How likely is this?

[Depressed_Boy_Skelly]

I just want to figure out some stuff to do with my medical problems and a question came into my head. I wanted to post on here to see if maybe I could get some answers. (I will probably be posting this on other forums, just incase you see it again somewhere else).

I have Type 1 diabetes, whereas others in my immediate family and my Extended family have all got Type 2. (My nan had type 2 diabetes as well as my great nan, who had type 2 diabetes as well.

How likely is it that I would have Type 1?
Surely, if I had family members who have Type 2, I would get that type as well?
It's just confusing me a little, because I have no one in my family who has ever had type 1, apart from a aunt, but she is in no way actually related to me (married my uncle), and is adopted.

 

[MichelleF78]

I just want to figure out some stuff to do with my medical problems and a question came into my head. I wanted to post on here to see if maybe I could get some answers. (I will probably be posting this on other forums, just incase you see it again somewhere else).

I have Type 1 diabetes, whereas others in my immediate family and my Extended family have all got Type 2. (My nan had type 2 diabetes as well as my great nan, who had type 2 diabetes as well.

How likely is it that I would have Type 1?
Surely, if I had family members who have Type 2, I would get that type as well?
It's just confusing me a little, because I have no one in my family who has ever had type 1, apart from a aunt, but she is in no way actually related to me (married my uncle), and is adopted.

Hi I was diagnosed T1 December having previously been misdiagnosed as T2. Anyway to answer your point no one in my family has ever had diabetes, no one. There’s no rhyme or reason to it it just happens. Sod’s Law I’m afraid.

 

[Docb]

From my way of thinking its all about probabilities, there are no black and white solutions. If you want to, then you can look at the mathematics of risk analysis but at the end of the day, unless you are a skilled mathematician, you will almost certainly come back to @MichelleF78 's succinct appraisal. Sod's Law.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Type one is an autoimmune disease. Genetic factors can predispose people to type one but most (somewhere around 90%) of type one diagnoses don’t have a family history of type one. Having type one in your family means it’s worth being aware of symptoms so they can be caught early but without testing autoantibodies on a regular basis you can’t predict who will get it. Type 2 is an unrelated condition that shares a name because there are similar symptoms but type 2 isn’t an autoimmune disease.

 

[rebrascora]

I look at it from another perspective. How do you know that your nan and great nan both really had Type 2? We get lots of people here on the forum who are misdiagnosed Type 2 when they are actually a slow onset Type 1. Some have to fight years to get the correct diagnosis. Going back a few generations, Type 1 was referred to as Juvenile Diabetes, so if your relatives developed it later in life, they would just be assumed to be Type 2. I propose that they may possibly have both been misdiagnosed Type 1s. Whilst they say there is no genetic component, I believe there is a genetic predisposition to autoimmune conditions and Type 1 is one of those, so I suspect that there may be a less direct genetic element. Autoimmune conditions run in my mothers family and my sister and I have both developed different ones during menopause, which I think was likely the trigger. My mother's brother (my uncle) was Type 1 and I have a cousin (my auntie's son) who is Type 1 and another cousin's son, all on my my mother's side, so for me that is quite a high incidence to be coincidence.

 

[helli]

Type 1 and type 2 are completely different conditions. It's like saying "am I more likely to get breast cancer than break a leg because the last three generations had breast cancer but no one broke a leg."
In my family, no one else has diabetes of any type except me. I quickly gave up on asking "why me?' and moved on to "what can I do to minimise risk of complications?".
As @Thebearcametoo mentioned genetics can predispose people to Type 1 but not all.

 

[eggyg]

With my type of diabetes. Type 3c, pancreas surgically removed, I worry that my three daughters will get gallstones, leading to pancreatitis leading to a pancreatic tumour leading to surgery. You know the old saying “ female, fair, fat and forty”. That was me at 41 when this whole sorry saga began. My girls are a very similar shape to me ( pleasantly plump as my mother used to say) and the eldest will be 40 next year. I know the chances are very low, like Type 1 us Type 3cs aren’t common, whereas 90% of all diabetics are Type 2. Unfortunately, Type 1 does happen out of the blue.

 

[rebrascora]

@eggyg I think back to my mothers issues with gall bladder and acute pancreatitis and I don't believe she was ever tested for diabetes. She certainly developed bowl problems identical to how several Type 3c's have described their issues, to the point she lost confidence in leaving the house and she died of a stoke which makes me think she probably had elevated BG levels for a while, but I will never really know. This was all long before I was diagnosed. Wish I had had the knowledge about Type 3c sooner as I would have pushed for more testing and support for her.
Interestingly Mam wasn't overweight and only had a very occasional alcoholic drink at special occasions and ate a healthy diet having lived through the war and been a farmers wife.

Hopefully your daughters will be fine, but at least if any of them are not, issues will be recognized sooner and you have all the info to ensure they get proper treatment.

 

[Lucyr]

How old were your relatives when diagnosed? If they were surprisingly young to be diagnosed T2 then it could have been that you’re all misdiagnosed and are actually MODY. If they were older when diagnosed T2, and if they never needed insulin, or if you had DKA at diagnosis though then it’s more likely that they were T2 and you’re T1.

 

[Inka]

The majority of people diagnosed with Type 1 have no close relatives with it @Depressed_Boy_Skelly so you’re very normal. If you’re wondering ‘why me?’, just put it out of your head. It’s just chance. Most people with the ‘Type 1 genes’ do not go on to develop Type 1. A few people like us do and it’s believed that the cause is an external, environmental trigger, or maybe even a sequence of events. It’s not our fault in any way.

 

[Burylancs]

I just want to figure out some stuff to do with my medical problems and a question came into my head. I wanted to post on here to see if maybe I could get some answers. (I will probably be posting this on other forums, just incase you see it again somewhere else).

I have Type 1 diabetes, whereas others in my immediate family and my Extended family have all got Type 2. (My nan had type 2 diabetes as well as my great nan, who had type 2 diabetes as well.

How likely is it that I would have Type 1?
Surely, if I had family members who have Type 2, I would get that type as well?
It's just confusing me a little, because I have no one in my family who has ever had type 1, apart from a aunt, but she is in no way actually related to me (married my uncle), and is adopted.

Some recent research suggested that the genes for T1 and T2 are a very similar group and which type you get depends on which group of genes you get and how they play out in life. I'll try find that research again. It might have been from Exeter Uni - a major centre for diabetic research.
Also Type 1 and Type 2 is comparatively recent nomenclature, basically the WHO decision in 1985. Previously what we call Type 1 was IDDM ( Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus) or Juvenile Diabetes and what we call Type 2 was NIDDM ( non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) or Maturity Onset Diabetes. It was suggested during the WHO debates on names that they should be given different names with only one of them retaining the name 'diabetes' in it. That 2 we were lumbered with has certainly been damaging for the T2 community..