06/08/2026
Your father had it. That doesn’t mean you have to.
Mr. Lim sat across from me, holding a list of medications.
“Doctor, my father had diabetes. My uncle lost his leg to it. My grandmother went blind from it. I think it’s just my turn eventually.”
I hear this almost every week. Different families, same resignation.But family history tells us your risk is higher. It doesn’t tell us your outcome is fixed.
I asked him to describe his father’s life before the diagnosis. Long hours at the coffee shop, rushing meals, sweet kopi because “no time to boil water lah.” Five hours of sleep, and stress with nowhere to go.
Then I asked about his own life,and it was almost a copy-paste of his father’s.
We cannot choose our genes. But we can influence many of the factors that shape what happens next.
We started with three simple changes: kopi kosong instead of sweet kopi, a 20-minute walk after dinner instead of heading straight to the couch, and checking his blood sugar every three to six months instead of “whenever.”
Eighteen months later, his glucose was comfortably within the normal range. Same genes, different outcome.
Your family history is not there to scare you.It’s there to give you the chance to act earlier.
Next time, don’t let your genes decide your future.
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你父亲有糖尿病，不代表你也会有。
林先生坐在我面前，手里拿着一叠药单。
“医生，我爸爸有糖尿病。我叔叔因为这个病截肢了，我奶奶也因为它失明了。我想，迟早都会轮到我吧。”
这样的话，我几乎每个星期都会听到。不同的家庭，同样的无奈。但家族病史告诉我们的，是你的风险比较高，不是你的结局已经注定。
我请他回想，父亲在确诊之前过着怎样的生活：每天在咖啡店工作十多个小时，站着匆匆吃几口饭，甜咖啡一杯接一杯，因为”没时间煮水啦”，每天只睡五个小时，压力也没地方发泄。
接着，我问他自己的生活，原来几乎是他父亲的翻版，他自己倒从没察觉。
我们不能选择自己的基因。但我们可以影响，未来会发生的许多事情。
我们先从三件小事开始：把甜咖啡换成白咖啡（kopi kosong），晚饭后散步二十分钟代替瘫在沙发上，每三至六个月检查一次血糖，而不是”有空才检查”。
十八个月后，他的空腹血糖一直维持在正常范围。同样的基因，不一样的人生轨迹。
家族病史，不是用来吓你的。它是让你比上一代，更早开始照顾自己健康的机会。
下次,别让基因替你决定未来。
#预防医学
#健康生活
#糖尿病预防
