23 & Me: The Results

So early last week, I received an email that my results had come  in and were available online. At first glance I had about 20 high health risks listed on the main page of results. My whopper was prostate cancer! I learned from my mother that my great grandfather died from prostate cancer. Good to know. Of coarse swimming the first 20+ years of my life on a daily basis, I have an increased risk of melanoma, will I stop swimming, no. I just need to start wearing more sun screen!

I do have a slight risk of MS and Stomach cancer but the numbers are close to the average. I also have a high risk for glaucoma, so far it sounds like I got more medical genetics from my mom’s side of the family. An interesting find was my type 1 diabetes was extremely low. Which is great news, my father was diagnosed with diabetes around the age of 20 and the doctor said he more than likely was born with type 1 diabetes. I’ve been testing myself for diabetes since I was a teenager. My risk for diabetes type 2 is average. The test results are really all over the place, just looking over them once or twice can be intimidating. 

For example I have a slight risk of becoming an alcoholic, narcoleptic or have ALS. Is it more than I want to know, my initial answer to that question is no! I do have two high risk markers for hyperthyroidism, which my mom has been battle for many years now. My sister and I have had suspicion that we both have the same condition. Oddly enough I became lactose intolerant a couple of years ago and that will help with my thyroid along with any kidney stones. I was happy to see that most of the heart conditions came back typical or low-risk. What scares me is what my sister and brother’s genetic make-up looks like. Genetics are such mish mash. 

Clem and Paley’s results came back late last week and at first glance they obviously share similarities but there were a few interesting finds. We could clearly see some findings were from our egg donors genetic side. Nothing was really that alarming, it’s just really interesting the difference you find. I am not going into details because I’d like to keep them private.