Posted

Understanding your family heritage, traditions, and culture are important because they give you an idea of where you come from and what family members before you have done to celebrate holidays. Knowing your health history is also important because it gives you an idea of what health problems you, your elderly parent, and other family members are at risk for. Your family history does not only include any illnesses or health problems your current relatives have, but also those that ancient ancestors have developed.

As your parent gets older, they are at risk for developing a number of health problems. Knowing what health issues they may develop will help their doctor make more efficient diagnoses. If your loved one still is unsure of what information their family health history holds, here are five reasons they should find out.

1. Understand the risks

By doing a little digging to find out of what health challenges their ancestors have suffered from, the elder will have a better idea of what they have an increased chance of developing. Knowing this information will also give the senior more motivation to take preventative measures against the illness.

2. Makes the doctor appointments quicker

Especially when attending an appointment with a new doctor, there will most likely be a number of forms that need to be filled out in order to get a better idea of what medical conditions the senior is at risk for. By having a formal family health history recorded, this information will be readily available when needed. This will free up a great deal of time filling out a stack of paperwork at the appointment.

3. Allergies are easier to diagnose

From being gluten or lactose intolerant to being allergic to certain ingredients in medications, pinpointing whether or not the elder is suffering from an allergic reaction can be a difficult task. But by discovering if there is an allergy in the elder’s family, they will have a better chance of finding out if they are allergic to the same thing their ancestors were.

4. Discover any dangerous behaviors that run in the family

Does alcoholism or drug abuse run in the family? If so, you and the elder have a higher chance of developing the same unhealthy behaviors compared to those who do not have a family history of it.

5. Determine if psychological disorders are present in the family history

Aside from finding out what physical ailments you should be concerned by, psychological disorders can also be discovered through family health history research.

Finding all of the information needed for the senior’s family health history can be difficult to do alone. Yet, with the help of a senior care provider, they will be able to get a better idea of what conditions they may be at risk for.

Leave a Reply