risks are more likely to develop healthy habits and engage in preventive practices. Tracing your family’s medical history will not only teach you about your heritage; it can also prolong your life.
- Interview your parents and siblings. Medical information about immediate family members will likely help you the most if you encounter health problems. Record information and take it with you to all medical consultations. Whether you’re pregnant and seeing an Ob/Gyn for the first time, or have cancer and have an appointment with a new Oncologist, the physician will ask questions about family medical history.
- Talk to other living relatives. If your grandparents are still alive, interview them regarding their health history and that of their parents and siblings. Ask to record the conversation or take detailed notes. Talk to your relatives about immunizations, childhood illness and chronic diseases. Also ask about hospitalizations and surgeries, whether major or minor. Find out at what age distant relatives died and the causes of death.
- Try to get information about mental illness. This may be difficult as people have only recently begun to talk openly about psychiatric disorders. Even if a relative did not receive medical treatment for a mental illness, she may have exhibited symptoms that family members can recognize in retrospect. Ask about mood swings, suicidal behavior, impulsivity, prolonged periods of sadness and overall emotional demeanor. Some mental illnesses like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression are believed to have a genetic component.
- Read death certificates and obituaries. These records can help you determine whether a potentially heritable disease such as cancer or heart attack caused your relatives’ deaths. Some states black out cause of death on certificates and not all obituaries provide cause of death, but this is a good place to start your investigation.
- Ask a doctor to provide a posthumous diagnosis if there is no information about a relative’s health or death. If someone suffers from a genetic abnormality that affects appearance, a physician may be able to identify an illness by looking at a photograph.
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