You go to great lengths to protect yourself from germs, but did you know that antibacterial soap just isn’t enough to keep many life-threatening diseases away? A predisposition to some of the most serious conditions, such as heart disease and breast and ovarian cancer, can actually be passed down within families from generation to generation. This Q & A looks at the importance of learning about your family’s health experiences and explains how the information can be relevant to your own situation.
Q: What can you learn by compiling your family health history?
A: There is increased awareness today that the risk of being diagnosed with a variety of life-threatening illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, can be inherited from your relatives. Therefore, by identifying what health challenges your closest family members faced, you will know what diseases you should be concerned with personally.
Q: I’m not sure how to start compiling my family’s health information. What’s the best way to tackle such a project?
A: The U.S. Surgeon General recently released an online tool, called My Family Health Portrait, available at http://www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/, that enables you to compile information about your closest relatives and the diseases that run in your family right from the comfort of your own home.
Q: How does this online tool work?
A: My Family Health Portrait allows you to create a profile for each family member. It will also ask you strategic questions in an easy-to-use step-by-step format to help guide you on providing the most beneficial information. The results are stored in a printable family health history file that you can review with your doctor. There is no charge to use this tool.
Q: What will my doctor do with my family’s health history?
A: Your doctor will look to both sides of your family tree to see if there are certain patterns that should be assessed more closely. If so, you may be referred to a specialist who can review the information in more detail and may also recommend that you undergo testing to further quantify your risk.
Q: What is the point of finding out that I am likely to get breast cancer or another serious illness in the future if I can’t stop it anyway?
A: While it may sound overwhelming to find out that you at high risk for a serious condition, experts say that in some cases the knowledge can be empowering, too, since with the guidance and support of a genetic counselor and other trained specialists, you can make some important decisions that can actually be life saving.
Q: If I am at high risk for a condition, how can I take control of the situation?
A: Every case is different, and only a medical professional can assess your specific case. The good news is that many conditions can be avoided or prolonged through certain lifestyle changes. For example, if you have a family history of type 2 diabetes, improving your diet and exercise habits can help ward off the disease (since obesity is a risk factor for diabetes).
Q: Are they any additional steps I can take to find out what diseases I am at risk for?
A: There are now a wide range of genetic tests you can take right at home. These tests analayze your genetic makeup in order to determine what diseases or conditions you are more prone to develop. Armed with this knowledge, you can then make certain changes in your life (such as eating better, exercising more, or taking certain supplements) to help decrease your disease risk. Essentially, it gives you the ability to rewrite the future. To learn more about genetic testing, visit http://www.navigenics.com or https://www.23andme.com/.
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