• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Hereditary link with type 2

Oldvatr said:
Heriditary? Yup - my mother was T1D from age 14, but you would hardly notice it. No other previous ancestors reported as diabetic.
Click to expand...
To be fair oldvatr, there's no identified hereditary link between T1 parents and T2 offspring. The work they've done at Exeter Uni shows that there is a more identifiable genetic pattern for the linkages in families with T2 than T1 as well.

It's a fascinating area.
 
You may find it useful to have a read of this link.
https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/
The link is talking about bereavement, but a diagnosis of diabetes is actually very similar, and our emotional reaction is also very similar.

Anger is just one of the phases we go through.
It is perfectly natural, perfectly understandable, and it usually passes as we go through the other stages, eventually (hopefully) coming out the other side into a kind of acceptance.

The trick is to feel the anger without turning it onto our loved ones.
They deserve it no more than we do.
 
To be fair, I don't give tuppence as to what triggered my diabetes. I have it, and I have to find ways of coping with it. Genetics (if applicable) has done its damage, and is unlikely to cure me now, So I do not blame my parents for going ahead and having kids knowing that diabetes is around. I was not diabetic when I sired my flock, so on a selfish note, I can be relaxed about it.
 
Thanks and I appreciate your comments which I am sure are well intentioned. I think however I may not have given the full picture.

My mum was only diagnosed herself about 3-4 years ago and has in fact done extensive research as she has already gone through the Michael Mosley blood sugar diet which she found most effective, in fact his book is the first thing she bought me. Her whole attitude is too light hearted and jocular - she said effectively "welcome to the diabetes club".

It is not a mild condition and certainly something an otherwise healthy and slim 38 year old should have to confront. Had she treated it more seriously I may have been given a warning things could have turned out very differently for me.
 
In my immediate family there is just myself and my mother's sister who are T2, though my wife's brother is T1.5 and several of her cousins are T1 she is not diabetic.

My grandson's other grandfather and his other grandmother are T2 his great grand father and great grand mother on his fathers side where both T1. So I was a bit concerned when he took up body building and despite my misgivings ate inordinate amounts of carbohydrates and protein and went from 11 stones to 19 stones lots of it muscle but not all, but so far he has shown no signs of diabetes at all.
 

OK, so you need to understand that no one who has gone through the Michael Mosely blood sugar diet (800 cals a day for 8 weeks) is light hearted about it. It takes effort, dedication, self control and a lot of commitment. They may appear light hearted. They may be trying to lift your spirits. They may be offering a light at the end of the tunnel. But believe me, they have take it seriously, and they are trying to help you.

So perhaps have a rethink of how you are approaching this.

You seem to be under the impression that it is unfair for a slim fit healthy 38 year old to get diabetes.
Well I can tell you that it is unfair for ANYONE to get diabetes.
Especially the people who have already had diagnoses of other co-morbidities that they have been battling for decades prior to their T2 diagnosis.
Or the babies and children who are diagnosed with T1 before they reach an age when they can comprehend what an injection is.

From your description of your mother, she seems to have taken her own health seriously, made concerted efforts to help herself. She has read and researched and subjected herself to some severe dietary changes.

Plus, if she was only diagnosed 3-4 years ago, why on earth do you think she could predict you would develop T2 at the age of 38, when her own diagnosis came so much later?
 
Last edited:
Brunneria - my point is that all she needed to do is to tell both her children that she has developed a chronic condition that may be hereditary and they need to get blood tests annually (or whatever the recommendation is). She said nothing to us about it.

I just cannot understand how this cannot of been part of the thought process.

As soon as I was diagnosed I told my brother that he and his children should be tested. It is one of the first things that occurred to me.

I am not entirely sure I agree with your assertion that everyone is equally blameless when it comes to developing diabetes. If you are pre-warned that you are high risk and ignore advice and develop the condition, this is surely completely different from having no awareness whatsoever and develop the condition through ignorance to the risk factors.
 
For some of us, despite doing all we can to avoid or delay diabetes, it happened. Its just the way it is.
 
If your Mum has been told that her diabetes is her fault, solely due to lifestyle, why would she think that you could get it? Did she actually know it could be hereditary? and it was possible for you to be nearly half her age and get it?

Please try not to blame her, but use her knowledge and experience to help you. Has she got hers under control? if so, she may not think it is a big deal now, as she will probably avoid any of the complications.
 

Please note that you are changing the emphasis of my words to misrepresent them.

I said 'it is unfair'
You have changed that into trying to assign blame.

The reason I use the word unfair, is because if you take 100 people and give them the same diet and exercise regime, whether good or bad, some of them will develop diabetes, some of them won't. I see that as unfair.

And I certainly do not assign blame to people who develop diabetes while living lives identical to those around them who do not develop diabetes. If you want to blame people, then you can. None of us can stop you. But there is a great deal of support and help available here on the forum for those of us who have set aside the blame culture, and decided to look forwards to do the best we can with the situation we find ourselves in NOW, rather than looking back and deciding whose fault things are.
 
Last edited:
Red_Fox22 said:
Or am I being too harsh?
Click to expand...

Possibly.

several things from Diabetes.co.uk that stand out for me:

1) If one parent has type II then risk of having type II increase by 15 %.
2) Neither type I nor type II may be entirely genetically determined.
3) Environmental factors act as either ‘initiators’ or ‘accelerators.’

Would your 68 year old mother have thought of researching her condition once diagnosed? I know several people with type II and only one of them has thought to do any research at all. We seem to be in the minority if you consider how many type IIs there are.

I think I'd be more worried if the risk increased by a much higher percentage, but suggesting I could then do something about it suggests that we should all change our ways anyway, regardless of the heredity nature of the disease.
 
Red_Fox22 To be honest and this may seem a little unsympathetic. But what I cannot understand is that your elderly mother had a chronic life threatening condition and you where totally unaware, It could be she was wondering why you had not noticed something was wrong and was waiting for you to ask.
 
It could also be because she didn't want you worrying about her.
 
[QUI am the only one in my immediate family with any kind of Diabetes and I know it is/was lifestyle .OTE="Red_Fox22, post: 1527159, member: 393690"]I thought it was significantly higher if the same parent had a parent with t2 as is the case here. My mum has it and her dad had it. I thought this made it about 25% chance that as a child of hers I would develop it at some stage.[/QUOTE]
 
JohnEGreen - I do not live with her or near her. She is up north and I live in London. I see her very infrequently so this would never have been something I would have been in a position to judge. Anyway, she claims she is fine and has her diabetes well managed.

Irrespective of whether you choose to do research after diagnosis a key fact here is that her Dad had the condition. I just cannot believe it could not cross your mind to warn your children that they may be at risk at some stage in the future.

I fully accept my rant will not change anything but it is niggling me an frankly affecting my relationship with her and nothing anyone has said thus far has really altered my initial view.
 
Red_Fox22 said:
I fully accept my rant will not change anything
Click to expand...

Indeed it won't and asking some random people on a diabetes forum to judge your mum won't do much either.
It looks like you are still in the anger stage and until you get through it and decide to take control of your condition and "own" it then there's not much we can do. My dad was diagnosed years before me but did it change my ways.. no of course not. I carried on eating too much and until I was diagnosed did nothing about it. Once it was "my" condition I addressed it and have it fairly well under control. Your anger would be better used in getting yourself into that kind of mindset rather than having a go at your mum who presumably isn't a member of the forum so isn't in a position to respond.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but I think you need to take control.. blaming someone else really isn't going to help you long term. Maybe try and find out how your mum is controlling her condition and work together with her. Some mutual support may be just the ticket.
 
@Red_Fox22
I am a 5th generation Hypothyroid , but do I blame my Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, or Great-Great Grandmother for my condition ..........no I don't, what's the point in that, my siblings haven't been affected so I also may not have been.......its pot luck with a lot of genetic illnesses........including diabetes.........and before you ask yes I have warned my own daughters they may be at risk........... but only because their paternal Grandmother was Hypothyroid too, and they are nearing the age when she and I developed it........
 
@Red_Fox22 - It could be worthwhile considering that your mother has got her diabetes under control and that she is living a good life with it.

Perhaps, as you see your Mum infrequently, she doesn't want to spend that precious time with you discussing diabetes. When she was diagnosed a few years ago, and did her research on it, did you take much interest in it? Did you do any research in to the condition she had been diagnosed with, or did you rely on her feedback to you?

A few months ago, during a consultation with my Endochronologist, we were reviewing my medical history, and that of my immediate family. He ordered up a very extensive list of tests to be done, for some fairly scary autoimmune (AI) conditions, because of the saturation of AI conditions experience by both my parents. When they all came back negative, he just couldn't believe it. Even with an extremely high likelihood, it's not necessarily nailed on. Thanks goodness. That may change over time, for all I know.

Curiously enough, I had quite a long conversation with my niece a couple of weeks ago about diabetes. Her father is T2, her paternal grandfather (my father) was a steroid induced diabetic. In her 20s, she wanted to talk about it.

We talked about the genetics in her paternal family, but can't really have much conversation about her maternal family, as her mother was adopted, with little known about her lineage. My advice to her was to stay trim and keep moving, to eat a sensible diet, but to enjoy life's adventures and make the most of them. Does that make me a bad auntie? I do hope not.

Cut your Mum some slack. Whatever decision she made, consciously or not, can't be changed and don't let it come between you. Families are precious.
 
You are obviously very angry after your diagnosis.Life is often unfair.......ask any young stroke or cancer patient.Your Mum is perhaps like many elderly mothers,when asked how they are,especially when family are many miles away,the reply is'Im fine don't worry'. I would take all that anger and direct it at diabetes.Your mother has got to grips with hers and you could support each other.There is a post on this forum thanking diabetes for turning a life around health wise.Many on here are eating and living more healthily for the first time ever because of their diagnosis.You have your age on your side and a future where,with advances in technology there are even more positives to come.You are in control now.Take care!
 




My Hba1C was 129 at diagnosis, I'm 54 and normal BMI and no one has ever mentioned the possibility of T1, so I find this quite worrying...
But to bring it back on topic, my Mum, her 2 sisters, one brother and her father were all T2, but neither of my (older) brothers are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…