Family and Personal History

Cancer and Family History

Certain types of cancer like the colon, breast and the ovarian cancers can be hereditary or blood related. Stated below are some of the reasons which if you feel are similar to the ones that a closely related member of your family suffered from you need to take extra precautions to prevent the development of cancer.

1. If two blood related family members suffered from any of the above mentioned or all the three above mentioned cancers than you need to know that you have a family history of cancer and stand at a higher risk of developing cancer.
2. Even if any family members of yours suffered from  anyone of the above mentioned cancer than too you are at a risk of developing cancer so do not neglect this as breast cancer and ovarian cancer are gender based cancers.

Have the blood related members of your family or relatives who suffered from cancer are from the same family side or did these members develop any of the above mentioned cancer after the age of sixty or did they suffer from two or more types of cancer then you are at a risk of developing cancer then you need to determine this by undergoing certain genetic tests to prevent the development of cancer.

Your own personal history

Did you ever develop cancer?

If the answer is yes then you have the chances of developing cancer again or rather you are at a high risk of developing cancer. Yet a few more question that you need to add to your personal history and they are:

Did you ever work with or live with a person who had suffered from or suffers from carcinogens?

It has been found that carcinogens most of the time cancer is caused due to repeated exposure but then if you live with them in your home or are exposed to them for an extended time period than even you are at a risk of developing cancer.

Do you meet up with your doctor on a regular basis and get cancer screening done as recommended?

It has been proved that detecting cancer at an early stage helps prevent the further growth as well as spreading of cancer. Getting yourself screened regularly makes it possible to help your doctor find those warning signs or sometimes even detect cancer at a very early stage thus preventing the further development of cancer.

Apart from these do you any other symptoms which you may have doubts about like a boil or a swelling or the growth of a lump in any part of your body then the best thing would be to consult your doctor at the earliest and undergo certain tests to clear any such doubts and incase these are not doubts but facts then getting yourself treated at an early stage will help save you from a lot of hassles as the mode of treatment will be more effective if cancer is detected at an early stage.