What medical conditions seem more common now than when you were growing up?

Shell1951, the numbers of Type 1 diabetics has not increased over time pro rata .

Of course it’s good that things aren’t taboo any more but wonder whether we now talk about our health, and other people’s health, a bit too freely. If I thought I were ill I’d Certainly do something about it, but probably not talk about it.

Yes, this is very much the case in our family. Research published a few years ago showed that being overweight was a symptom not a cause and to get it you need to have that specific gene within you. There are plenty of conditions which result in T2D as well.

Type 2 diabetes isn't always a lifestyle problem...my partner very slim and eats healthily was diagnosed with Type 2 in his forties. His father died of the condition, it was poorly managed decades ago, his mother died of kidney disease, diabetes related and both his sister's have Type ,2. He has been told as have his sisters that it is hereditary.

I was very aware of T2D growing up in the 70s, it was very much part of our family health history. I also remember people being much bigger back then than nowadays, especially children who had puppy fat. One friend who was very thin was often being taken to the doctor because her parents were worried about her. Looking back I can also see which children at school were definitely neurodivergent! My teen daughter has an ASD diagnosis and I always think she’d have fared better at school back when I was there as school is much more structured and rigid nowadays. She struggles with that rigidity. Which is contrary to what another poster has said, I know!

valdali

Autoimmune disorders (over & above the proviso that they were not understood & recognised when I was growing up but some, like MS, certainly did exist.)

I agree.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, it turns out, that my mother and her siblings had RA and Lupus. They went untreated, mainly because, people couldn't afford to go to the doctor and also just got on with it.
It was only by going through medical records, that the family history was revealed.
My aunt was diagnosed with lupus nearly seventy years ago, after giving birth it was noted on her record, then forgotten about.
The baby, suffered a life of painful misery, with RA and Lupus. It went undiagnosed, until she reached adulthood. No-one checked the baby out.

I have a condition called Micro Vascular Angina, (it used to be called Cardiac Syndrome X )which is very difficult to diagnose,
Until recently, women (it is more common in women, than in men ) died, undiagnosed from this serious heart condition.
In Scotland, apparently woman) a day dies from it.
I was fortunate, after a heart attack, to be invited to take part in a research programme. Despite that, it took six months to get a formal diagnosis, for there are no definitive tests, nor medication.

NittWitt

I used to know someone with very swollen legs who said she had dropsy.
I never knew what it was but have now found out it just means the symptom of swollen legs which can be caused by a lot of different things.
So nowadays those things would be named instead of just saying dropsy.

Dropsy was the old name for oedema.

Better screening of diabetes has increased numbers of type 2 diabetes. Sepsis has always been around but now has its own specific name, when calling an ambulance & sepsis suspected use the term for quicker response etc.

I used to know someone with very swollen legs who said she had dropsy.
I never knew what it was but have now found out it just means the symptom of swollen legs which can be caused by a lot of different things.
So nowadays those things would be named instead of just saying dropsy.

Inhalers and especially preventative treatments which I think came available around 1975 meant better and much safer management.

My husband definitely used inhalers when I first knew him, in 1969.

Nandalot

Asthma. When I was at secondary school, there were only two of us who suffered in the whole school which had about a 1000 pupils. Now it seems really common.

I think asthma may well have killed children and was maybe not called by that name.
My husband had it and said he was dangerously ill while quite young and before there was effective medication.

Crumbly159

Cancer - and now many types. Once upon a time it was just "cancer". That was all. And - irritatingly - it was a whispered word, as if saying it in a normal voice was almost obscene.

That's changed, thank goodness.

I would sugggest that people knew the difference between lung cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer at the very least. It does depend what decade we are talking about though.
Vaginal atrophy undoubtedly existed, but before topical oestrogen, it will, like the menopause without HRT, have been about women just having to put up with it.

Cancer, think because we are living longer and we know more about it. Also the young seem to have many mental health issues. When I was young there was no 24/7 doom and gloom news, it's constant now. The overuse of mobile phones and the Internet has been to the detriment of young children, they should be playing out and interacting not in their rooms watching who knows what.

Cancer - and now many types. Once upon a time it was just "cancer". That was all. And - irritatingly - it was a whispered word, as if saying it in a normal voice was almost obscene.

That's changed, thank goodness.

Vaginal atrophy- never heard woman talking about it back in the day.

MT62

I thought some of these diseases were on the rise again?

Labradora

I thought some of these diseases were on the rise again?

Obesity

Diabetes

...and bowel cancer, and type 2 diabetes in their 20s.

I read yesterday that more and more younger people are getting shingles.

It is interesting, Yogi, that you used that expression "everyone and his dog" and agree that there seems to be an increase in cancers and have often n wondered if there is a correlation between the diagnosis of the disease and diet. More and more dogs seem to be getting cancer. Processed kibble? Whereas in years gone by, they would just have Winalot and a can of Chappie! Similarly, when most of us here were growing up, there was virtually no such thing as "processed food".

Just conjecturing!

Autism was recognised as a condition in 1943. L'Étranger by Camus is a clear description of what was later called Asperger's Syndrome. We were well aware of it in mainstream schools by the late seventies and attending conferences about ADD/ADHD by the early '80s.
I remember plenty of discussions about cancer and other illnesses in my childhood, so I struggle a bit with the "nobody ever talked about" comments.

I feel that there were many illnesses not really 'named' in the old days. Now we are all more educated about the illnesses that go around so hear more about each one, specifically.

Many of the old ones still exist as they were known when I was young, but many others have been reclassified into specific conditions, such as mental health having a myriad of sub-conditions.

Cancer, to me, is the one that has exploded dramatically. Everyone and his dog has it, sadly, in my experience.

Thinking back, mammograms were only introduced in 1980s.