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Two questions...

A

Abbey

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...if that's ok?

I should start by saying I know very little about diabetes, so please excuse me if I have got some things wrong. :oops:

My daughter's boyfriend is 20y old and a type 1 diabetic - when he visits here he seems to eat an awful lot of biscuits/sweets etc - I know for a fact that he doesn't get these things at home - I have said to my daughter that it worries me...is it ok for him to eat a certain amount? He carries a 'pen' and injects himself after meals. He has 2 brothers and they are both diabetic.

The relationship seems very serious and they clearly love each other, they talk a lot about their future and how they want to have kids. What are the chances of them having a diabetic child?

I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice.
 
Hi Abby welcome to the forum

I anwser your second question first..

If you daughter and her boyfriend were to have a child, then the child would have around 1-17 chance of being diabetic.. Here some more information concerning predisposition to diabetes both T1 and T2 http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics ... etes.html..

My husband is also a T1 diabetic, he's son from his first marraige isn't diabetic..

According to the statistics, my own son (my children are from my first marraige) he has 1-25 chance of being T1 as I am a T1, my oldest daughter I'm not sure of her risks as I wasn't diagnosed with diabetes until I was having my son.. My youngest daughter however has 1-100 change.. They are all adults now 20-25 and none are diaebetic..

Your second quesion,

Yes as a T1 diabetic we can eat normal foods, But within reason as the higher the carbohydrate intake is at any one time, the harder it is to match your insulin to cover the carbohydrates you eaten and maintain good control of your blood glucose..

You will find most T1 diabetics who have good control do actually eat what most will percieve as a restricted carbohyrate diet.. As in my case the DRA (daily reccomended amount) of carbs for females is 210g of carbs per day, but I only eat between 60-120g a day, but you will find that I do have the advantage of being a small eater...

So it really does depend on his control if he's got really good control it's fine, but if he's got bad control then he would be a bit silly to continue along this path..
 
Thank you, that's very helpful. I didn't know if the fact that his two brothers also had diabetes played a part in anything..neither of their parents are diabetic. It's not something I've discussed with my daughter, it was moreout of interest on my part. A little girl who went to the Brownies that my mum runs sadly died recently and it just made me wonder.

I think his eating is probably very controlled during the week when his mother is in control - they live in the middle of nowhere and he doesn't drive - so now shops etc - it's when he comes here and has access to shops that he seems to go a bit mad. Understandably I guess...but it worries me.

I did wonder about contacting his mother and asking if I should be careful what I feed him - but I dont want to drop him in it about what he eats sweeties wise.

Difficult one!
 
Abbey,

Could I ask something, does the lad just eat biscuit and sweets all the time every-time he visits you or only occasionally, I am asking because he has type 1 diabetes and can be prone to hypoglycemia which means he has to eat something sweet when his blood glucose is running low to bring his levels back up.

Nigel
 
The sweet eating could be that he as nigel says, suffering from low blood glucose, and needs to boast them, or could be that he going a bit mad while it's available..

Perhaps play a bit naive and don't metion the sweets, pehaps if you are providing meals for him while he's in town give her a ring, say that you don't know alot about diabetes and would like to make a nice desert etc for him, but weren't quite sure about what he likes or how it pans out with the diabetes side of things... Hopefully she give you the low down on the types of foods he does or doesn't eat... Take it from there but don't tell mum about his weekend feasts, but just tackfully subtle hints either via your daughter or pehaps a quiet chat with him..

I actually come from a very large family of which I'm the only know diabetic of any time, My twin sister isn't a diabetic, neither are our other 4 sisters and 3 brothers, we are the babies of the family, so there's 3 generations below us on our family tree ( I'm mid forties and already a great-great auntie) so far no other diabetic only me :)
 
As long as he takes his insulin for the sweets/biscuits I can't see much wrong in that. He's young and as you say at home his diet is quite restricted so I don't blame him for wanting to go mad now and again.

Maybe when he comes around again you could all sit down and have a chat about his diabetes? I'm sure he would probably be more than happy to explain everything to you, how it works and how it impacts his life, stuff like that? You could say you don't know much about diabetes and would like to learn a bit more (seeing as he might become your son-in-law ;) ) or whether there are things you could do to make things easier for him when he's over?
 
Type 1 diabetics can eat sweets and biscuits, but only in small amounts. He could have a small sweet or biscuit after a meal, but shouldn't constantly be eating.

Also, there is quite a high chance a child will get diabetes if their parents also have it, but in is not certain. Scientists are still researching why diabetes is caused.
 
It all depends on whether he's 'dosing up' his insulin to cope with the influx of sweets/biscuits, or not. If he knows how to dose properly he will be able to inject (in theory) just the right amount of insulin to process the sugar in his blood (this does not just come from sugar in his food, but ALL carbohydrates. I say in theory as it can be hard to do in practice and as another poster said, the bigger the amount, the harder it is to do. Also, if he is eating constantly over a period of a few hours, rather than one big snack, it is harder to do this as the insulin can build up in the system and cause a blood sugar crash later.


So it really depends on a)his 'skills' as an insulin injecting diabetic and b) his motivation to keep his blood sugar controlled, if he is going on a bit of a bender, food wise, when he is 'free' at the weekends, he may not be too bothered about what he sees as an occasional high. And if occasional, a high (not too high!) is not a massive problem but if it's weekly then it's a bit more than occasional so not great.

Whatever you do, don't drop him in it by telling his mum he's having these foods at your house. I think that will embarrass him and he will feel like he's being spied on. There's nothing worse for a diabetic, particularly a young one, to feel like they are being scrutinised and treated differently. He's 20 so he's not a child, he's responsible for himself. Perhaps just ask him to explain to you how it works in terms of how his medication lets him eat sweet things, and just take it from there.
 
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