DKA and Type 1 diagnosis after Covid vaccine (particularly Moderna)?

[Tristan13]

Hi everyone. This may be a long post, but my aim is to explain my situation and find out if others have experienced the same thing. I have reason to suspect my newly diagnosed Type 1 may be a result of the Moderna Covid booster vaccine I received last year and want to see if there’s pattern.

I’m 24 years old and, until earlier this year, had always been of perfect, normal health. I’m active and have never been overweight. My father is fit and perfectly healthy, as is my mother aside from some hereditary heart problems. The only other Type 1 in my family before me was my great uncle.

On 22 December 2021 (aged 23), I received the Moderna Covid booster jab (having had two Pfizer vaccines in June and August respectively with no issues). I had severe flu-like symptoms for around 48 hours, after which they subsided. However, in the immediate weeks that followed, I started experiencing what would turn out to be symptoms of DKA. I had a near-constant thirst, my skin was drying out and I was rapidly losing large amounts of weight.

In early March, I went on holiday to France, where I caught some sort of virus (I tested negative for Covid) and the day I returned I found I didn’t even have the energy to move from my bed. I just about mustered the energy to phone my mother, she came to visit and immediately realised I needed to go to hospital. I was diagnosed with DKA and spent several days being stabilised, after which I was informed that I had developed Type 1 diabetes.

Since then, I have been learning to live with the condition. I’ve pretty much got the hang of it now. What I’m struggling with is why I suddenly developed this condition in my early twenties with no parental history or other health problems. Looking at the timeline, it seems very odd that I started developing DKA soon after the Moderna jab had made me feel so ill. Antibodies attacking the pancreas are what cause Type 1, so maybe the antibodies in the vaccine are something to do with this. I note that researches in Japan have noticed similar cases (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35088548/).

I’m not saying this is definitely the explanation, but I think it’s something worth looking into. I’ve reported my case to Moderna and now I want to know if anyone else here has experienced the same thing. Please do get in touch and let me know your experiences!

 

[helli]

I have experienced the same thing in terms of being fit, not overweight and no history of diabetes in my family (not even a great uncle) before my diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes as an adult.
But it had absolutely nothing to do with any vaccines.

You mentioned you had a virus in France. It is not uncommon for a virus to trigger an autoimmune condition such as Type 1 diabetes although I do not believe the true cause is understood. I very quickly gave up trying to work out why me and focused on living my life to the full going forward.

I have had the Moderna (and Pfizer and Astra Zeneca) vaccines with no side effects.

 

[Tristan13]

I have experienced the same thing in terms of being fit, not overweight and no history of diabetes in my family (not even a great uncle) before my diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes.
But it had absolutely nothing to do with any vaccines.

You mentioned you had a virus in France. It is not uncommon for a virus to trigger an autoimmune condition such as Type 1 diabetes although I do not believe the true cause is understood.

I have had the Moderna (and Pfizer and Astra Zeneca) vaccines with no side effects.

Thanks for the reply. I’m sure the virus accelerated the DKA/Type 1 I had started developing around two months before, but it didn’t cause it. May I ask at what age you developed Type 1 and how soon after any vaccines it was? And did you go into DKA?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis @Tristan13

I am not qualified to comment on whether the Moderna vaccine had any effect on your development of T1, but I can tell you that my diagnosis journey was very similar to yours.

No diabetes (of any type) on any side of my family. Normal weight, early 20s, fit and active. A few months of starting to feel lethargic, thirsty and then dramatic and unintentional weight loss.

Then a diagnosis of T1.

For me it came completely out of the blue. But this was 30 years ago, and no Moderna vaccine existed, so I didn’t have a connection to draw.

I have been told it can be a viral infection that triggers the immune system (I always had very good antibodies and was rarely ill). I had a stomach bug while visiting Paris some months previously, and have wondered whether that might have been the start of it, but the truth is I’ll never know.

I think you’d need a much wider population-based study to see if any increases in case numbers of T1 following vaccination could be seen. There were a lot of vaccine doses being issued, and some of those folks may well have been in the process of developing T1 anyway - could just be coincidence?

 

[Saoirse]

Half of type 1 diagnoses annually are in adults. I was one of them. Also no family history. nothing to do with vaccines ( also It is impossible to be in Dka for three months, you would have been dead long since). I appreciate you are looking for an explanation for why you have type 1, but correlation is not causation. It was Christmas in December too but Christmas didn’t cause your type 1.

 

[Tristan13]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis @Tristan13

I am not qualified to comment on whether the Moderna vaccine had any effect on your development of T1, but I can tell you that my diagnosis journey was very similar to yours.

No diabetes (of any type) on any side of my family. Normal weight, early 20s, fit and active. A few months of starting to feel lethargic, thirsty and then dramatic and unintentional weight loss.

Then a diagnosis of T1.

For me it came completely out of the blue. But this was 30 years ago, and no Moderna vaccine existed, so I didn’t have a connection to draw.

I have been told it can be a viral infection that triggers the immune system (I always had very good antibodies and was rarely ill). I had a stomach bug while visiting Paris some months previously, and have wondered whether that might have been the start of it, but the truth is I’ll never know.

I think you’d need a much wider population-based study to see if any increases in case numbers of T1 following vaccination could be seen. There were a lot of vaccine doses being issued, and some of those folks may well have been in the process of developing T1 anyway - could just be coincidence?

Thanks for your reply and sympathy. I agree I am no authority either and a wider sample would be useful. I may be totally wide of the mark, but the series of coincidences and the fact professional scientists are researching this possibility makes me want to look into it - I’m a journalist, so it’s instinct! It will be interesting to see if I find anything…

 

[Tristan13]

Half of type 1 diagnoses annually are in adults. I was one of them. Also no family history. nothing to do with vaccines ( also It is impossible to be in Dka for three months, you would have been dead long since). I appreciate you are looking for an explanation for why you have type 1, but correlation is not causation. It was Christmas in December too but Christmas didn’t cause your type 1.

I’m new to all this, but I was informed by one of my doctors that you can be in a sort of pre-DKA for a longer period of time. The virus obviously accelerated the process and put me into proper DKA, which is when things got very serious and I wouldn’t have lasted long. I’m not claiming outright that the vaccines caused anything - I’m simply acknowledging that some scientists are researching it, noting it would explain my case and asking others if they have experienced similar or not. Not sure that calls for sarcasm…

 

[helli]

Thanks for the reply. I’m sure the virus accelerated the DKA/Type 1 I had started developing around two months before, but it didn’t cause it. May I ask at what age you developed Type 1 and how soon after any vaccines it was? And did you go into DKA?

I was diagnosed in my mid thirties before anyone had heard of covid-19 which is why I know it had nothin to do with the vaccines.
Like @everydayupsanddowns , I had suffered from a virus (glandular ... but not glandular fever) a few months prior to my diagnosis. I did not go into DKA but I think that was just because my onset was very slow so gave me time to catch it and, since diagnosis, I have noticed my body is "reluctant" to produce ketones even when my insulin pump failed and I was over 20 for a few hours (thankfully).

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Since then, I have been learning to live with the condition. I’ve pretty much got the hang of it now. What I’m struggling with is why I suddenly developed this condition in my early twenties with no parental history or other health problems. Looking at the timeline, it seems very odd that I started developing DKA soon after the Moderna jab had made me feel so ill. Antibodies attacking the pancreas are what cause Type 1, so maybe the antibodies in the vaccine are something to do with this. I note that researches in Japan have noticed similar cases (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35088548/).

Maybe. I think it's generally accepted that the onset of Type 1 can be triggered by stress of one kind or another (such as a viral infection, though which viruses might be involved doesn't seem known). I don't find it astonishing that the Moderna vaccination might do that too.

 

[rayray119]

I did get dianosed not log after my second COVID vaccine but looking back i had symptoms for a while before hand(lacking engry, drinking loads etc but because it was hot i just thought it was that)

 

[Inka]

I’m new to all this, but I was informed by one of my doctors that you can be in a sort of pre-DKA for a longer period of time. The virus obviously accelerated the process and put me into proper DKA, which is when things got very serious and I wouldn’t have lasted long. I’m not claiming outright that the vaccines caused anything - I’m simply acknowledging that some scientists are researching it, noting it would explain my case and asking others if they have experienced similar or not. Not sure that calls for sarcasm…

@Tristan13 Yes, there’s usually some tipping point that triggers a Type 1 diagnosis. I wouldn’t suspect the vaccine personally. It’s human nature to try to find a cause, but, as my consultant explained, it’s likely the immune attack had already started way before you got your diagnosis. It’s not until around 80% of our islets have been destroyed that the body can no longer cope and we get our Type 1 diagnosis.

Additionally, 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with Type 1 have no near relative with it. I didn’t. When I was first diagnosed, I was upset and obsessed with finding a reason. Like you, I’d always been slim and eaten a healthy diet and been active. But, the truth is it’s just bad luck really. The ‘diabetes genes’ are present in quite a few people, but only around 10% of those go on to develop Type 1.

 

[rebrascora]

I think you might be confusing the symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes with DKA. I didn't have DKA and my body, like @helli 's seems thankfully be reluctant to produce ketones (long may that last!) but I did have the unquenchable thirst and weeing for England and weight loss and fatigue. Those are uncontrolled Type 1 diabetes symptoms.

My thoughts as regards the vaccine and diabetes are that we probably have a latent predisposition to Type 1 and it takes a trigger to activate it. I feel that it is not unreasonable that a vaccine which is designed to wake up our immune system could be the trigger, just like a virus might do it or perhaps a big physical or emotional shock.... I have read that some people develop it following a bereavement or a road accident.

I have had 2 AZ vaccines and the Pfizer and I found that after my first AZ (I was already 2 years into my diabetes diagnosis) my insulin needs seems to steadily increase very significantly at a time of year when I would have expected them to decrease slightly due to the warmer spring weather. My gut feeling is that the vaccine triggered my immune system to kill off my remaining insulin producing beta cells, but of course that is just a hunch and nothing more but it seems plausible to me. I am quite sure that at some point my immune system would have done that anyway, but there was a 3 month period after the vaccine when I had to consistently up my doses, whereas before that they had been stable for months.

My non medical opinion is that the vaccine may have triggered your immune response but I think it was sitting there waiting to be triggered and perhaps the illness in France would have triggered it if the vaccine hadn't. It is certainly very common for it to affect, young, slim, fit adults, so I don't think any of that is particularly noteworthy and may be a bit of a red herring in your thought process.
I wonder if it might be more relevant to look at other autoimmune conditions within your family to see if there is a predisposition for other autoimmune attack if diabetes itself isn't prevalent. I had an uncle with Type 1 and a cousin and a half cousin all on my mothers side, my mother had rheumatoid arthritis and my sister has developed polymyalgia both I believe are also autoimmune conditions, so the way I see it, there may have been a sort of ticking time bomb waiting for the trigger to activate it. I have a feeling it may have been menopause for my mother sister and myself and I am extremely grateful it hung on so long before being triggered.

Interestingly I was a blood donor from the age of 18 and only recently found out that my blood was reserved to treat neonatal babies as I have very low antibodies. I don't feel that my health has suffered as a result of that and maybe that is why my diabetes lay dormant for so long. It is all quite fascinating to think about. I think the thing to bear in mind if you are perhaps leaning towards finger pointing at the vaccine is that it is likely that Covid would have triggered it if you hadn't had the vaccine. There has certainly been a significant increase in diagnosis of diabetes since Covid.

 

[trophywench]

February 1972 I had a stomach upset causing more D than V (TMI) and dreadful pains, felt that awful had to ring the GP on the Monday and had a home visit (remember them? aaaaah) I recovered from that, went back to work and over the next few months started to lose weight. This was great, cos it wasn't like I was doing anything to lose it, in fact it was really odd since I couldn't get enough really sweet stuff. I used to get terrible urges to eat Caramac - yet I'd never really been that fond of it before, far too sweet! If only I didn't feel so constantly thirsty - that seemed a bit potty - at work (in an office) I'd by this time taken to having tap water in a pint glass on my desk (I'd started off with a tumbler but had grown out of them) to try and keep topped up between coffee, lunch, and tea break, anyway I was sleeping really well - at the drop of a hat - which was a bit unusual for me but you know if you were ill, you wouldn't sleep well, would you? Won't be anything serious anyway, will it, at my age! Perhaps I will go to the docs after J & G's wedding on 29 July - but they'll only give me a kick up the bum and tell me to liven my ideas up like I don't seem to be able to myself for some reason. (why do I keep getting these fluttering sensations in my chest? That's a bit weird, don't remember ever having them before) ........

Rang doc surgery during the week after the wedding, asked for the latest evening one they could give me (cos we lived an hour's public transport away from where I worked) - is it urgent? No, I replied. So 6.30 pm on Tuesday 15th August it was.

Got to surgery, reception told me to sit outside Dr J's door cos he'd be seeing me - I said I'll just nip to the loo then first, and duly did so. Called in to Dr J. Discussion. He then asked me if I thought I'd be able to provide a urine sample for the nurse to check? Yes, I should think so. Told me to go and see her and ask for suitable receptacle ...... she took receptacle from me when I'd been again, I was right, I had no trouble even though I'd only been 15mins earlier and told me to go and wait outside Dr J's again. Aaarrgghh - he told me it looked like I had diabetes, told me I needed to go to hospital (but it's OK you needn't go tonight, you can go in the morning cos I've already spoken to them and told them to expect you at 10.30 am, and I've written this letter for you to take with you tomorrow)

Duly arrived at appointed hour and was shown into a side ward - made husband go into work late so he could take me cos this is scary (private room on the NHS, whoo hoo, wonder where there's a lav. then?) Just ring the bell if you need anything. He went, someone came and took an armful of blood, someone else came and asked if I'd like a drink - My God, I thought you'd never ask. Had to ring, bedpan! - all dealt with very efficiently. Then someone else, lunch, then my sister arrived for afternoon visiting. (It's all go in here, isn't it?) Someone came with tea trolley - would we both like a cup of tea? Do you take sugar she asked my sis, who asked her if she had any sweeteners, apologising to me for not having thought to get me any on the way. Ah well, get used to it Jen I said out loud, no time like the present! and gratefully accepted my first one without.

Consensus was, the tummy bug in the February, since it had long been more than suspected that incidental viruses could not cause it exactly, cos you always had to have the possibility lurking about somewhere deep in your genes, but rather be the straw that broke the camels back and allowed the antibody attack the hairline crack to get in ....

Oh. I hadn't had a vaccine since my TB jab aged about 14, prior to that I was 5 or 6 and had a course of polio jabs and I'd have had the diptheria one as a baby.

Odd cos there's no history on either side of my family either.

But - it has always made me wonder about my dad's mother ......... may have said heart trouble on her death certificate when dad was about 11 or 12 (around 1928 ish) but then why didn't his younger sister Gwenda survive childhood, when both dad and his older sister, were OK. Didn't ladies actually ever get gestational diabetes in those days - or did they all just die if they did, since diabetes was fatal anyway until 1921. (those who got it, pretty much starved to death cos there was no effective medical treatment) His Dad died at a ripe old age. Mom's Dad died of emphysema then her mother died of heart failure when she was 6 months preg with me.

Very very strange indeed........ especially as all my immediate family (ie Mom, Dad, and one sister 4 years older than me) have all either died of, or have had, cancer. But I haven't had it - yet!

 

[nonethewiser]

Much like Inka give up long time ago trying to find possible answer for getting type 1, it is what is & sometimes you just have to suck it up & get on with life, we are only here for very short time.

 

[Jimmy2202]

I was in hospital and diagnosed with type 1
2 weeks after my first Covid vaccine.

I’ve since learnt that my Hba1c was to high to suggest the vaccine caused my diabetes although I did think this for a while, but I think I can rule it out now…

Still haven’t had any more vaccines tho 🙂

 

[mikeyB]

Many Type1 folk can recall a virus infection shortly before being diagnosed, or ending up in hospital with DKA, which is no fun. It's not the virus directly cause the diabetes, but the virus triggers the production of an immune response, and the production of antibodies to kill off the virus. It would appear that if the antibody response is skewed (probably due to a genetic abnormality) the insulin producing cells in the pancreas are also attacked, hence the Diabetes.

Similarly, the immunisation for Covid is expected to produce antibodies, and in those who have the genetic tendency to develop T1 may well be affected as I describe above.

These reactions to develop T1 are far from consistent - it's perfectly possible that you can go through life and never develop T1 even if you have the genetic abnormality that makes it more likely that you could. That's why T1 is not considered as an inherited condition, unlike T2 which very much is. As it happens, my mum was also T1, but I've got two brothers who haven't got it, though both me and my older brother have another autoimmune condition, Ulcerative Colitis, That's not inherited either.