i am throwing this one out there. i did a search for posts about extensive family history, and found a quote about “80 to 90 percent are the first in the family to be diagnosed” i have a huge family history. i am one of four boys to a type one father and a none diabetic mother. of the four, three were type one (i saw were because the oldest died at 3 years old… that was his diagnosis). i now have three boys and a girl of my own. ages 17, 14, 12, and 7 (the girl is the youngest) of them only the 12 year old boy is free of diabetes. my brother (only the T1 had children) has similar ages children. the oldest and the youngest have both been diagnosed… when we walk into the joslin, everyone knows us, even doctors that i have never seen. i was wondering if this is as uncommon as i have been led to believe.
Well, what do they consider “the family” - nuclear family, extended family?
My paternal g’ma had 8 brothers and sisters. And T1 is rampant in the generation of the grandchildren of these people (I don’t know what that makes us - second cousins twice removed?)There have been 32 diagnosed. But, nothing outside of that generation. Go figure.
i do not know what the reference was, but i just hit my direct family, i think that if i go back to the twenties i could easily top 100 if i go out to my cousins the post would be fairly endless. so i was asking for nuclear family…
Hi Lev,
Out of 20 of us still living, there are 6 of us with different types of diabetes. We have two type 1’s, three type 2’s and me the only type 1.5 In extended family there are a LOT. When we go to family reunion, there is diabetes in each family present. I am sorry I forgot to add the three pre-diabetics in that first 20
I was the ONLY diabetic in my family when I was dxed. My mom was shocked, because that was the last thing she had to worry about, especially me at 29. However, a little over a month later, I had a 2nd cousin, 1 year older that died at dx of type 1.
I think one should consider the fact that Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, and therefore - specifically in Type 1’s - one should also look at family history of other autoimmune diseases and not only Type 1 diabetes. Here is a list of other autoimmune diseases.
First, you must inherit a predisposition to the disease. Second, something in your environment must trigger diabetes. Read more about it on the American Diabetes Association’s webpage. Type 2 diabetes has a stronger genetic basis that type 1 but it also depends more on environmental factors.
This is also on that webpage:
"In general, if you are a man with type 1 diabetes, the odds of your child getting 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…
…Type 2 diabetes runs in families. In part, this tendency is due to children learning bad habits eating a poor diet, not exercising–from their parents. But there is also a genetic basis.
In general, if you have type 2 diabetes, the risk of your child getting diabetes is 1 in 7 if you were diagnosed before age 50 and 1 in 13 if you were diagnosed after age 50.
Some scientists believe that a child’s risk is greater when the parent with type 2 diabetes is the mother. If both you and your partner have type 2 diabetes, your child’s risk is about 1 in 2."
Here is a discussion we had called “are you the chosen one” that you may find interesting.
Im my family 3 childred 2 type 1 diabetics me and my brother 24yo and 22yo. Lil sister is a no she is 19 almost 20, my grandfathers on both parents side developed type 2 in thier 80’s and have both passed. So just me and my brother. Mom has one sister with one son, no diabetes, Dad has 5 sisters and 6 brothers they all have between 3 and 9 kids no diabetes there either… strange