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Type 1 Type 1 and having children

Obviously having a family is a big decision so perhaps sit down with your wife and work this through:
How willing are you to not do it on the basis of a might?
My mum died in childbirth - I might have done too (I don't)
My dad had renal failure - I might too (so far so good). Neither parent diabetic.
Both grandfathers died of cancer (so far so good)
A distant relative got hit by a bus - I kid you not!
Anyway you get the picture - it might happen and it might not...
 
Thank you for the detailed info.

pavlosn said:
"Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes. Yet two factors are important in both. You inherit a predisposition to the disease then something in your environment triggers it.

Genes alone are not enough. One proof of this is identical twins. Identical twins have identical genes. Yet when one twin has type 1 diabetes, the other gets the disease at most only half the time."

......

" In general, if you are a man with type 1 diabetes, the odds of your child developing diabetes are 1 in 17.

If you are a woman with type 1 diabetes and your child was born before you were 25, your child's risk is 1 in 25; if your child was born after you turned 25, your child's risk is 1 in 100.

Your child's risk is doubled if you developed diabetes before age 11. If both you and your partner have type 1 diabetes, the risk is between 1 in 10 and 1 in 4.

There is an exception to these numbers. About 1 in every 7 people with type 1 diabetes has a condition called type 2 polyglandular autoimmune syndrome. In addition to having diabetes, these people also have thyroid disease and a poorly working adrenal gland. Some also have other immune systemdisorders. If you have this syndrome, your child's risk of getting the syndrome — including type 1 diabetes — is 1 in 2."

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/genetics-of-diabetes.html?referrer=http://www.google.com.cy/



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Thank you for your comment Scott.

Scott-C said:
It's a difficult question you've got there, @enea2016 , and I hope you find the answer to it.

If I was in the same position, I'd probably think, well, what are me and the wife going to say to each other in twenty or thirty years time when we talk about our decision all those years ago to not have a kid just because I happened to be T1?

I reckon we'd both deeply regret not having a kid just because there was a statistical chance that he/she might become T1.

Statistics and % chances of your offspring being T1 are one thing. Living your life is another. No-one gets anywhere without taking a few risks.

You're recently dx'd. Please don't make any life changing decisions about whether or not to have kids so early on in your T1 life.

Your perspective on it might change once you've lived with it longer. It's quite common in the first year or two after dx to see it as this overwhelmingly negative thing where the idea of having kids seems impossible, but after you get used to it, you might start thinking, yeah, I can manage this.

Best wishes, man.
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Question is, are either of your parents T1D? did they pass it on to you? you've not said so I assume they aren't diabetic, yet you are.

Do you have 'THE' T1D inheritance gene?.............
 
@enea2016 The advice above to not decide in the shadow of a recent Type 1 diagnosis is very sensible.

The first couple of years are hard emotionally, but it does get easier. So why not wait a little and see how you feel once you're more used to Type 1?
 
slip said:
Question is, are either of your parents T1D? did they pass it on to you? you've not said so I assume they aren't diabetic, yet you are.

Do you have 'THE' T1D inheritance gene?.............
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They are not diabetic. I don't know if I have the T1D inheritance gene, I would assume not.
 
enea2016 said:
They are not diabetic. I don't know if I have the T1D inheritance gene, I would assume not.
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thank you for answering my hypothetical question about inheritance, you assume not - when in fact we just don't know, and that is all we can say 'we don't know' - we never really know what the future holds..........for us or our children.

Not knowing doesn't stop us trying. ;)
 
Surely that makes no difference? My mum has type 1 diabetes she didn't get it from her parents but I got it from her? So the small risk is there if you have type 1, nothing to do with whether your parents also have it.
 
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