DENVER -- When it comes to a visit at the doctor’s office, talking can be the most important part.
Dr. Corey Lyon with UCHealth’s A.F. Williams Family Medical Center says a patient’s family history can help providers know what to be on the lookout for.
When it comes to family medical history, your primary family including your father, mother and siblings is the most important.
UCHealth providers can chart out you’re medical history in your records through a thorough computer program.
If cancer pops up in that chart, it could change your screenings and prevention plan.
Take colon cancer for example.
“The colon cancer screenings should start at age 50, unless you have a family member that had it before, and you would screen ten years prior to the date they had it. And it would be with your father, brother, a primary relative that had it,” said Dr. Lyon.
You may not even know about the medical issues your parents have faced so it’s important to ask them, and keep written records for the next time you head to the doctor.
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