From Cleveland Clinic
Getting together with extended family you see just once or twice a year can be both good and bad at the same time.
Let’s start with the bad; political discussions, rude questions about your personal life, criticism about your looks—the list of uncomfortable topics is nearly endless.
The good part? Catching up with beloved family members, sharing stories, and meeting new babies and new spouses-to-be. The list goes on. But according to a Cleveland Clinic doctor, maybe we should add a bit of detective work to that list.
When my sister met with a genetic counselor several years ago she was asked to provide a family tree of serious illnesses and causes of death for as many of our relatives as possible. Because our family is nosy (in a good way) and gets along, my sister was able to fill in a family medical history chart that extended to our great-aunts and second cousins. The geneticist was impressed.
At your next family gathering, consider including a bit of Nancy Drew sleuthing in the visit, that’s the advice from a Cleveland Clinic geneticist.
“When the family gathers, it’s almost natural to bring up, ‘How’s grandma? Oh, I remember you told me about uncle so-and-so who died very suddenly at a young age. What happened?’ Family histories do inform us about our future,” explains Charis Eng, MD, PhD, geneticist at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Eng says if you do find out there’s a family history of a certain cancer, for example, you may want to consider genetic counseling. For those unfamiliar, genetic counseling is when an individual or family meets with a genetic counselor to talk about possible medical concerns. The counselor will then determine whether genetic testing is needed. They will also go over the results and offer additional guidance.
Dr. Eng says knowing what you’re at risk for can be extremely important in both prevention and treatment. “Genetic counseling sort of empowers the patient and the family, so not only will they understand the genetic disorder that they came for, they will understand genetics in general,” she says.
Dr. Eng advises those interested in genetic counseling to schedule an appointment with a genetic counselor, not a primary care physician. That way you’re getting the expertise needed to make informed decisions.
