4 Questions to Ask Your Internal Medicine Doctor

Preventive care is important for you and your family members as it provides you with regular check-ups, screenings, and counseling, typically annually with your primary care physician, to prevent illness and disease, or detect potentially serious health concerns at an early stage. Catching illnesses and diseases early and having them treated by the right healthcare professionals will have a greater chance of successful treatment or minimizing a potentially rapid decline in your health due to the effects of the illness or disease. A person’s age and gender will help determine what preventive care services are needed. Children who are still young and receiving regular immunizations as part of the immunization schedule can receive their vaccines as part of their preventive care treatment. This can also apply to teenagers and adults who may have missed some of their later immunization boosters or not completed their full vaccine schedule. Female patients will have Pap tests and mammograms added to their preventive care services as they reach a certain age to scan for cervical and breast cancers. Male patients will want to get a regular colonoscopy test as they get older to check for prostate cancer. Preventive care services are also a way for your doctor to keep accurate, updated records of your medical history and monitor your health regularly for signs of any illnesses or diseases that are common in your family.

Yes, your family’s medical history will affect your medical health. We can inherit not just our mom’s eyes or our dad’s nose, we can also inherit health conditions and diseases, or have an increased risk for them if a blood relative has a history of illness. Some of the conditions that have an increased risk for running in the family are cancer, diabetes, depression, asthma, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and arthritis. It is important to know your family’s health history and share that information with your family doctor, so they know to watch for early symptoms of conditions and diseases that are known to be hereditary. While each individual is unique and may not develop any of the conditions that run in their family, it is best to be aware of the family history and know the symptoms to watch for. It is also good to know of any factors that can increase your risk of developing any of the hereditary conditions such as heart disease or high cholesterol to be conscious of lifestyle changes that you can make to help lower your risk. Knowing your family history and having it documented with your doctor can also ensure that your children have a record of family health concerns for their future health.

Some health conditions will carry a higher risk of being passed on to future generations than others. As our DNA and genetic code are passed on from parents to their kids, the likelihood of a person developing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, cancer, depression, Alzheimer’s, and high cholesterol, plus many other illnesses or diseases, is higher if you have a family history of certain conditions. Having a family history of these conditions does not guarantee that a person will develop these conditions; it just means they have a higher likelihood of developing them than a person who has no family history of the condition.

Sleep is a key ingredient to our overall health. While many people may brush it off as making us tired and groggy the next day, science has proven that poor sleep leads to several health problems. We will all have the occasional night where we don’t get enough sleep from going to bed too late and getting up early or from a night of tossing and turning, but regularly cutting your sleep short can lead to memory issues, weight gain, a weakened immunity system, high blood pressure, and other issues. Sleeping allows our body to rest and recharge as the body heals itself, restores chemical balance, and the brain forms connections allowing you to process and recall new information better. Sleep deprivation prevents the brain and body systems from functioning properly and can lower your quality of life dramatically as a result.

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