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WHITE PLAINS, NY ® Knowing your personal medical history may mean the
difference between life and death for you and your children, according to HERstory, a
public service campaign provided by the Vagisil Women®s Health Center® (VWHC).
Experts say that more than 100 diseases, from minor ailments to potentially life
threatening illnesses, have a genetic link, often through the feminine side of the family.
With new research, developing technologies, and the evolution of gene therapies, it is
more important than ever that women talk with both immediate and extended family
members about their medical history. They should also ask about past generations®
medical history and record what they find, so that they and future generations will have
the information they need.
The Vagisil® HERstory program encourages women to speak with their relatives
and then record their findings for future generations. Suggestions for personal history
interview techniques and questions as well as a downloadable family tree (to be
personalized) can be found at the VWHC site, www.vagisil.com.
®Women should be proactive about all phases of their healthcare ® and personal
health history is a big part of that. They need to make sure that their primary care
physician and gynecologist take the time to find out what their family history is and then
work out a personal health strategy based on that history,® says Adelaide Nardone, M.D.,
advisor to the VWHC.
Hidden Secrets, No Longer
In the past, Nardone says, women were often reluctant to talk about certain
diseases that are openly discussed today. "Some women don't know that a relative as
close as grandmother had breast or ovarian cancer or that an aunt suffered from
miscarriages, or even the age their own mother went through menopause," she says.
Medical experts, she adds, now know that these facts can have a direct influence
on a woman's personal health strategy. "To not know your personal health history is to
not take full advantage of all that today's high-tech medicine can offer you towards
achieving a long, healthy life."
The Vagisil Women's Health Center features a wide range of feminine health
information topics for women of all ages. It currently hosts the Vagisil Teen Center and
its For Girlz Only Teen Club.
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