It's not as scary as it sounds

The biggest issue most people seem to have about the 23andMe genotyping is the fact that you're learning about diseases that you might have a propensity for.

That's not the sort of news most people want to hear.

Try "You're going to win the lottery." Now that I could get behind.

But when you really sit and think about it, and get an idea of what sort of disease they're talking about, and what "propensity" really means, you might have a different idea about it all.

Of course, this is not the first thing that runs through your head. You think that you'll open your account and you'll see a big flashing "PARKINSON'S" tab on your screen, and your life will be over.

In reality, the info is presented in such a friendly, scientific way, that it's more fascinating than scary.

When you look at your disease risk report, it's laid out with diseases that you are at high risk, decreased risk, and typical risk. Some of the diseases, like Parkinson's, are actually locked, so you have to click to open up the tab.

I have decreased or typical risks for most of the diseases, including Diabetes Type 1 and 2, Celiac's, Crohn's, and a few others. All that means is that I'm either below or at the average.

The two diseases that I'm at a higher risk for are Psoriasis and Age-Related Macular Degeneration. I definitely have skin and eye issues, though not yet to the degree of either of those conditions. Interestingly enough, my mom isn't at high risk for anything, so what we initially thought had to do with the Asian side of my family obviously does not.

Just another couple of things to blame on my dad, I guess.

[I'm actually at high risk for something that could have affected my pregnancies. I'll talk about that more next week].