I'm a Type-1 diabetic on insulin for past 16 years. I'm living a healthy lifestyle with no complications and my monthly records are pretty normal. Now, as i was planning to settle down with my lover, there has been a confrontation from her parents saying tat my children would get diabetes for sure and since we are relatives and share a first degree relationship, the chances are more that our children would be born with deformities. They are not ready to marry their daughter to a diabetic. I wanted to know the chances of my children being born with some complication keeping a stress on the fact that i'm a diabetic. I'm really feeling distressed because of this. Please help me. Also heard from my doctor that chances of contracting the diabetic to your children are less if you are a Type1 Diabetic. Kindly clarify on this.
Dear ajith, I believe that chances of ur children getting Dm are pretty low. It wud hav been more so if u had Type 2
I have got this information from a diabetic site. Hope it helps:
In general, if you are a man with type 1 diabetes, the odds of your child developing diabetes are 1 in 17.
If you are a woman with type 1 diabetes and your child was born before you were 25, your child's risk is 1 in 25; if your child was born after you turned 25, your child's risk is 1 in 100.
Your child's risk is doubled if you developed diabetes before age 11. If both you and your partner have type 1 diabetes, the risk is between 1 in 10 and 1 in 4.
There is an exception to these numbers. About 1 in every 7 people with type 1 diabetes has a condition called type 2 polyglandular autoimmune syndrome. In addition to having diabetes, these people also have thyroid disease and a poorly working adrenal gland. Some also have other immune system disorders. If you have this syndrome, your child's risk of getting the syndrome — including type 1 diabetes — is 1 in 2.
And there is no more risk of other deformities developing in your child than that in a healthy couple without diabetes.Besides genetics is a complex phenomenon, what diseases even a healthy individual may develop cannot be predicted.So till the time science becomes so predictive that you could choose or reject your life partner based upon your genes, believe in God and hope everything stays fine.
I wonder if they done the stats based on your family having a history and the those who really have no history but they got it. I would think my odds of passing it on would be much greater since my father, nephew, grandmother and uncle all had it.
You can get further information from this online free ebook about genetics in diabetics.
And how would they respond to people who have absolutely NO family history of diabetes, and then their child gets T1?
Life is full of risks. If it's at all possible, I would tell you and your girlfriend to ignore her family. If she can't, then perhaps you might not want to marry her anyway, as her family will always interfere in your marriage.
Ruth
I have not gone back to check the stats but I always wonder when I read that type 2 is more 'hereditary' than type 1. I wonder only because of my personal experience. In the small town where I was born and raised, one family had 6 kids and all of them had type 1. This was back in the '50s. Then in my own family, we had one brother who got type 1 at age 4 (8 years after insulin was discovered), another got type 1 at age 19 and I got it at age 42. That is three out of six kids in my family.
Maybe these two instances are anomalies but still, one wonders.
I would be concerned about a first degree relationship marriage for any major chronic illness, but that is just me.
Wiki answers says:
A First Degree Relative has at least a ½ (50%) genetic link to a person.
Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Full Sister - Includes heterozygous twin/ multiple birth, and Full Brother - Includes heterozygous twin/ multiple birth.
A Second degree Relative has a ¼ (25%) genetic link to a person.
Grandmother, Grandfather, Granddaughter, Grandson, Aunt, Uncle, Niece, Nephew, Half sister, and Half brother.
FWIW.
And I don't know if this is accurate.
I'm the same Nell, I see T1 just as much a hereditary disease as my T2. I believe the hereditary factor is being emphasized more because it is being realized as a factor in T2 but T1 does sometime run in families and that makes it a hereditary disease just the same.
It is legal in many US states to marry a first cousin. I have heard that it is genetically equivalent to having a child at age 40 or so.
Ajith...hi! Is this a FIRST cousin you are contemplating marrying???
There has never been another Type 1 in my family on all sides.....
When I was diagnosed in1962, "diabetes was genetic and would be inherited by future generations. I was told that my children (I was 10) would not be D, but there was a good chance my grandbabies would be--it skips a generation, POPPYCOCK!!! y son is 36 and not D.
There has been a big shift now about the genetic thing--do a lot of research (look for peer reviewed studies on a library website) and get your facts together. Just because you have T1 D does not mean your kids will. T2 is kind of up to them.
I agree Ruth there is absolutely NO family history of Type 1 diabetes in my family, however I was unlucky enough to develop it. There does seem to be some other issues of possible autoimmune problems however in my family, as I have a 1st cousin with ulcerative colitis, and some studies have pointed this potentially is an autoimmune condition.
There is a greater genetic component in Type 2....lifestyle may come into play, but it is NOT the cause of type 2. One has to be genetically predisposed. And, if you are so predisposed, your proper lifestyle may indeed slow the progression of type 2....but you still may get it anyway. Type 2 is NOT all about lifestyle, and genetics also sometimes plays a role in type 1.
I think chances are pretty low. And if one of your kids would get diabetes in the future, i think you would be the best dad to take care of diabetic kids, as you know exactly what do do. Wishing you luck!
I have had this concern since I was diagnosed 4 years ago. Especially when I got engaged to my now husband (who also has T1) All of the doctors say that theres only a 20% chance of any of your children getting diabetes if there is no medical history of diabetes in the family. I've never seen or been told about babies born with deformaties because of their parent's diabetes...thats a whole different topic. Hope this helps!
Would it be the worse thing in the world for your child to have diabetes? After all....would it not be the best thing for a child to have a dad with diabetes to look up to?
No medical information here and just decided I would give you life facts instead. I have 2 daughters and been a diabetic for 32 years. We are a very happy family and they are grown up with no signs. You deserve that too. As a parent, I am more concerned about how you will treat my daughter and what kind of father you will be. They should too. Pokes some fun....if you have any problems I can send over some of my eldest daughters' ex BF's. They will welcome you back with arms wide open. :)
thats the point! my daughter has 8 months and she is pretty perfect. when you decide to be a father, you need to know that it is a road with a lot os risks but the travel is wonderful.