DiabeticParents.org Blog



Isn't it kind of strange when your doctor asks you a question instead of you asking him or her the questions?
I ran into a good friend of mine who is a doctor I worked with in the past several weeks ago. We were talking about Scott, and she asked how he was doing. For some reason, his Addison's came up. She was asking questions about his initial symptoms. And then, she asked me this:
"Traci, what are the chances that your kids could inherit an autoimmune disease?"
I was stumped. A doctor, asking me an intelligent question like that. And then I became embarrased. Of all the questions that we asked our doctors and endocrinologist before having children, somehow that question never came up. Ever.
Addison's Disease is an autoimmune disease. And it's not an uncommon thing with diabetes. in fact, many of those with diabetes end up with other autoimmune disorders like celiac and thyroid problems.
So when my doctor friend asked me, I had to tell her honestly that I had no idea.
Most of the time, the doctors are concerned with our children and diabetes. I mention Addison's and they don't even acknowledge it. Scott says if it was important enough of a concern, they would've mentioned it back when we were having kids. They certainly were great to educate us on the chances of our kids inheriting diabetes. We keep being told that the chances aren't very high that our children may ever inherit diabetes.
But what are the odds of our children inheriting an autoimmune disease? No one could answer that question for us. Do our chances of our children inheriting diabetes or another type of autoimmune disorder go up because Scott has both diabetes and an autoimmune disorder? It's an interesting question, and one that we might just never get an answer for. Because we know that our generation of those with diabetes is the one paving the way for the next generations. And the answers we seek just aren't always there. But hopefully, they're coming.
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