Past Medical History

There is a good reason why you are being asked for your occupation and where you live. You see, different diseases may have the same symptoms. For example, you may find cough, hemoptysis (blood in sputum), shortness of breath, weight loss in either tuberculosis of the lungs or lung cancers like Mesothelioma cancer. If you're from the Philippines, never exposed to asbestos, and lives in a crowded place, there's a greater chance for TB, but if you've worked with asbestos and live in the United States, the initial working diagnosis would be mesothelioma instead. This is important because the management of these diseases are different.

So the next time you were asked about these information, do provide them. This would serve as some of the basis of planning your treatment.