The following is part of a note written to Gordon Watts by the researcher who mentioned ALS in Genetically Inherited Diseases. Many thanks, Kim! Muriel M. Davidson <davidson3542@home.com> ====================================== Most health problems are inherited to some degree & if detected in early stages treatment can be started. Some of the health conditions mentioned as running in family blood lines include: diabetes, stroke, cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, sickle cell anemia, obesity, and high blood pressure all of which have precautions that can be taken to help treat family members. Psychological disorders like depression, alcoholism and schizophrenia are known to run in families along with asthma, migrine headaches, allergies, arthritis and gastrointestinal upsets. Knowing if breast cancer runs in the family may lead a doctor to advise on early screening test at 35 or 40 instead of 50. Knowing that depression runs in the family and that they had responded well to certain medications helps the doctor determine what would be right for the patient in that case. One in five women will develop a thyroid disorder and half do not know it. Hypothyroidism is the most common of thyroid problems and can raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of Heart disease. The other side of thyroid problems is Hyperthyroidism, where the gland releases too much thyroid hormone and is caused by Graves disease. Women should ask to get a TSH assay whether she has symptoms or not along with the mamograms and pap smears. The U.S. Preventive services task force has not endorsed regular screening because of scarce health care dollars. They recommend screening for all older women (40) on a yearly basis, but 35 makes more sense economic and medically according to researchers at John Hopkins University who suggest the test could be piggybacked with a cholesterol test which should be taken every five years begining at 20. Thyroid disease runs in families and family medical histories can help spot this problem earlier before it gets to far along. Also if an immediate relative with an autoimmune condition, diabetes, pernicuous anemia or had rheumatoid arthritis these may also put you at risk for a thyroid problem. The problem can be treated with thyroid hormone drugs and save a lot of suffering in a lot of the lives of women and their families. A simple test can tell and yet you have to ASK to be tested by your doctor. James Mold, associate professor of Family Medicine of Oklahoma Health Science's Center claims in an article "Know Your Family's Medical History" that ran in the USA Today Magizine Jan. 1995 (v.123 p 8) that by "Knowing your family's genetic heritage you are way ahead of the game." Mr. Mold tells us "to go out of our way to track down information on our families back to our grandparents to learn of their illnesses and traits" that run in their family. Be sure to write this information down and talk it over with the family doctor which will help both work together on future care. He tells us not to be shy about asking for screening test and learning how to prevent and detect problems before they develop, then be sure to ask the doctor how to keep their children from developing the same problems later in life. By knowing that Diabetes runs in my husband's family for at least four generations gives me the knowledge to be aware of this to watch for symptoms in my own children. My husband's grandmother lost both of her legs to this disease and his brother has lost one of his feet due to diabetes so knowing that will help us watch for signs in our children to help prevent such things from happening to them in the future. It will help us to make better health choices in their lives in the future. We must seek out our family medical history when doing our family trees to be more aware of what diseases have affected our family blood lines and take steps toward our future medical treatments and work with our family doctors to make them aware of what might be in store for our family health problems. We must visit with our family that are still alive and find out what illiness they have had and what they know about the illiness of our grandparents and their parents and write down this information to pass on to our children and on down to their children so they will have this knowledge to let their doctors know what illiness run in our own blood lines. Knowing that info can help us be better informed and make better health choices like changing our diet habits, and getting more exercise to be a step closer in our family preventive care measures. ============================================== Thanks again for your note. I hope this information will be of some help to you & Muriel & I can be of some help in your quest to access historical records of all kinds. My mailing address is Kim Ralston Dresser, Rt. 3 Box 168, Hydro, Oklahoma, 73048 email; kim1@hintonet.net Good luck & Happy Trails on all your researching, Kim Ralston Dresser