What are my chances of passing my T1D down to my children? I have heard it's not VERY common, but I know it still happens. The first T1D's I ever met after being diagnosed were a T1D dad and a T1D daughter.
This is a tough question.. I have a book that has a section that talks about your child's chances of getting diabetes. From what I've read, it says that you can't predict weither they are going to get it or not. Genetics are a factor of type 1, but not as much as type 2. My book says it all depends on the genes they inherit. It's kind of complicated so I mean the chance of diabetes is there but it's not as high as you may think.
Thanks Janie! You are right, I'm not sure if there really is in "statistics" about it. I am cuious to know how many people here on this website have T1D children though.
Type 2 actually runs pretty strong on my husbands side of the family. Both of his parents have it, as well as some grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. I think after my husband saw how hard type 1 is, he is determined not to get type 2. LOL He goes to the gym about 4-5 times a week and eats mostly healthy. Although genetics may get him in the end, I know at least it won't be related to being obese as he works very hard to stay in shape. He even monitors his own blood sugars every so often even though he's not a diabetic. LOL
Hi Rachel!
Here is a link to what the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has for current statistical information about the genetics of diabetes. If you scroll to about halfway down, where it says "Type 1 Diabetes: Your Child's Risk", you'll find the stats you're looking for. Hope this helps!
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/genetics-of-diabetes.html
Kim
Your welcome!! Lol I'm still young, but I want to have kids someday and I've always worried about having diabetic children. But I guess it's just hard to tell!
Well your husband is really smart for doing that!! So if he ever got diagnosed with type 2, he won't have to worry about being over weight which makes it harder. lol he checks his sugars? That's not a bad idea! He might then be able to tell if he's a pre diabetic and catch it early enough. I think everyone should be tested for diabetes at least two times a month.
Rachel and Janie, there are no relatives of mine who have had T1. Mine was not genetic. It was caused by childhood diseases when i was 5, but I was not diagnosed until I was 6. That is why I did not expect my kids and grand kids to have T1, and they don't. If you are the only T1 in your family and there are no relatives with T1, then the chances of T1 for your children would be zero as far as genetics are concerned. Only an injury or something that damaged the pancreas could cause it under those circumstances.
Richard, thank you! That's really great information. Yes I am the only type 1 in my family. I thought maybe genetics would factor in, but I'm trusting your judgement.
Rachel,
I can only tell you that I am the only diabetic for generations on either side. It's no where to be found except with me. My 30 year old son is healthy as can be. Of course, he is concerned should he and his wife have children some day. I'll keep you posted....
I am the only T1 in my family. I was diagnosed at 18 and I did not have any illness or trauma prior to being diagnosed.
When I was pregnant I was told it was based on my age when I gave birth and the amount of time I'd had diabetes. At the time I was 32 and had been diabetic for 28 years. Statistically my son has a 2% chance of developing diabetes. I'm thankful it's not more, but that 2% scares me sometimes...
No one else in my family had diabetes, but relatives do have other autoimmune diseases.
When I was diagnosed 24 years ago, after a very serious illness, I was told that the T1 diabetes was the result of auto-immune disease. Due to my genetic makeup, when I got the particular virus and my immune system fought it, in addition to killing the virus it also began to attack the beta cells which produce insulin. Although no one in my (very large) family had diabetes, it does have a genetic componenet, at least for me. Other auto-immune diseases that are closely related are colon cancer, vitaligo, thyroid (Grave's disease), Celiac's disease, (the list goes on and on.) I do have family members with some of these conditions, which verified that auto-immune disease does run in my family.
I was also concerned that I would pass it on to my children, but found research that stated the chances of getting diabetes for the general public was 0.4%, if a mother had T1 the chances were still only 2%. Of course, these statistics vary slightly from study-to-study, but 1/50 chance made me feel better.
I tried to re-find the research where I found this information, but couldn't, or I'd link you to it!
Cindy, this is exactly what they said with our daughter just a couple of months ago. Her father and I both have thyroid issues, and lots of eczema in our family, but the only other person we can find in our family was my grandmother had a sister who had it in the 1930's.
Yeah, I didn't even have that. But... I had a great-grandmother who died around 1904 at the age of 33, and all the information that people seemed to know about it was that she was hanging out the wash, came in and drank a bunch of water, then she died.