I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2017 within a year of my final anthrax vaccine (out of 3) while serving active duty Air Force. Had to medically retire soon after. Within 5 years I have had irregular vaginal bleeding, IBS, gastroparesis, neuropathy on all limbs, degenerative arthritis, and currently chest pains. I used to be an active person competing for strong competitions, worked as an electrician for over 20 years, diabetes does not run in my family nor does most of my conditions. Is there anyone out there that has taken the anthrax vaccine and become so sick after?
hello @atris202 welcome to T1N. I am not a doctor by any means, but the CDC reports that the anthrax vaccine is not available to the general public, (very few people have been immunized) so I am not sure what kind of responses you will get. Type 1 diabetes doesn’t run in families, there is no strong genetic component to it. I’m the only one in my family as well, prior to getting sick. My niece also has T1.
Im sorry to hear about your struggles and I hope you have access to a medical team and are getting the support you need. Some people do get clusters of autoimmune issues and sometimes other specialists are necessary beyond an endocrinologist. I realize Im just stating the obvious here, I wish I could be more help when all I can do is say Hi and welcome.
I was hoping that I would speak to those who served in the military. Anthrax was given to some who served on and off since the 90’s. I currently have most of the long term side affects on the list and understands that the vaccine can give you an auto immune disorder. Not much information out there but I know several military getting kicked out for auto immune disorders when they were once healthy. Myself and another member, who was a firefighter for the Air Force, was diagnosed just before me and in the same unit. Also super healthy and does not run in the family. I just need to know if I should be getting other test done I am not getting better…
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Hello @atris202 and welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear about the challenges you are facing, and hope you get some responses from forum members with military experience. I came add much to what @joe has said, but an thinking you might see if you can find a concierge medical practice. My former PCP’s office offered a concierge service (I did not use it) and as I understand it, this model gives patients greater access to their physician - allowing more time with them rather than being rushed through a standard visit, and more time to delve into complex issues. This link probably explains it better https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/what-is-concierge-medicin
Of course such service comes at a price, which berries by practice, but it may be worth looking into.
I hope you find some answers.
@atris202 I too served in the USAF for a career and due to operational assignments was given multiple seemingly “experimental” inoculations for anthrax, nerve agents, and malaria by USAF, DOD, and State Dept. This was about at least a decade before being dx’d (apparently mis-dx’d) T2, then correctly dx’d T1 LADA 8 years later. I’m not aware of and don’t actually suspect any linkage or causality to or by the inoculations, but have wondered if one exists from time to time. I know of no linkage, suspected or actual, by any organization. Without any intent of establishing any conspiracy theory, I’d like to know if any such studies exist or are developed.
Type 1 diabetes is usually autoimmune. It does not tend to run in families (type 2 does more), but people with a certain kind of immune system HLA type are more likely to be susceptible. Basically, your body mistakes your insulin-producing cells for something foreign. It has been hypothesized and somewhat supported that it can be prompted by an infection in which some piece of that pathogen appears similar to the insulin-producing cells in your body.
Now, it is a bit unclear to me if avoiding these infections would delay the development of diabetes, or prevent it, or if it’s a spurious relationship that simply reflects the different HLA type: Infections in Early Life and Development of Type 1 Diabetes | Infectious Diseases | JAMA | JAMA Network
So that would lead one to think it’s plausible a vaccine could initiate it. However, a decent study did not find a link with the anthrax vaccine: “Our study population consisted of 2,385,102 individuals followed for approximately 7,644,098 person-years of service. This included 1074 incident type 1 diabetes cases. We observed no significant increased risk of type 1 diabetes after vaccination with anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA) [RR=1.00; 95% CI (0.85, 1.17)], smallpox vaccine [RR=0.84; 95% (CI 0.70, 1.01)], typhoid vaccine [RR=1.03; 95% CI (0.87, 1.22)], hepatitis B vaccine [RR=0.83; 95% CI (0.72, 0.95)], measles mumps rubella vaccine (MMR) [RR=0.71, 95% CI (0.61, 0.83)], or yellow fever vaccine [RR=0.70; 95% CI (0.59, 0.82)].”
Vaccination and risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus in active component U.S. Military, 2002-2008 - PubMed (nih.gov)%5D%2C%20measles%20mumps%20rubella)