Diabetes Talking

Question:

Diabetics live as long and as well as anyone else provided they take care of themselves and this is true for anyone, diabetic or not.

Is this proven statistically? Just ask my daughter, the diabetic, if she would rather not exist at all rather than be diabetic.  She’ll tell you that being diabetic is a small price to pay for being alive.

If you ask someone who is having these unfortunate complications of diabetes, the answer MAY not be the same. Disclaimer: I hate Nazi.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – If you ask someone who is having these unfortunate complications of diabetes, the answer MAY not be the same. As I have said many times before, many have the mis-belief that a diabetic life is a "perfectly normal life" as Lo Wan had written. As Dennis correctly pointed out, this is not necessarily always the case.  If you feel "perfectly normal", you should compare your diabetic, complication-threatened life to that a relatively care-free and ligitimately "normal" person. -K

The majority of readers of this newsgroup are experts on what it is like to be diabetic.  It is silly to debate with them on the "normalcy" of life with diabetes.  Kevin has made his opinions of having children and living with diabetes very clear, and it is time to give the topic a rest.   — Steve Kirchoefer Naval Research Laboratory Washington, DC  20375-5347

Response:

Hello, I am trying to decide for myself if I ever what to have children since I have type one diabetes and there are indications that it runs in my family (father’s side — one uncle with type one, no cousins nor siblings with it and I don’t know about grandparent’s generation or farther back)  I am also concerned about the increased risk of birth defects — especially since I have yet to get my act togther (have had diabetes for almost four years)  Concerned about whether or not I could do as I should, and the enorous responsibility of such a pregnancy.  And then, if my child developes diabetes, how could I live it? There are diabetics and their partners out there who have struggled with this   decision and I would like to hear from you; either post or email or both.  

My wife, who is IDDM, is 34 weeks pregnant with our second child.  The increased risk that your child will develop diabetes because you have it is fairly minimal, anywhere from 2% to 6%.  Anyway, if your child was diabeteic, so what?  There is no reason that a diabetic can’t live a near "normal" lifestyle..it just takes a little more effort for diabetics. The big risk in pregnany for diabetics is that poor control early in the pregnancy, often before you know you are pregnant, can lead to all kinds of complications for the baby.  I would reccomend that you have a long talk with your doctor.  My wife’s endo won’t "sanction" an attempt to conceive unless the diabetic mom-to-be has exibited very tight control for the preceeding six months.  Its a lot of work, but I’m sure my wife would say its well worth it! Those who decided not to take the risks, I have an additional question for.  If you were using protection but it failed and you (or your partner) became pregnant, would you have (or recommend to your partner that she have) an abortion?  Why or why not?  In answering this question, you may want to just send email because your post may get mean-spirited responses from extremists on either side of the abortion debate.  (And just to be safe, I will tell you that I am not pregnant at this time, so I do not want any mean-spirited responses about abortion either — thank you.)

Without the "extremists," usenet would be a lot less fun Chris

Response:

Diabetes is doubly recessive.  For someone to get it, it has to be on *both* sides of the family.

John still has not, after all of the numerous posts, caught on to the idea that diabetes is NOT a single gene disorder.  He has offered blantantly wrong information here. -K

Response:

  [ snip ] Does your husband/partner or anyone in his family have diabetes?  Diabetes is doubly recessive.  For someone the ‘get’ it, it has to be on *both* sides of the family. If there *isn’t* diabetes on both sides of the prospective child’s family, then he/she will be OK.

Huh?  Nobody on either side of my family going back 3 generations had Type I diabetes.  But I do. You do have a point, though: there certainly are different levels of "risk" that one can *very* roughly guess at, given family histories.  The actual consequences of this particular "risk" is rather small, however, in my humble opinion.  I’m certainly glad that I was born, diabetes or not!  (Gees, this is turning into a Frank Capra movie, isn’t it?)

Response:

   [ snip ] Does your husband/partner or anyone in his family have diabetes?  Diabetes is doubly recessive.  For someone the ‘get’ it, it has to be on *both* sides of the family. If there *isn’t* diabetes on both sides of the prospective child’s family, then he/she will be OK.  But how about *you*?  Pregnant diabetics have to undergo what seems to me to be drastic control in order to have a healthy baby.  You’ve got to keep your blook glucose between 90-140 at all times.  This means you’ll have to test your blood 5-6 times / day.  And you’ll probably have to take 4-5 insulin injections / day as well.  I know of a diabetic woman who recently delivered a healthy baby.  She saw her doctors every two-three *days* while pregnant, and underwent significant control activity. Do it if you have the patience and stamina to undergo such rigorous control.  And be sure you have significant help from your family.  Be sure the father will stand behind you. Hope this helps. John ( type 1 for 58 of 59 years )

Response:

Hello, I am trying to decide for myself if I ever what to have children since I have type one diabetes and there are indications that it runs in my family (father’s side — one uncle with type one, no cousins nor siblings with it and I don’t

Hi Nena,         I am a type I diabetic and have been for nearly 30 years.  I’m 43 and have four kids, the oldest (a girl) is 20 and getting married this summer, and the youngest 14.  My second oldest (a girl) is 19 and a type I like me.  The youngest (another girl) has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic which means she will likely become diabetic soon.  The only ones showing no signs are the oldest and my son (16).  Shortly after I bacame diabetic, my doctor advised me that it would be a bad idea to ever have children since there was a likelihood they would be affected.  I considered that to be supremely bad advice.  I don’t know if he was a practising Nazi or not but he sure had an attitude like one.  Had I never had any children I would have missed out on the most pleasant experiences of my life.  Is it horrible of me to have inflicted this loathesome disease on two of my kids?  Hogwash! Diabetes is not the end of the world, nor anything even close.  You see the problem is that the eugenesists among us seem to think that they can improve the human race by stopping people like me from ever having kids.  The thing they overlook is that no matter who you are or how healthy your family is, we are all of us dying of various imperfections, some not as obvious as others.  If only the most healthy of us were allowed to have children, who would qualify?  The fact is that *everyone* has unhealthy antecedents in their family histories.  The goal of making the human race perfect is idiotic and vain – and what’s more, is doomed to failure.         So don’t you worry about inflicting your diabetes on anyone else. Just ask my daughter, the diabetic, if she would rather not exist at all rather than be diabetic.  She’ll tell you that being diabetic is a small price to pay for being alive.  We both find the condition a colossal pain in the butt, but not a great tragedy.  Diabetics live as long and as well as anyone else provided they take care of themselves and this is true for anyone, diabetic or not.  Don’t stop your life because some neonazi eugenecists try to make you feel guilty.  If they really wanted to improve the human race, they could best do that by ceasing to exist. Dennis D. Berg Victoria, BC, Canada

Response:

Hello, I am trying to decide for myself if I ever what to have children since I have type one diabetes and there are indications that it runs in my family (father’s side — one uncle with type one, no cousins nor siblings with it and I don’t know about grandparent’s generation or farther back)  I am also concerned about the increased risk of birth defects — especially since I have yet to get my act togther (have had diabetes for almost four years)  Concerned about whether or not I could do as I should, and the enorous responsibility of such a pregnancy.  And then, if my child developes diabetes, how could I live it? There are diabetics and their partners out there who have struggled with this   decision and I would like to hear from you; either post or email or both.   Those who decided not to take the risks, I have an additional question for.  If you were using protection but it failed and you (or your partner) became pregnant, would you have (or recommend to your partner that she have) an abortion?  Why or why not?  In answering this question, you may want to just send email because your post may get mean-spirited responses from extremists on either side of the abortion debate.  (And just to be safe, I will tell you that I am not pregnant at this time, so I do not want any mean-spirited responses about abortion either — thank you.) Constructive responses would be most appreciated.  It would be nice to hear from those who have to actually make such a decision rather than talk to nondiabetics for whom it is all just abstract.  Thank you in advance. Sincerely, Nena T. Davis Macalester College

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