Often the worst day in a parent's life is the day of diagnosis of a serious medical condition. Perhaps it's diabetes or asthma, a heart condition or something else equally serious. Or maybe you're having trouble getting a condition diagnosed. One of the first things to do is establish the family medical history. Is the condition inherited? Genetic? How severe was it in others. What other conditions presented?

Knowing your medical family tree enables doctors to:

  • Have diagnostic direction
  • Assess the likelihood of other diseases
  • Recommend changes in diet or lifestyle
  • Determine the best diagnostic tests
  • Determine whether a specific genetic test is required

Before asking others in the family to contribute to the family history, tell them why you need the information and have a planned set of questions to ask. This takes blame out of the equation and lets everyone focus on the answers. Be prepared to listen to justifications and guilt - this is normal so try to listen without judgment or comment (remember, your goal is eliciting information for your child's issue). Tell them all the information will be confidential and will only be used for diagnosis purposes.

Once you've established the illness your child has, consider a Mediband to alert others outside the home to the issue. This  lets medical professionals quickly divert to the necessary treatment protocols in the event of a medical emergency.