Family history and Type 1

General
21

I was the first person in my family diagnosed with type 1 (age 2).

My maternal grandfather had and my mother has rheumatoid arthritis.

My husband had a first cousin diagnosed with type 1 at age five after we were married.

Our oldest daughter was diagnosed at age four.

My family has done trialnet.  My youngest daughter has the genetic markers and one of the four known antibodies.  They pegged her risk somewhere around 25% chance of developing type 1.  My husband also was found to have the high risk genes, but no antibodies.  He has slightly elevated risk than general adult population, but with each passing year, the likelihood goes down of him developing type 1. 

22

My neighbor's son was just doagnosed with T1.. and they have an uncle who is a T1... I thought it was interesting that she told me that there are 3 other children in her son's grade with T1......

 

I know that I was dx'd 3 days before my 11th b-day... I know that there is supposidly some correlation with T1 and the coxsakie (spelling?) virus....  

I just find it odd, that out of nowhere you can develop an autoimmune disease ...... 

 

There is another discussion going on about 2 Type ones getting married having kids, and what are the kid's chances of becoming a T1..... I think it is intresting casue not only do I have 2 autoimmune (T1 and hypothryodism) but my brother in law has MS..... from what i read, if we have children, there is 1 in 40 chance that they will develop MS......

23

[quote user="Colbymama"]

One of my German great, great aunts had type one.  She died at age 11 in the late 1890's...before insulin.  It is so hard not knowing why sometimes.

[/quote]

I thought I was reading my own history here!

One of my German great, great aunts had type one (we presume).  She died at age 14 in the early 1920's from a mysterious wasting illness...

24

My mom had type 1.  It's possible that her grandmother had it as well but she died very young so we don't know.

My dad and I were told by a researcher at Joslin Diabetes Center that both parents have to contribute the diabetes gene in order for it to be passed on to the next generation.  The parents may or may not have diabetes but they can pass it on.  The child may or may not develop it.  (This was years ago though so who knows if the research has changed that theory.)

Just adding to the discussion.

25

You are still correct. A double recessive trait sorta thing. Both parents must have Type I gene to pass on.

26

Hi everyone! I haven't posted yet, but have been reading some posts. We have a lot of T1 diabetes in our family. Both of my daughters have it (age 5 and 6). They were diagnosed about 2 years ago, only 2 weeks apart after both having a really bad cold/cough in March. And my husband's father and sister both have T1, dx when they were both teenagers. So there would appear to be a definite family predisposition with us...

 

-Carolyn

27

It's interesting to make the corrolation between getting Type 1 and having other autoimmune diseases.  I got psoriasis when I was little and then was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when I was 18.  A year later, I was diagnosed with Type 1.  No one in my family has it, except maybe possibly a great uncle who died years ago.  My grandmother thought he might have had it because he used to have to have a "treatment" before they could take him out for ice cream! 

28

i am the only type one diabetic in my family, but my mother did have Guillain-Barré when she was younger, my grandfather was just diagonsed wth Bachet's sp i think T1 is directly linked to the auto-immune disorders within your family

29

With the far reaching exception of my grandmother's cousin's son, I am the only one in the family with Type I.  I also have asthma and chronic inner ear problems, both of which are auto-immune related.

30

I am the only t1 diabetic in my family and I also have hypothyriod which I was diagnosed with 1 year after becoming diabetic. 

Is there a blood test that my husband can take to see if he is a carrier of the t1 gene? just would be very ni  ce to know what likelyhood my son has of becoming a diabetic.

31

My brother and sister took some sort of test to find out they didn't have a chance of getting it (they are younger than me).  I'll ask my mom what test it was and get back to you!

32

Trial Net is a research study going on right now that screens family members for the Type I autoantibodies. For siblings they repeat the testing annually until the age of 20. Another study at Yale is researching an oral medication to delay the onset of the disease in those patients that have positive autoantibodies. There are Trial Net locations all over the country but if you'd like some information or a person to start with to point you to a location nearby, you can call Yale Center for Clinical Investigation 203-737-2511

33

When i was diagnosed my parents asked how they thought i had gotten it because nobody else in my family had it. The doctor said mine was one of the cases that just happened.

34

My nearest relative with T1 is the granddaughter of my father's cousin (second cousin once removed). I have investigated family genealogy and noticed that several female siblings of ancestors died as juveniles, before the discovery of insulin, but no cause of death was recorded for any of them. I figure this looks kind of suspicious. I don't have any children.  I have one sister (not diabetic), and none of her children or grandchildren are diabetic.

35

wow like just about every one that responded im also the only T1 in my famliy history every one else who is diabetis has T2. but my mom and my nana (my dads mom) both have autoimmune disorders.

36

If anyone is interested:

SOURCE: VTT

Dec 16, 2008 08:06 ET

VTT - New scientific knowledge on juvenile diabetes: Metabolic disturbances indicate progress of the disease even years in advance

ESPOO, FINLAND--(Marketwire - December 16, 2008) -


          Finnish scientists have reported a breakthrough in the attempts to understand the development of type 1 diabetes. They discovered disturbances in lipid and amino acid metabolism in children who later progressed to type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. The alterations preceded the autoimmune response by months to years. The study may prompt new approaches for prediction and prevention of type 1 diabetes in pre-autoimmune phase of the disease.

          The results of the Finnish research team, which consists of scientists from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Universities of Turku, Oulu and Tampere, have been published on 15 December 2008, in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the insulin producing pancreatic beta cells. The gradual loss of beta cells results in life-long dependence on exogenous insulin.

          At the moment, the earliest identifiable process in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes has been the development of autoimmunity to pancreatic beta cells in the measurable form of islet auto antibodies. Although the autoimmunity usually precedes the clinical disease by months to years, its occurrence may already be too late for therapeutic approaches aimed at preventing progression to overt diabetes. The initiators of the autoimmune response have remained unknown and the mechanisms supporting progression towards beta cell failure have been poorly understood, making discovery of effective prevention a challenge. The results of the SYSDIPP project, which was supported by the Tekes FinnWell Program, bring significant new information for combating the disease.

          The SYSDIPP project has made use of metabolomics. Metabolomics systematically studies the chemical fingerprints in cells, tissues and biofluids in a given physiological and environmental context. The metabolic phenotype is sensitive to subtle factors such as age, lifestyle, nutrition and the microbe environment of the intestines. Changes in the concentrations of metabolites may thus reflect both genetic and environmental factors influencing later susceptibility to chronic diseases.

          In 1994, an ongoing birth cohort study (DIPP, the Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention study) was launched in Finland, supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. Over a period of 14 years, more than 130,000 newborn infants have been screened for genetic risk and over 8000 at-risk children are being regularly followed.

The research team was led by Prof. Matej Oresic from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Prof. Olli Simell from University of Turku. Also Professors Mikael Knip, Jorma Ilonen, and Riitta Lahesmaa together with Dr. Riitta Veijola and Dr.Tuula Simell took part in the study, which investigated metabolic profiles of DIPP children prospectively from birth. The research team has published the results in The Journal of Experimental Medicine on 15 December 2008. The article reports the discovery of metabolic disturbances that precede the autoimmune response in children who later progress to type 1 diabetes.

          The investigators found that the individuals who developed diabetes had reduced serum levels of succinic acid and phosphatidylcholine at birth, reduced levels of triglycerides and antioxidant ether phospholipids throughout the follow-up and increased levels of proinflammatory lysophosphatidylcholines several months prior to autoimmunity to pancreatic beta cells. The metabolic profile was partially normalized following the autoimmune response, suggesting autoimmunity may be a relatively late physiological response to the early metabolic disturbances. The observed lipid changes were not attributable to HLA-associated genetic risk.

          Metabolic profiling at early age may therefore aid in determining the risk of type 1 diabetes. The reported findings imply that metabolic or immunomodulatory interventions during the pre-autoimmune period may be used as a new potential strategy for prevention of type 1 diabetes.

          The incidence of type 1 diabetes among children and adolescents has increased markedly in the Western countries during recent decades. The incidence has reached record levels in Finland, where currently 1 child out of 120 develops type 1 diabetes before the age of 15 years. The annual incidence is increasing at accelerated rate, with the number of new cases expected to double in the next 15 years.

37

That study IS awesome rmeadow... Scott also posted it here:  http://juvenation.org/forums/p/417/4069.aspx#4069

The finnish have definitely done some of the best research on T1DM, probably due to the necessity based on the country's extremely high incidence rates.

38

Sounds like the same deal.. except we were told type 1 is genetic, but environmental components are contributors and not sure what's causing the increase in cases.  In our situation, my daughter is type1, no one else in our family, except we traced back..to my hubby's grandfathers, brothers, son's, son's, daughter... and I agree at that much of a distance I doubt it's anything at all... because it's not even this blood line... it's his grandfathers brothers...or something.

It would be interesting to see data on this.

39

I did want to add one more thing.. that I've found interesting in my research.  In our tiny town, there are 5 type 1's all girls, living within a 3 mile radius.  Only one has a family member with type 1.  I find that interesting.  Statistically speaking if they're saying 1 in 500, then there should be 1 child in our school, not 5.  Another interesting thing I found, is that all of us mom's are relatively close in age or were in school together, and other mom's of the same age have children with other medical issues.  It makes us wonder if we were exposed to something growing up, or if because many of our kids are nearly the same age that it was something they were exposed to.  Def something to think about.  Anybody else find anything like this. Our diabetes specialists think there is a cluster here and they said there is another in another part of our state.  I wonder why?

40

My family on both sides have autoimmune disorders, and specifically thyroid. No one has Type 1 though or even Type 2 diabetes.