Comments on: Family-based Healthcare System Reform

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:49:24 +0000

Well, not all young people are ignoring/remaining ignorant of such things… although maybe I’m just the exception to the rule, since we’ve never been a family that shied away from talking about the nitty gritty of what’s been handed to us by our predecessors. Either way, I’ve definitely been thinking hard about this stuff lately and trying to take some steps to develop habits that’ll keep all my organs in good shape.

PS – you had a couple spam comments floating around; I cleaned ‘em up for you. It might be worthwhile to talk about a filter.

PPS – Have you tried making quinoa at home? I think it would be a great subject for a blog post. Can I make a guest post, or do you wanna handle this one?

By: Aunt Toby

Aunt Toby — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:31:57 +0000

Patsijean – thank you for looking to pass on the family health information — the only way young people can make any sort of informed decision (whether it’s for themselves or perhaps for children as yet unborn) is to make sure they have all the information you can give them.

By: patsijean

patsijean — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:34:39 +0000

Genetics is a really big deal. Asthma, a dangerous disease, runs in my family. Because I have had asthma from infancy (my dad did also and my mother and younger brother had allergies) and I also had rheumatic fever twice. Alcohol abuse also runs in my family. Because of these things, I decided not to have children.

When I was teaching a family in our school district tragically had 3 children out of 5 die of muscular dystrophy. The two oldest, who did not have the disease, opted out of parenthood as they were told that the condition appeared to be genetic.

The sister of a friend has 4 sons. The eldest is OK but his 3 younger brothers are autistic. Again genetic.

In the 1970′s doctors were speculating that we would see more and more people who are diabetic, because of genetics.

You are absolutely correct. We need to keep track of family medical history that goes beyond cancer or heart attacks. We need to have an idea of what to expect and how to avoid bad things happening in the future. There aren’t many left in my family, but my niece has children. I am going to write down as much as I can remember.