I have a friend whoever 8 yr old granddaughter was just diagnosed with T1. There is T2 on both sides of the family and the drs said because of that she inherited it! Please correct me, I’m sure you will :)), but I thot when a person got T1 it was because something untoward happened to the pancreas like a virus or something like that. I would really like to know what people think on this! Thanks Karen
That’s strange…Type 1 is not related to type two. It can be hereditary (type 1 doesn’t have that strong of a link though), however you wouldn’t inherit type 2 genes and then get type 1 out of it.
I actually fall into a similar category. Both my parents are type 2 but I am type 1. So far as I know there has never been a link suggested between type 2 and type 1 (genetic link anyway).
These aren’t exact but I read that a father who is type 1 gives their offspring an approx. 6% chance of T1 and a mother who is type 1 gives her offspring around a 4% chance of T1 and it is around a < 0.5% chance in the general public. Obviously genetics plays a role but is not the only answer. You do see those families who have a parent and multiple children who all have type 1.
I’ve got 5 cousins with Type 1 and a whole slue of Great Uncles and Aunts with Type 2. When I got it I heard it 2 ways. You can inherite it AND you can get it from a virus that causes your pancres to become less (way less) active. I’m a Type 1 myself.
I think the latest story goes that you have the genes for it, and something like a virus activates it. I’m type 1 and no one I know of in my family has it (but older generations didn’t used to talk about their health, and then there’s misdiagnosis, so who really knows?).
Thanks all!! Anyway you get it doesnt seem fair!!
I’m like you who really knows? Thanks for telling me the latest story on it.
Well… Type 1 is caused by an AUTOIMMUNE response from the body, where it starts attacking it’s own self (ie, the beta cells in the pancreas)… as to why that happens is up to a huge debate. It is all pure speculation at this time. Some people claim they were sick before they got it, some say they were just really stressed out, some say they were abusing drugs or alcohol, or carbs a lot (yes I’ve a read a few people say that), and yet… some people will say they were doing NOTHING at all, and that they were perfectly healthy when they developed it. People at any walk or point in their life can develop it… And while some minimal virus in some obscure little study, some time ago, was sort of associated with it but not really, it was by no means conclusive, nor very exhaustive… and alas, just more speculation. We just don’t know. T2 also has SOME autoimmune components to it… which are not yet understood… as well as T1 has SOME hereditary components as well.
Thank you spring I hope to be! It’s rough on all of us!
Something must have caused a gene to mutate somewhere along the line which caused certain unlucky Individuals to be predisposed to Type 1. Humans have been experimenting with themselves and other People and animals and herbs{some toxic by themselves or when mixed)since early times. There is so much of the past in our blood and bodies. The triggers are all around us. More and more dangerous (whether waste or intentional) chemicals have been added to our air water, land, food, etc. for a Very long time. But as Doris says, “Who knows.”
This is the typical cause most Scientists/Doctors like to agree on since they supposedly don’t know for sure.
http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_causes_type_1_diabetes_0…
When I was diagnosed with Type 1 at 19, I was the first in my family to have it. My grandfather on my mother’s side had Type 2. I fell into the “stress, virus, lack of sleep” must have caused it category, as I was away at college just before mid-terms my freshman year. I went quite a while thinking I had done something to myself to become diabetic.
Then, last summer my father was diagnosed Type 1, at the age of 54. The endocrinologist (same as mine) even sent blood to other hospitals for analysis, including Mayo, because my dad just didn’t fit the category of Type 1: Aged, inactive, overweight, poor diet, every Type 2 warning flag you can get. All analysis came back that he was Type 1. Now I feel that it was possibly genetic, and I didn’t mess myself up.
We don’t have diabetes of either type in our families (my husband’s or mine), but our daughter was diagnosed Type 1 in November. We do have autoimmune disorders on my husband’s side of the family – MS, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s – I understand that researchers are looking at this link. I know Type 1 is the autoimmune system turning on itself, attacking the pancreas. Let’s say T1 was lurking underneath, then a virus or some environmental stressor brings it to the surface because the body can’t handle all of it at once. So it seems like heredity can predispose you to T1 or your genetic map will set you up to develop it, but I haven’t heard of a T2-T1 connection.
Both sides. I had a great uncle who was a Type 1 on my mother’s side also on her side my g-father was a TYpe 2. On my dad’s side are my 5 Type 1 cousins and quite a few unlces and aunts with Type 2. My daughter is a Type 1 and my dad was a Type 2. My mom passed with pancreadic cancer. According to just her dr after he found out about all the diabetes on her side he said “that side of your family has weak pancreases”
There is a strong genetic link, but also a non-genetic component. That’s best shown by the fact that identical twins share the disease 40-60+% of the time depending on how far out you follow them. That’s strong evidence that there are multiple factors at play, including a genetic one. Since many times D does not occur at the same time for both, it is not certain that the ‘X’ factor which triggers the disease is the same for both twins, it’s likely different in some cases.
Many people, myself included, are the first in their family with T1 (until my little bro was dx 14 years later). However, this does not mean that the disease is not genetic. T1D is not monogenic, it is caused by numerous genes that interact with each other. So it won’t show up until several genes are present at the same time (and that X factor shows up). That means that your mom may have part of the genetic puzzle, and your dad has the other part. And only when the two pieces of the puzzle collide will T1D result. For example, many T1’s have HLA-DR3 and HLA-DR4 (2 alleles of the same gene). That can only happen when ma gives one and pa gives the other one, along with other pre-disposing autoimmune genes. Those other autoimmune genes are part of the reason that other autoimmune diseases are more common in T1s.
Or, it can all come from one parent. In that case, it is more likely that someone else in the family tree has T1, but that is still not a certainty.
The genes are distinct from those that cause T2D, but that doesn’t mean that families can’t have both.
I say: who knows?
Some say it could be genetic. If so, that could explain my T1, as I also had a paternal aunt who was T1.
Some say it could be caused by trauma to the body. If so, that could explain my T1, as I had a hernia operation about 8 months prior to diagnosis.
Some say it could be caused by a virus/illness. If so that could explain my T1, as I had a super bad case of the flu requiring hospitalization about 9 months prior to diagnosis.
Some say it could be caused by cow’s milk. If so that could explain my T1, as I was never breastfed.
Some say it’s all environmental. If so that could explain my T1 because who knows what’s in the air I breathe or the water I drink?
Really they’re all theories and NO ONE knows exactly what causes it.
Thanks for all your answers. I think it’s all cleared up now! We don’t know. Lol
Interesting discussion, I’ve heard those theories and that T2 can so prevalent in a family that Type 1 starts accuring. I worked with a hispanic lady whose daughter had was T1 who only had T2s in their family, but I read that it too. I can remember where though, so do quote me. For us, my son was dianosed Dec. 09 so I am still educating myself as much as I can. It was my mom’s mother that I never got to meet, she was dianosed a year after insulin was discovered, she was lucky to get insulin just in time. Thank you Novo Nordisk! I know you guys know how horrid those early decades must have been for type1s. I gather that no one in the family had any idea of what was going on with her and as poor as the family was, (my mom said the only times she saw doctors was during “emergencies episodes”) she still lived another 40 years on 1 injection a day! Amazing. My mom had gave me her wedding ring several years ago (it is a simple one and its the only other ring I wear everyday besides my own wedding ring). Now that my son was dx I feel this incrediable connection with her, and for my son, a sorrow that this came to him thru me. Thanks to modern medicine and technology we have the tools to help them/yourselves manage it well, and hope for cure.
Interestingly enough, I was the only one with “any” kind of autoimmune issue in my family (and the only diabetic) until last year when my mom tested positive for RA - after not seeing a doctor about her arthritis for 30+ years.
Most likely there is autoimmune heredity. I am Type 1, but no diabetes in my family. My father had horrible allergies. Drs now say that really bad allergies are the result of a defective immune system. My mother had an autoimmune disease that attacked her liver, so I had to get something. Her mother had RA (rheumatoid arthritis).
My coworker has a type 1 mother, and isn’t diabetic but has always had horrible allergies. Last year her 17 year old was diagnosed with UC (ulcerative collitis - autoimmune) and pancreatitis (possibly autoimmune, they’re not sure).
It seems to me if you have a defective immune system and reproduce, you are likely to give your child a defective immune system and it may or may not be the same autoimmune disease you have.
Well, fact of the matter is? They really don’t know for sure and if they do? They aren’t saying…
Just imagine… If it was that Much Inherited , do you really think they would tell a T1 not to have children?
The gov’t would probably step in an Give any T1 Female a hsyterectomy… think back to the nazi days…
The Insurance Co.'s wouldn’t even think of Insuring any parents that have T1 genes… and have kids…
and As for t2’s? How come so many get it being Normal Weight now?
T1’s have a Auto-Immune Disease… not just Diabetes… It is creating Anti-bodies to destroy ALL our Organs, not just our pancrease and iselt cells…and they are narrowing down the causes…and I bet, we won’t Want to know them either… Not until they find a way to Keep them happening… and causing it…
Be it in our Gene’s and can destroy them while we are in the womb or even before that conception…( Nova- story working on the Genome Project)
I think it would be a good Thing to prove that Both types can have kids with Either type … then we would have some 20 million yelling for a Cure, not just a few million t1’s…
8 yr old kid with this disease? Geech, Well it’s better to have it now, than it was even 10-15 yrs ago and with any kind of luck? She will be cured in her lifetime… May even have a Intermediate Cure of just getting an Injection is Islet Cells every 6 mos until a full cure …or someother type of Cure to buy us more time …
Maybe it’s In the Water?
All I know, is I got it thru my Mother ( a Adult Onset T1) as did my Brother and my Sister…
and I choose Not to take the chance on having kids as well…
I married a woman with kids …