Why is it Important to Know Your Family Medical History?

Accidents or diseases can never be anticipated. They advance silently and if one is not prepared, they might become fatal. But how do you prepare yourself? Well, this is when your family medical history records come to your rescue. It would be wise to know the attributes existing in the family lineage to be vigilant from diseases and health disorders orienting genetically. People from the same families have many health factors in common such as genetic make up, environment, and lifestyle and so, their health status is generally similar and they are prone to succumb to the same health problems.

Knowing the family history helps doctors in diagnosing certain diseases effectively. In some cases, doctors are unable to find the root cause of the problems. At such times, your family medical records can give a clue of probable causes.

If the doctors are aware of a certain medical condition that is prevalent in your family members, they can advise you to get certain screenings or checkups done. Given below are some of the diseases which involve studying a family history in an individual case

• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Asthma
• Heart Diseases
• High Blood Pressure
• Genetic Disorders
• Alcoholism
• Learning Disabilities
• Kidney Diseases
• Mental Illnesses
• Psychological Disorders
• Stroke
• Birth Defects
• Vision or Hearing Impairments

Some of the above diseases are silent killers. That is why is it important to know medical conditions and causative factors circulating among relatives in advance. It always pays to be aware.

If a genetically disease has already taken hold of you, it would be beneficial to thoroughly inspect every facets of medical history it provides. The doctors can prescribe effective treatment measures by using information gathered from family history as a reference chart. Sometimes, certain genes are allergic to some drugs or the response is not good. Some medications or tests may have an adverse effect on your health.

Your family history can provide the doctors with hints about such details, so that they can select the most suitable treatment option. Apart from this, it also helps you in identifying other members of the family who might be at a risk of developing similar conditions, and calculating the risk of passage to the next generation.

It can be quite a tedious task to get data on family health history. One of the best ways to get family history information is by talking to your parents and relatives about their health. Health issues are highly sensitive matters, hence a clever way would be desirable to broach on the subject. Ask simple short questions explaining the reasons and the purpose of doing so. Gathering information in this way will increase the probability of fetching cooperative response. Below are some of the questions which could be asked:

• Which health problem are you suffering from?
• At what age were you first diagnosed with it?
• What challenges did you face while dealing with it?
• Which tests or therapies have you undergone? Were they effective?
• Which treatments were followed? Was it safe and effective?
• Were there any side effects?
• How long did you take to recover?

These were some of the probable questions that you may ask. Documenting the facts gathered would be strategically beneficial for future references. You may write them down or tell your doctor during the next visit. Apart from asking the close family members, you may try to get their medical records from their doctors. If some of your family members have already passed away, you may check their death certificates, family health insurance papers, or try to gather information about the circumstances under which they died. With this information, you can surely take care of your health in a better manner.