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Your profile at age 20 will change at age 30. You may experience more changes in your health between the ages of 30 to 40 and it will be even different at 60. These baseline measures contribute to trends in your general health and are very useful for you to identify patterns and risk for your self-care and prevention as well asphysicians when diagnosing. The ability to reference past versus present, shows the fluctuations that can be significant to identify your uniqueness and trends in your health. HiGS helps you to capture your uniqueness, risks, patterns, and trends.

Uniqueness

If your normal temperature is 96 degrees, and your temperature registers 98.6 degrees then you have a fever. Your fever would be equivalent to a 101.2 degree temperature since most people have a normal temperature of 98.6. If your normal temperature is 96 and a doctor took your temperature and it was 98.6 he or she would think that your temperature was normal. All health information has similar consequences. We all need to know our baselines.

Risks

When you collect and know your history, you are better prepared to identify your risks for disease and troublesome habits that can cause problems. When you have a comprehensive history, you are also better prepared to communicate with physicians and other healthcare professionals so they can more easily and swiftly identify your risk for disease and trouble. When you control your own history information, each person you give your HiGS Personal Health History to will have your entire story, cutting down on redundancy and inaccuracy with better chances of identifying your risks. Preserving health and preventing diseases begins with identifying lifestyle, bad habits, and risks accomplished through collecting and knowing your history.

Patterns

History helps show patterns that overlap in numerous health areas such as the effects of excess weight on blood pressure, the knees and other joints, the digestive system including the gallbladder, potential for stroke and heart disease, and so on. History shows us that elevated belly fat and a Body Mass Index outside of the normal range and other factors can be indicators of metabolic syndrome, which can lead to heart disease, type II diabetes, and stroke. The more history information you collect, the more patterns reveal themselves. Patterns help indentify potential for risk.

Trends

A man has a PSA (blood test for prostate cancer) and a HiGS Prostate Cancer Assessment showing some symptoms that are within normal limits. The next year's test is still normal, but higher than last years, and his assessment shows more symptoms have changed and/or increased. He might actually have a cancer growing. Because he knows his baseline, he has more knowledge and opportunity to catch this problem early.

Build your health information in three categories

HiGS three categories are Histories, Assessments, and Body Systems. When you have information about your health in all three categories you have a clearer picture of your baseline and risks.

Knowledge of your baseline health and risks increases your likelihood of an accurate diagnosis by your physician(s) and decreases your likelihood of 'falling through the cracks' in the healthcare system. Knowledge of your baseline health contributes to prevention and early detection of health problems. Histories are most important since histories are shown to be better indicators of risk than a physical exam in a doctor office.

Comparing the three categories

A woman feels crummy, has lost interest in her usual activities, feels anxious, thinks she looks lousy with saggy baggy skin, needs to sleep but can't, and has lost her zest for life. These are her complaints to her physician. Looking as if she is suffering from depression, her physician prescribes a tranquilizer for her. This is a classic example of what happens to women.

Given this scenario, with the application of HiGS, this woman scores severe on Depression, General Anxiety Disorder, Sleep Disturbances, and mild-moderate on Peri-menopause Assessments. She also took Body Systems, listing physical symptoms such as loss of body hair, loss of external eyebrows, constipation, enormous exhaustion, and a 15 pound weight gain.

If this HiGS profile were provided to the same physician, we could anticipate her doctor might order a TSH, T3, and T4 (blood work) considering hypothyroidism. Once placed on thyroid medicine her depression is lifted, she sleeps more soundly, feels less anxious, and her weight stops escalating. Working with HiGS can make a difference.

Without a baseline, unknowingly, she might be placed on an antidepressant. Actually she has a physical problem that would be better served by addressing the physical cause to the psychological aspects presented. Many psychological problems occur with physical problems. With lack of pertinent information, a physical problem can look like a psychological problem.

Build your baseline health information

Build your histories, assessments in psychological, physical, nutritional, sociological, environmental, and occupational areas. All these areas impact your health. HiGS enables you to create a clearer picture about your health and health problems for you, your family, and your physician(s). Know that your baseline information is accurate because you yourself created it with HiGS.