This Thanksgiving, there are probably going to be many different conversations going on at the dinner table. Of course, genealogists will be hoping for some interesting discussions related to family history, perhaps even acquiring some new information that could lead to breakthroughs in their research. In some families, there is also likely to be talk of death or illness. As terrible as this sounds, these discussions could prove helpful to the people that are involved in the discussion because they help to fill in the blanks of a family medical history.
A family medical history is a type of record that lists illnesses and causes of death of your ancestors. You do not have to go very far back to obtain information that can be useful to you and your health care provider, in fact the most useful information is found within three generations. If you trace your family’s medical history back to your great grandparents, you can learn about the health risks that affect your family. This information can help you to make informed health care choices such as whether to undergo certain screenings and tests and what kinds of preventative measures you could take to decrease your risk.
When you prepare your family medical history, the information that you should gather includes the medical conditions that each person had as well as the cause of their death, the age at which they were diagnosed with each condition, and how the illnesses were treated (medicine, surgery, etc.). All kinds of illnesses count; both physical and mental illnesses have been shown to follow genetic patterns. This year, if the talk around your Turkey Day table turns to death or disease, take note of what is being said and record it in a family medical history. It could prove very useful to you or someone that you love.