Children of Type 1

[catty]

Hi
Any ideas of what to watch out for in my children. Their father has Type 1 and the oldest is 9 and youngest is 2 (four of them) an and so far their sugar levels have been ok in the morning . We check every now and then,

I suspect that they are showing some early symptons but not sure if its just being kids...

Any help or stories from those who are younger on how you knew it . (My husband was 12 but his mum knows there was signs leading up to it for years she just didn't know what it was)

Thanks

[DeusXM]

My advice? Give your kids a break. Just because their father has T1 doesn't mean they're likely to develop the condition too.

There's absolutely no prizes for catching T1 early, so unless they're obviously symptomatic, I'd lay off the testing, let them enjoy being kids, and you should sit back and enjoy being a family without worrying about things like this.

As for warning signs - I hate to say this but I'm afraid I really don't believe your husband's mother when she says there were signs for years. T1 develops VERY quickly - within a few months or so. On my 14th birthday, I was a slightly chubby kid. 4 months later, I looked like I'd just stepped out of Auschwitz and I was peeing every hour and chugging down water constantly. So that's how I knew there was something wrong. One of the 'good' things about T1 is that when it strikes, you really can't miss it. There aren't really any early warning signs.

If it's any consolation, I think the risk of passing on diabetes to your offspring is something like only 2-10% higher than if neither parent had diabetes. So it's still highly unlikely that any of your kids ever will develop T1. It's not impossible, but it's unlikely.

[KickStart101]

Hi Catty: :) I'm Glad that you are here. Welcome.

It's probably a Mother thing. ;) I also checked
my Kids occasionally. I also had their blood run
through at the lab just to make sure they were
okay. My Son just had the complete testing for
Diabetes last mth. plus other conditions in our
Family. My Daughter had hers done on Friday.
They both came back with flying colours thankfully.
They didn't mind.

My Endo told me when I was pregnant with my
Son that my Kids had a 4% chance of getting
Diabetes. A child of a Diabetic Father has
about an 8% chance. Neither number is high.
So it's not very likely to happen, as Deus mentioned.
But we still worry right? :)

Some Symptons:

Very thirsty
Urinating often(sticky residue on toilet/seat area)
Fruity smelling breath(usually apples)
Irritible/whiny
Lethargic/fatique
Clammy skin
Noticable weight loss
Itchie skin
Hunger
Headache

There's a few. Of course, with hot weather Kids
will drink more and run to the can more. And
sometimes they are just plain irritible/whiny for no
apparent reason.

My Youngest Brothers Kids are in their late 20's
and one is 13. None of them have Diabetes nor
his GrandKids. My Kids are also in their 20's.

Anyways, Welcome again and try not to worry
too much Mom. ;)

[caswellhb]

My father was T1 and the best thing my parents did for us was answer our questions truthfully.
They didn't test us or make us worry, they were just very honest and would explain things as they happened.

Heather.

[catty]

Thanks for your warm welcome. Yes mothers do worry...
Thanks so much.
I havn't been concerned at all untill the last year to the point that I think I was just going to ignore it and then it might never happen but I have started to change my mind in the last while . As parents we are responsible for our children including their health so I will be a bit more aware of their health.

By the way testing their sugers etc is not done in a negative way to stress the kids. I do it every 3 or so months before they wake in the morning and they are none the wiser with exception of my 2 year old who wakes up but it doesn't worry her as she always puts her finger out for daddy to test .. he doesn't he just pretends but she thinks its a game and when she is tested she doesn't even make a sound she just wants the machine to go beep ... Got to love them!

[notme]

Hi Catty, I have five children and type one diabetes. I got diabetes later in life, but did worry about my young children. My youngest was two at the time. My youngest is now 22 and none of my kids have type one.

I would agree with Deus, just let them be kids. You won't miss the signs if they are there and there is no early warning signs.

If it makes you feel better to test them, I am sure it won't hurt anything, just kind of a waste of strips!! ;)

[xMenace]

My advice? Give your kids a break. Just because their father has T1 doesn't mean they're likely to develop the condition too.

There's absolutely no prizes for catching T1 early, so unless they're obviously symptomatic, I'd lay off the testing, let them enjoy being kids, and you should sit back and enjoy being a family without worrying about things like this.

As for warning signs - I hate to say this but I'm afraid I really don't believe your husband's mother when she says there were signs for years. T1 develops VERY quickly - within a few months or so. On my 14th birthday, I was a slightly chubby kid. 4 months later, I looked like I'd just stepped out of Auschwitz and I was peeing every hour and chugging down water constantly. So that's how I knew there was something wrong. One of the 'good' things about T1 is that when it strikes, you really can't miss it. There aren't really any early warning signs.

If it's any consolation, I think the risk of passing on diabetes to your offspring is something like only 2-10% higher than if neither parent had diabetes. So it's still highly unlikely that any of your kids ever will develop T1. It's not impossible, but it's unlikely.

Ditto

Be aware of peeing frequency and patterns. Frequent urination is a universal symptom, but it does happen for other reasons too. If the frequency increases, become alert. If it increases further, then test.

[Scratch]

Yeah, no real early warning signs, and if it does happen, it will become obvious except for the issue that kids sometimes will feel embarassed that something has gone wrong. It only took about 3 weeks for me to go from being skinny to absolutely gaunt, and I think my parents might have noticed sooner had I not felt like it shouldn't be happening and I just had to tough it out.

The thirst, sheesh, that was the worst thing. Nobody really knows thirst unless they've developed diabetes.

[jen_slc]

I'm going to offer a little different opinion, based off my own diagnosis and the time leading up to it...

For me, I don't think it hit quickly. My mom tells me she had been watching me for several months before I finally saw a doctor. I started eating a bit more than usual, but nothing to really sound the alarm bell because she and I both attributed it to puberty (I was 12 going on 13). Then I started drinking more, and more and more, and going to the bathroom more and more and more; it was a very gradual thing, and a few months later I finally saw a doctor when it reached the point of "hmm, maybe this isn't normal."

I was diagnosed "borderline" with a blood sugar somewhere 200-250. So it's not like I was in horrible shape, not like some folks who end up in the ER in DKA. I do think it took a while to really make itself apparent, and I think I could have gone on much longer, maybe up to a year, before getting diagnosed (although I am sure to the trained eye, it would have been picked up much sooner). So it's not like it happened over 1 month or anything, nothing sudden, nothing drastic.

Personally, I think a meter test every few months is fine if the kids aren't bothered, but I definitely wouldn't do it anymore than that. I think you could even go to 6 months or once a year, unless you see symptoms like drinking and peeing a lot. Whether it makes a difference in actual disease progression to catch it 3 months earlier.... I don't know, but I would doubt it? It might, however, make a difference in how your kids feel, rather than dragging out the potentially slow appearance (I'm talking several months) of diabetes and its associated symptoms. :wink:

[catty]

Hi Jen

Thanks for that.. Yes I my son is showing those symptoms (but sugar levels are just boarder). One of the biggest things he is now wetting the bed (he is 5 and didn't used to ) but it is now got cold so the doc says it could be just the cold weather... sometimes mothers know best and too many things are starting to add up...

I think for every person as with any disease the symptoms can be different . My husband can remember in his childhood just constantly looking for sugar, stealing money to buy lollies, sneaking anything sweet not just being a normal kid but contantly thinking of it his day revolving around when he would eat,, this was for 5 years before. Maybe he overloaded it , who knows..
Some of the other things is at 6 (6 years before he passed out and they recognised he had diabetes) he developed white patches on his hands, feet and face (forgotten how to spell the real name, starts with v!!) , he still has them now and they are known to be linked with auto immune deseases.

Another interesting thing is that he got 3 childhood diseases 6 months before he was diagnosed. I think ? they were chicken pox, measles and mumps all within a month or 2 of each other.
IT may just be that his immunity was down .

jst wondering if anyone had similar problems leading up to diag.

[grace girl]

I was dx'ed at age 32, had three kids, all under age 9. I never gave a thought to them getting it for the first 5 years because the doctor told me there was a less than 20% chance of it happening, basically not worth considering. If there was a family history (which there's not), perhaps I'd be more concerned.
I know the symptoms, have even read up on how they appear in children and teens, and if I suspected something I wouldn't hesistate to test them. But to date, I've never tested any of them.
I would say that unless you are seeing things that make you suspicious, just let it go. You sound like a conscientious mom, so I doubt you'd miss it if something were amiss.

[catgalla]

My son was diagnosed at age 4, he's now 6. I noticed him drinking a lot and losing weight and he was very sleepy a lot. I took his blood sugar and my meter said "hi" so I took him to the er and sure enough his blood sugar was over 800. Thank god I got him there and they told me because I knew what to look for he didn't end up with dka. They say a lot of kids end up with dka because a lot of people don't notice the symptoms right off the bat.

I wouldn't worry. They may not even get it. Just watch for signs.:)