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Which Diabetes Is Genetic And Runs In Families??

N

Neckarski_94

Well-Known Member
Messages
346
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Diabetes!!
The reason I ask this question is I have been diagnosed as T1. Listed on my Dads death certificate one of the causes of his death was Diabetes Mellitus! He got it much later on in life!

I have recently found out that one of my 2nd Cousins on my Dads side has Diabetes but he is T2. These are the only family members I know to have Diabetes.
 
Hi @Neckarski_94 Both T1 and T2 have some genetic components, but T1 (an autoimmune condition) is best known for running in families.

It isn't very well known, but T1 onset later in life is (also) known as LADA.
There may be many T1's who have been diagnosed as T2 by doctors who were taught that T1 was basically only diagnosed in children and young adults. In fact, some people only find out they are T1 having been initially diagnosed as T2 for years or even decades.
 
My brother is T1 late onset. No other diabetes in my family. In fact, I did a genetic test for type 2 diabetes on my dime. It said I‘m at low risk of ever getting D2. I can honestly say that was an utter waste of money !
 
I was always told that type 1 usually misses out a generation , apparently my grandfather had it , my father didn't but seems he passed it on to me , I never had children so stopped the cycle , I wonder if my grandfather died of it as insulin must have only just of been discovered and my father never mentioned it .
 
ianf0ster said:
Hi @Neckarski_94 Both T1 and T2 have some genetic components, but T1 (an autoimmune condition) is best known for running in families.

It isn't very well known, but T1 onset later in life is (also) known as LADA.
There may be many T1's who have been diagnosed as T2 by doctors who were taught that T1 was basically only diagnosed in children and young adults. In fact, some people only find out they are T1 having been initially diagnosed as T2 for years or even decades.
Click to expand...
While in Hospital originally they suspected I had T2 Diabetes Mellitus! They tested me for antibodies and my results came back that I had anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) autoantibody. My anti-GAD antibody is positive confirming I have T1.
 
Both T1 and T2 have genetic components, though you can get them without any diabetic family members.
Interesting article here

Genetics of Diabetes | American Diabetes Association

Get valuable insights into the genetic factors behind diabetes and find answers to your questions. Explore more resources on diabetes genetics.
diabetes.org diabetes.org

Also MODY is a rare entirely genetic form of diabetes where you need genetic testing to determine the type. Usually MODY folk have a number of family members with diabetes.
 
There are those rare type/s of diabetes the two kinds of MODY? And they are genetic. (I believe the best write up on MODY is on this website.)

Type 2 Diabetes is referred to as being epigenetic, as in there is genetic predisposition to being vulnerable to blood glucose dysregulation (I have read that it involves about 10,000 genes, so....), but the genes interplay with the environment, environmental factors. Without the environmental factors ,there is no T2D.

For insulin resistance based type two, it's too much glucose making too much insulin to deal with the too much glucose until the blood glucose regulation system breaks down to varying degrees. And the too much glucose comes initially from food and drink as the environmental factor. Is my understanding.

There is type 3c that comes from pancreatic damage, and that too is classed as environmental as it comes from surgery or chemicals from without, is my current understanding.

(I am at a loss of where reactive hypoglycemia/hyperglycemia fits in the scheme of things...)

Type 1, I thought, as in all auto immune diseases, but very very very happy to be corrected, they don't know the cause/s. They have theories. But the world within of gut biomes and digestive wall integrity is relatively new? Really new?

I have been visiting this forum for long enough now - nearly 10 years to know it is very foolhardy to put type 1 and type 2 together as one disease when talking about, well, just about everything diabetes, definitly including cause, except for one thing - dealing with blood glucose levels. We share one of the symptoms in common, and there is the shared experience - high blood glucose. And if you are on insulin - dealing with taking insulin, and the very dangerous diabetes lows? (And dangerous lows brought about with so called anti diabetes medications.) If I have misunderstood please jump in and educate me.
 
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Neckarski_94 said:
The reason I ask this question is I have been diagnosed as T1. Listed on my Dads death certificate one of the causes of his death was Diabetes Mellitus! He got it much later on in life!

I have recently found out that one of my 2nd Cousins on my Dads side has Diabetes but he is T2. These are the only family members I know to have Diabetes.
Click to expand...

T1 and T2 are completely different

Now also important to note.. my GP has said no one ever dies of diabetes.. but from complications related to diabetes.. whether serious hypoglycaemia or dka or more slow things like heart issues made worse by diabetes but never the diabetes itself.

I’m listed as late onset t1.. as is my dad, his brothers and sisters.. his mum(my nan) was t1. So there seems to be a link

I think it’s safe to say that if a parent has something there is an increased risk of a child getting it (even if only slight)

But you couldn’t say it runs in the family if it’s a mix of types
 
I was the first in my family to get diabetes, there’s no history of it at all on either side of my family, although during pregnancy one of my sisters did get Gestational Diabetes. It’s always been said if a family member has diabetes there is a slightly increased chance you could get it too.
 
In my case I would say definitely genetic T2. My mum and 4 of her sisters had it, don't know about the uncles. My 3 sisters and a brother has it (he's TOFI) and now its filtering down to the next generation, there has been one niece with gestational, plus a different niece and a nephew have been diagnosed in their late 40s - 50s. Don't know about other relations.

I was invited to the doctors' surgery when I was 26 to be told I was at risk of diabetes and was I interested in going on a trial and being monitored? At the time, I don't think there was any way they could link back to family records as my surgery was located at the other side of town to the rest of the family. I so didn't understand why they were calling me in as I was not overweight and was careful with what I ate most of the time. I remember being quite offended, I politely refused their offer.
 
Interesting reads. My sister had a baby adopted when she was 18 and they ‘found’ each other when he was in his 40s. They both have T2, so genetics might have some play in it.
 
My gp told me my pre diabetes was definitely genetic, due to me having no risk factors for diabetes. I was slim and fit. My maternal grandfather had late onset type 1, my mum had type 2.
 
Whist there is a genetic predisposition, it is also possible to being diagnosed with diabetes when there is no one else in the family with it.
This is the case for me - neither of my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, great grandparents, ... have any type of diabetes. When I was first diagnosed, I asked my Mum who told me her aunt had diabetes but she was related through marriage so her genes will not affect mine.
 
It shows how much technology and knowledge of diabetes has evolve , when I got diabetes 43 years ago there were only 2 types T1&T2 , I was told T 1 you normally got between the age of 16 and 25 and T 2 later in life , how wrong they were , i too was told T1 diabetes skipped a generation, my grandad had both his legs off before he died and was suspected of having diabetes but was never proved , diagnosis not being what it is today , neither my mum or dad have it only me ……. So good to be different I say hehehe ,who would know back in the day that there would be so many types of diabetes and their treatment would vary so much too ,
 
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