subject: Maintaining My Medical Records Through Medical Record Keeping Options [print this page] Keeping track of all of the appointments you might have can be a big enough challenge today. However, it is vital that I am able to maintain my medical records for my own use as well as for future generations. Knowing that my medical history might help someone in my future generations is a great feeling.
Because some conditions tend to be very dominant in specific families, knowing in advance that there could be a possible problem is important. This gives you an opportunity to adjust your lifestyle to prevent major problems. For example, if you are aware of past cases of diabetes in your family, you can adjust your diet and lifestyle to maintain your weight, reducing the risk of diabetes.
As you make entries in your journal, you will build a history that will help your doctor determine if you have specific conditions or if you should be tested for specific things. Often things that your ancestors experienced are going to be repeated in the future. If you are aware of these issues you can be tested sooner, offering an earlier diagnosis which usually leads to better options for treatment and care.
By knowing that you have a family history of specific problems you will also be able to make adjustments that can reduce your own risks. For example, a person who is aware of several people in the past having issues with their heart can work on avoiding the problem by exercising regularly and eating a more healthy diet. By doing these things, the risk is often reduced significantly.
Learning which conditions you should be watching for is going to be important. Of course there are some conditions that can strike without warning that can be life threatening. However if you are maintaining your records, the future generations will know to watch for specific symptoms as well.
My medical records are important to me for my own health as well as the health of my family. However medical record keeping in the past may not have been as accurate as it could have been. This will make it difficult for anyone to learn in advance about some of the problems that a person might experience.
My medical history is kept using a diary to log appointments, tests and results that will be important for any doctor to be aware of. Not only does it help with the future generations and their possible health issues but it also provides a document that can be looked at when the records from a doctor are not available. This can be critical in an emergency.
