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T1 - moving through the family

Llinz04

Well-Known Member
Messages
81
Location
Wales, UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have recently noticed a pattern with type 1 through my family, but when I was diagnosed, I was told it was NOT family related and was through a virus?

I'm just wondering if type 1 diabetes will always be passed on to family? Is this always true? And is there any possibility that type 1 can be prevented to be passed on from parents?
 
Diabetes is genetic so I'm not sure if there is a way and it is definitely not due to a virus
 
Hi @Llinz04 - it's a little more complex than @mc9 has stated. Genetically, once you are diagnosed with T1 you are more likely to pass it on, but there isn't a guarantee that it will be passed on.

What's become apparent is that while there is a genetic component to T1, which typically is a predisposition to autoimmune conditions in general (which is why you often see T1s with Coeliac's disease or Thyroid issues and other things), there is no guarantee you will ever get it. Typically, there is also some form of environmental trigger that kicks the process off, and it's not clear what that is, although a number of factors have been put forward, including viruses, lack of certain vitamins, cow's milk and plenty of others.

So coming back to the point. Yes, genetics plays a part in T1, but it's not the whole story. And we're not yet sure what the whole story looks like.
 
Hi @Llinz04 The honest answer is no one really knows, I don't have any other relatives with type 1, I have an uncle with type 2 but he's the only person in the family with diabetes. From what i've learned it's not directly linked to a virus however the onset can be triggered by another illness or a traumatic episode. It's a subject that is regularly talked about on the forum with members trying to make more sense of their diagnosis, it's worth having a read through:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/type-1-diabetics-family-connection.108174/#post-1254711
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/type-1-genetics.105722/#post-1221753
 
It is in my family, on my mum's side, rumours of her mum, my nana, had type 1, but she died when my mum was aged 6, my uncle, me and then my granddaughter.

This is an unusual case, but three out of four children in the same family, 1 girl and 2 boys, have type 1, as far as the parents know, no type 1 in the family.
 
mc9 said:
Diabetes is genetic so I'm not sure if there is a way and it is definitely not due to a virus
Click to expand...

An illness, shock etc could possibly be the trigger to type 1.
 
I'm a 4th generation type 1 and mine was triggered so they say by the flu virus.
 

You have to have the Type 1 genes to dvelop Type 1, however most people with the genes do not develop it. There has to be an environmental trigger. That isn't known yet. It may need a series of events for Type 1 to occur.

My consultant told me Type 1 is 20% genes, 80% environment.

If you're asking about the risk of passing it on to your children, then there is a very slightly increased risk, but that depends on a number of variables eg what age you were when you developed it. It certainly isn't a fact that your children will get it.
 
mc9 said:
Yes but there's no type 1 virus which is what I interpreted that as
Click to expand...

That's correct You can't catch Type 1 from another person.

But some studies have suggested a virus may trigger the immune attack - just a normal virus, but one that for some reason our bodies overreact to.

I think it needs a sequence of events to trigger Type 1, and we've just been unlucky enough to have this happen to,us.
 
My friends husband and his brother have type 1.

all three of my friends children have type 1. the brother doesnt have any children.
 
If the mother is type 1 diabetic, there is a 1-4% chance the child will be type 1. If the father is type 1 diabetic there is a 4-8% chance the child will have type 1 diabetes. This is the same for each child you have, first child, second child, third child, the chance with each pregnancy is the same.
 
No one else in my family has type 1 and I was diagnosed aged 21 however a month before my diagnosis I had a bad ear infenction and always wondered if that triggered something as I have heared a virus could lead to it but it's never really known what causes type 1
 
It runs in my father's side of the family and I'm one of six in the family, 4 sisters and 1 brother and so far none of the others suffer any type of diabetes.

I think in my case the trigger was Marriage! Most definitely marriage, l have been saying this jokingly for the past 26yrs and we've been married for 27.

Regards

Martin
 
My paternal grandfather died from complications of diabetes (type of diabetes unknown), my paternal grandmother has type 2, my dad and his sister have type 2, myself and my little cousin (from my dad's side) have type 1. My mum's cousin had type 1 too.

I have a feeling my trigger may have been a sudden intolerance to cows milk as a teenager.
 


Cows milk is a well know trigger for type 1, lots of studies to show it, strangely never mentioned by diabetics, no one is telling them https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11206413
 
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