Finding Out About Your Family Genetics

Knowing your family health history can help you be proactive in fighting the diseases that you may have inherited. To know about family health history, you will have to ask the right types of questions. Here are some of the questions you should ask every family member that you can get in touch with:

• What diseases have you suffered from?
• What age did you begin to suffer from this disease?
• What types of treatments did you undergo with this disease?
• Was treatment started during the beginning stages of the disease?
• Was the treatment effective?

Along with asking questions about diseases, you want to gather other information about them such as:

• The person’s relationship to you
• Race, ethnicity, where the person originated from if he/she migrated from another country (important for country specific diseases)
• For family members that have died, find out what age they died and from what.
• Knowing what your family member’s diet, weight, and exercise regimen can also be interesting to correlate with genetic diseases.
• What each family member does for work and any job hazards are important to note as well.
• Addictions such as smoking, drinking, and drugs can be helpful.

With this information, you can make inferences about your own health and see how you can make better choices to protect yourself from disease and illness.

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeparking/2089450249/)

August 21st, 2009 by Marcelina Hardy | Posted in Genetics and Health | (0)