Family health history: Knowing your history can save your life!

I learned about my family health history when I was pregnant with my daughter, who is now 18 as I had to ask my mum about it for my antenatal notes.

I know some of my family health history, but my mum knew all of it and she was able to fill  in the gaps in my family health history for me.

Hello everyone, 

We're looking to write an article about this subject and we need your help!

We've set up a quick survey about family health history so that we can include your voice. The survey is now closed, but you can check out the results in our new article: Family Health History: Why is it important?

Thank you for your participation!

Take care,
Courtney

My middle sister is adopted and whenever she has to go to hospital, fill in medical forms she is asked about family medical history. She can't answer them and gets so frustrated. After our Dad died 11 years ago she had some sort of breakdown but won't accept any help. The rest of the family think her mum had a history of mental problems but Lynn just won't recognise it. As a result she has completely cut herself off from the family because she thinks we are trying to turn her away from finding her real mum and blackening her. name. We have nothing in writing only a verbal statement from the Dr who organised her adoption. If she had a short statement of what is known of her family medical history without giving anything away if they want to remain anonymous her life would have been so much easier and she might have been able to get the correct help so that we could still be a family. I worry about her but since she won't talk to anyone in the family there is nothing we can do. If she thinks we are trying to keep an eye on her she moves. All this upset might have been avoided if only she had some sort of family history.

Sorry its such a long post but it is something that is important to me. 

Hi, don't know much. My dad had diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, glaucoma and at the time of his death gangrene in his feet and legs but it was too late to amputate as his heart wasn't strong enough for the anesthetic. That is what ultimately killed him, blood poisoning and heart failure. When he had his heart attack Christmas eve 199? he was in icu for 3 weeks and at that time he was put on insulin as he was in an induced coma. He died in February 2000. My mum died in April 2018 due to phenomena and Alzheimer's. She had copd, high blood pressure. She suffered with alzheimer's for about 6years but went downhill at the end very quickly, that's as much as I know about them. My brother has high blood pressure, had a mini stroke and suffered mental illness which he ended up in a mental hospital for a time back in the 80's. Most of my aunts and uncles have passed on my dads side as he was older than my mum. Funnily enough??? they both died aged 72, 18 years apart.I myself have type 2 diabetes-insulin dependant. high blood pressure, neuropathy, hearing problems, raised cholesterol, stomach issues, depression and anxiety. I had 4 miscarriages, 1 ectopic pregnancy, I had a child in 2004 where they discovered the diabetes first time around, he had a blockage in his bowel leading to an operation for him at 24 hours old to remove part of it, then he ended up with mrsa. He had a hernia which was repaired with surgery in 2016, then lost a child in 2006 at 21 weeks, most likely due to undiagnosed diabetes( probably) I had gestational diabetes with my son which went after I had him but it had come back without me or doctors knowing, only discovered when I had glucose tolerance test, by then it was to late...then it all went pear shaped at my 20 week scan when they discovered so much wrong with him, I gave birth the following week, medically induced to a son, he was born sleeping. He had more wrong with him than first thought and doctors couldn't pin point what he had as he had a variety of conditions including patau syndrome, Edward syndrome, vater syndrome, cleft palate...I could go on. 

Maternal Grandma died age 92. She was bid-ridden due to broken hip & Osteo. My mother died aged 75--perforated ulcer. She also had severe hypertension which I have inherited. Father a smoker, died aged 70 throat cancer. I no longer smoke and I avoid alcohol. Fibromyalgia my worst bug-bear.

My Mother had terrible Arthritis in her hands, as do I, Hands, Feet and Lower Back. My Father had Heart problems, I've had 3 Heart Attacks. My Grandmother had Type II Diabetes (died aged 68), I have it. My Uncle has Glaucoma, I have first signs according to my optician. The list goes on, we can all trace most of our ailments back through our families. We however are much luckier than our older relatives, medicine has advanced over the last 50 years. Conditions then that were virtually un-treatable are now curable. This Covid 19 is the next big test of mankind, it mutates so quickly that it is very difficult to devise any treatment for it. Who knows in 20 or 30 years time this too will be a curable disease. 

STAY SAFE out there.

Family history does play a part in next generation health. My father had mental health issues, Arthritis including gout, a heart muscle condition, Some of his family died young & his mother had arthritis, his father and sister died very young. My mother, brother and other members of family have diabetis also ASthma and most of my family have skin allergies. So genetics move on my medical records say I have gout & also raised uric acid levels, I have Copd & ASthma. But what amazes me is we don't do genetic testing for inherited risk of ill health, infact it is difficult to get such tests even privately. My freind died of a genetically rare degenerative disease which no one beleived until I found it on research then a group for research was started at our local college all her ongoing family have it with little help for any new babies born. COPD can be inherited too not due to smoking . Skin allergies and asthma go hand in hand and come from the same genetics in general. I feel very sad for those above who are going through such distressing times due to what might be inherited even in their new babies.

Katie I agree. When I was doing some family research I discovered that there was a history of heart problems going back at least 4 generations. 

We think my Granny had epilepsy, but were never sure. Perhaps mine is hereditary, I'm not certain. My Mum is allergic to pollen, dust, has hayfever, etc., my brother and sister have hayfever, my older brother has migraines and I am allergic to wheat, dairy, protein and many other chemicals, foods etc. My Mum also had rheumatoid arthritis, my father had hip replacements, I have osteoporosis and osteopenia, together with osteoarthritis, and the bones and joints are known to ache! 

My Mum has just come out of hospital after having an intracranial bleed on the brain; I had brain aneurysm surgery last year; its strange but I am convinced this is related! We think she now has dementia and possibly had a minor stroke. 

I'm so grateful for all the family history of ailments, as it opened up my scope to diagnoses for myself!  

My daughter is epiletic but its because she suffered brain damage due to premature birth. However apparently Alzeheimers is hereditary which is a type of dementia. But nothing to suggest other dementias are hereditary. However heres another one to consider my mum, myself , sister and daughter have all had gallbladder operations due to stones. Might pay to keep details of family traits in health matters.