When Brookie was first diagnosed we were told that doctors/scientist know there is a genetic component to Type 1 but they are still unsure what it is. Any theorists out there? I'd love to know what you guys think.
My husbands brother is Type 1. He's 40 years old now and has been diabetic since he was a baby. in the last 40 years no one else in the family has been diagnosed. My daughter has been the first and that was almost 2 years ago. Obviously we question whether it's something that was "passed down" but of course the chance is there that it wasn't. We know lots of people who don't have any history of type 1 in their families. Anyway, just something I often think about.
According to some studies, there is only a 5% chance that a kid gets type 1 when one parent has it. It increases somewhat when both parents have it. My granny had type 1 since teenage and my mom and dad had diabetes (mom had type 2 and dad had LADA). Two of my 4 sisters has type 2 diabetes and I have type 1 so if it is not genetics then it is culture, because native americans has one of the highest incidence of both types of diabetes. We are Choctaw in ancestry.
No one else in my family has any form of diabetes. My mom has another autoimmune disease (ulcerative colitis) and always suspected that was the connection. Who knows?
The rate at which children of type 1 are likely to develop the disease also depends on other factors. I was told that since I was over 30 and had diabetes for 25+ years that my son has only a 2% chance of developing type 1 himself.
Of course someone has to be diagnosed to make up that 2%, but statistically it reassured me quite a bit.
For autoimmune disease, they think people are genetically susceptible, but that there has to be an environmental trigger to set it off. With auto-immune diseases increasing (including T1), I would think there must be more triggers in our environment these days.
Also, traditionally, and esp before 1922, women w/ T1 weren't as likely to have kids. Maybe there could be a slight increase in genetically susceptible kids now that we are successfully having kids. (Don't get mad at me ladies -- I'm not saying we *shouldn't* have kids -- it's a very small chance our kids will get T1, and I'm a proud mommy. (: )
No one else in my family has any form of diabetes. My mom has another autoimmune disease (ulcerative colitis) and always suspected that was the connection. Who knows?
The rate at which children of type 1 are likely to develop the disease also depends on other factors. I was told that since I was over 30 and had diabetes for 25+ years that my son has only a 2% chance of developing type 1 himself.
Of course someone has to be diagnosed to make up that 2%, but statistically it reassured me quite a bit.
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Hey Jenna,
I heard a story on NPR yesterday that some guy figured out that a parasitic worm likely relieves colitis. Cultures that are infected with these worms rarely have colitis. He worked with a couple scientists and infected himself with the parasites. His symptoms went away for a long time. He is going to re-infect himself.
This could really help a lot of people.
It makes me wonder if one day there will be a similar sideways treatment for type one. (maybe tying one's left hand behind one's back;)
I have an autoimmune disease - Scleroderma - and I have wondered if my daughter was more genetically prone to autoimmune disease because of that. Our Dr. did tell us that they are genetically prone to T1 and it is triggered by a virus.
This is an interesting post. I've often wondered this myself. I was always told that it comes from the mother's side and being sick alot as a young child can cause it. Someone on my mom's side had it and I was terribly sick when I was little. Our doctor also told us that breastfed babies have a less likelihood of developing it as well. I was formula fed as a baby. But, then again, maybe I just put all these together to try to explain why I got this problem.
My family has a history of Type 1 Diabetes. I was always told that it skips a generation; however, in our family it skipped two and the only people who have this are myself and my sister. No cousins, brothers, nieces/nephews/ aunts/uncles have this. This runs on my dad's side of t he family. It was my great-grandfather and my great aunt who had this. I was told that this is in the DNA, but only a certain few get this. Both my sister and I got this when we were sick. They say when your immune system is low, the disease will attack it. Both of my kids get checked and they both have it in their genes, but only 1 is at risk for getting it. My other son's genes are okay they said. The scale/rating (how the test is read e.g. 1-10) of him having this is less than 1%.
I heard a story on NPR yesterday that some guy figured out that a parasitic worm likely relieves colitis. Cultures that are infected with these worms rarely have colitis. He worked with a couple scientists and infected himself with the parasites. His symptoms went away for a long time. He is going to re-infect himself.
This could really help a lot of people.
It makes me wonder if one day there will be a similar sideways treatment for type one. (maybe tying one's left hand behind one's back;)
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Thanks Terry, I'll share that with my mom. She was diagnosed in the early 70's and had an experimental surgery done at the Mayo Clinic. There are much better treatments for colitis now. A worm sounds kind of gross, but I know if there was a worm that treated diabetes I'd be eating them up!
No one in my family, immediate or extended, has any type of diabetes. I'm just the lucky one I guess. I think doctors use the "genetics/environmental factor" theory as an excuse for "neither I nor anyone else has any freakin clue" haha
I did research on this topic and found that 70% of the type 1 diabetics in the US do not have any trace of type 1 among their relatives. I included a chapter in my book involving causes of type 1. Viruses are the most frequent trigger of type 1. In my case it was mumps and chicken pox in the spring/summer of 1945. I had both of those diseases within a short period of time while I was 5 years old. That probably caused internal damage and stopped my insulin production.
There is a program called "Trial Net" in which a person can provide a blood sample which can be tested for the presence of the gene that would predispose type 1, or type 2. My son in Atlanta had the opportunity to have my grandchildren (ages 3 and 7) tested. My son and DIL decided not to do the test. They do not want to know. I have noticed that my grandchildren eat a lot of candy and other sugary foods.
The genetic factor is REALLY complex in diabetes. Some 50 gene combinations are said to be involved in its development! That is really amazing!
While no person directly related to me has type 1 (besides a possible wasting disease in a great aunt at age 14 in the 1920s) no one has a trace of it.
However a great deal of my family has died from inflammation leading to cancer in the lower intestines and have suffered kidney diseases. My brother (age 21) already has kidney stones. A great grandparent died from kidney issues. And most of my family suffers from food intolerances (not as sever as mine.)
I truly believe it is passed down through the genes, the question is how those gene combinations are expressed in the individual in a given environment? For my family these genes were obviously very useful to my ancestors, even if they expressed themselves later in life (60+) to cause bowl and kidney diseases. So even with the painful deaths my ancestors when these genes finally started expressing themselves in a negative way, my great grandparent was old enough to have procreated three generations personally and lived to see grandchildren. My guess is that there is an environmental stimuli that has either changed(hygiene), disappeared (parasites), or been added (pesticides) that is causing a greater number of these genes to be expressed in youths in a non-beneficial way, like diabetes. Versus these autoimmune directing genes fighting infection/ parasites/ diseases and only negatively expressing themselves in our bodies later in life as the body ages.