Home for the holidays? It’s time to talk about your family health history.
Tips for starting conversations that can lead to crucial health screenings
By Casey Reese, Vice President at Reese Pharmaceutical
Each holiday season, families gather to share food, stories, and gratitude. It’s also a great time to talk about something just as important—your family’s health history.
Knowing your family medical history is important for making better decisions about your own health. It can help you make informed choices about caring for your children. And it can make it easier to be sure that your parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins understand when they should talk to their doctors about screenings for certain common cancers and other health conditions.
Colorectal cancer is a great example. While it’s not everyone’s favorite topic, it’s important to talk about. Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death among men under the age of 50 and second for women in that same age group. It’s also getting much more common in younger people. Around 20,000 people under age 50 are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
We don’t know exactly why so many young people are now being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. What we do know is that family history plays a role.
Enter the holiday dinner talks.
Most people don’t often talk about their history of colon cancer because of the stigma around gastrointestinal health. However, having a relative with the disease may warrant earlier and more intensive screening. And how will people know to screen early unless they know their family’s medical history?
The big question then becomes: How to start the conversation? Here are some tips on what to say and what to do with the information you collect.
Start with close relatives and work your way out
In terms of health risk factors, your parents have the greatest influence on your genetics. Start by collecting information on your biological mother and father, if possible. Explain why you’re interested in learning more about their health and how their answers can affect your family.
Make sure you ask how old they were when these conditions were diagnosed, and if there are any lifestyle choices, such as using tobacco or alcohol, that may have increased their risks.
After learning about your biological parents, talk to your siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other more distant relatives. See if you can also collect information about previous generations, such as great-grandparents, to better understand how diseases run through your family tree.
Keep the conversation lighthearted and comfortable
Your health is serious business, but these conversations don’t have to be a downer. Try to keep the tone upbeat and non-judgmental by emphasizing your curiosity and desire to be helpful as you get to know more about the people you love.
Some families are more open to using humor when talking about their health than others, so be aware of how your relatives are most comfortable interacting with these topics. You may find that some people are more sensitive about discussing their health, especially if they have had a recent diagnosis or are struggling to manage a disease. Be compassionate, empathetic, and respectful of their limits.
Record family health information in an organized way
There are many ways to track your family’s answers. You could use a notebook to jot down information, a ring binder with a page for each family member, or an online tool like My Family Health Portrait, which was developed by the Surgeon General’s Office.
If you’re looking for ways to visualize your family tree, the National Institutes of Health offers workbooks in multiple languages to organize information and estimate personal risks. You can also use online screening quizzes, like this one developed by the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, that helps people learn if they are high risk vs. average risk, and what that might mean for screening.
No matter how you record your data, stay organized and be clear about the relationships between people and diseases so you know what you’re looking at when you revisit it later.
Share it!
Once you have your family history written down, it’s time to spread the word. Make copies for your relatives so they don’t have to re-do all your hard work, and consider keeping an extra copy with your family’s important documents.
If you are still unsure about your family history or want additional peace of mind, remember that simple, noninvasive screening tools are now available that you can use at home. For example, you can buy Reese’s ColoTest, a fecal immunochemical (FIT) test, over the counter at CVS or Walmart without a prescription. The test will instantly detect hidden blood in the stool, an early warning sign of possible colorectal cancer or other gastroenterological conditions.
As always, it’s critical to share any and all of this information with your healthcare provider. Don’t be shy about starting the discussion during your next visit – your doctors really do want to know! Being open, honest, and complete about both your family history and any abnormal FIT test results – they can make a big difference in the way your health care provider makes recommendations about future screenings and treatments.
Whether you start the conversation at the holiday table this year, or bring up the topic whenever you have the chance, collecting and sharing your family medical history can help you make the best possible decisions for yourself and your loved ones, ensuring many more celebrations together.
About Casey Reese
Casey Reese is Vice President of Business Development at Reese Pharmaceuticals, a leading private-label manufacturer of over-the-counter (OTC) consumer health products. The company also produces a variety of branded items, such as the Reese Colotest, a noninvasive at-home test designed to help screen for colorectal cancer.
