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Is diabetes hereditary?

T

TAnna32

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10
Evening all. I posted on here earlier this week as I’ve had high fasted and non fasted home blood glucose test results. This is after my dr ordered a hbA1c test next week. Wide range of symptoms for 9 months now including tingling in feet, needing to pee a lot (and suddenly sometimes), fatigue, sweating/feeling warm, vision issues, dry mouth, headache and recurrent ulcers, ear and sinus infections. My immune system is currently on par with my one year old son! Originally drs put this down to anxiety but I know more is going on. My new doctor seems to think so too due to my first ear infection turning out to be fungal!

I knew that nobody on my mums side of the family has had diabetes. I’ve just got in touch with my aunt on my dads side and have been told me that she is diabetic, my other aunt, great grandma and grandma were also diabetic. All of them type 1 and two diagnosed as adults (at a similar age to me now). To what extent is diabetes hereditary? I’m going to retest my blood glucose at home tomorrow and if it comes back as non fasted at 11.1 or thereabouts again, should I call my doctor before Wednesdays blood test? Particularly as I now have this information about it running in one side of the family, that I didn’t have previously.

Thank you
 
There is no doubt that the medical profession regard diabetes as hereditary and your own case seems to support this. There is an additional possible cause where some type 2's are concerned. If you subscribe to the view that there are environmental causes then a family that all eat round the same table might all be at risk and appear that the cause is hereditary when in fact it is due to the same poor diet.

My opinion is ...........all of the above.

As to whether a fasting reading of 11.1+ means you should call your doctor. A random reading of 11.1 is high and worthy of action but for most people it is not a case for urgent action and could wait until you see your HCP on Wednesday. It is not going to make any difference to your blood test. Of course you should contact your doctor if you feel ill or have any symptoms which need attention immediately but you have not mentioned any symptoms that can't wait.
 
Thank ou for your reply, most appreciated!
 
Hi @TAnna32,

Sorry to hear about your problems. My father was a late onset T1 diabetic as well, in the eighties they called it Juvenile diabetes.
It turned out i got the same, today they call it LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults). It's often misdiagnosed as T2 in the early stages.

My father lived all his life in rural Austria, ate mainly homegrown, organic veggies and fruits although we had a butcher business. I myself live since 20 years in Central London and hardly eat anything organic. Before i got tested for diabetes i had fasting levels of 10-15 too.

Anyway, i hope you'll get it sorted soon.
 
Am not sure if diabetes runs in families.
I am type2. One nephew is type1
My aunt is type2 but is not a blood relative as married to my uncle.
Apart from me and my nephew, there is no history of diabetes for family going back to the late 1890,s
 
I believe it can be hereditary as my maternal grandfather, mother and one of my brothers also had/has Type 2 diabetes.
 
Not hereditary in my case I am the lone type 2 in my family.
 
The only diabetic in the family as far as I'm able to find out.
 
my mothers sister was diabetic she died in her eighties not of diabetes but of a fall (. she was always skinny )
 
Well, according to the Promethease Report from my 23andme raw genetic data, I have 20 SNPs that carry a risk of Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 seems to be hitting our family for the first time as far as I know. My first cousin has also been diagnosed subsequent to my diagnosis. Wouldn't be at all surprised if my mother was undiagnosed as she was more overweight than I was, plus had the exact same body type ("apple"). She had a lifelong autoimmune condition (psoriasis), plus intractable even with medication hypertension and was a smoker. If she'd lived beyond 65, she might well have been diagnosed eventually.
 
No one else in my family, apparently.

I have had a cousin suffer and die with a rare form of leukemia but no other cancers.
We seem to be a cancer and diabetes free family. Don't ask me how!
 
Rachox said:
Not hereditary in my case I am the lone type 2 in my family.
Click to expand...
How far back can you check as genetic traits can skip generations.

Recessive traits like red hair can skip generations because they can hide out in a carrier behind a dominant trait. The recessive trait needs another carrier and a bit of luck to be seen. This means that it can sometimes take a few generations to finally make its presence known.
 

My Dad has done extensive family tree research and goes back a long long way. At least four generations back from me have been non diabetics as far as we know.
 
My mother was T2. I don't know if any other family members were diabetic, but I would think some were.
And as I am of Indian descent there would also be a genetic predisposition to Type 2 diabetes.
 
As far as I know, I am the only person in my family with diabetes.
When I was first diagnosed, the doctors were interested to know but I don't know why.
I asked my Mum to confirm. She came up with an aunt I had never heard off. After some digging, it turned out she was my Mum's aunt through marriage. So no blood relative.

My understanding is, if you have a history of diabetes in your family, you are more likely to get it but that does not not mean you will. Or that you will not if no one else has it.
 
T2D without serous symptoms was probably not diagnosed in earlier generations. Couple that with the fact that in many cases people would have died before the age that diabetes occurred and it doesn't seem much point at looking at your ancestors for signs of a genetic link.
 
My mother's sister is T2. I found that 2 cousins in the USA both twin sisters dating back about eighty years died from diabetic complications both had had amputations at some point. I think there may have been others.

As for other possibly genetically linked condition I had a cousin who had throat cancer then breast cancer and who had had RA since child hood she also developed Scleroderma. Two uncles had cancer one lung cancer the other throat cancer and cancer of the bowl.

My daughter is booked in for her second HbA1c test tomorrow morning.

Edit But I am not T2 my diabetes is drug induced.
 
Hi there

Sorry to hear of your recent symptoms. In my case I am pretty sure it runs in the family. My Dad was diagnosed at age 43 with type 1 diabetes and 20 years later at the age of 24 I was the second person in the family to be diagnosed as type 1 after dad. I have heard from my doctor that it is usually a mixture of environment and genetics but the trigger that sparks the immune response in type 1 diabetes is still largely unknown
 
Rachox said:
Not hereditary in my case I am the lone type 2 in my family.
Click to expand...

Hi Rachox, I do wonder sometimes whether that is more to do with so many people going undiagnosed? I know we have these 'well person' clinics now where everyone over 40 odd gets called in for a health test but I wonder what happened before this?, did people actually have type 2 but didn't know?

edited to add; ah, just saw Mr Pot's comment!
 
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